1989 Cleveland Indians season explained

Cleveland Indians
Season:	1989
League:	American League
Division:	East
Ballpark:	Cleveland Municipal Stadium
City:	Cleveland, Ohio
Owners:	Richard Jacobs
General Managers:	Hank Peters
Managers:	Doc Edwards, John Hart
Television:	WUAB Jack Corrigan, Mike Hegan
Radio:	WWWE Herb Score, Paul Olden

The 1989 Cleveland Indians season was their 89th season in the American League. For the third consecutive season, the Indians had a losing record. The Indians had at least 73 wins for the second consecutive season.

Offseason

• November 28, 1988: The Indians traded a player to be named later to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Denny González and a player to be named later. The deal was completed on March 25, 1989, with the Pirates sending Félix Fermín to the Indians and the Indians sending Jay Bell to the Pirates.^[1]
• December 2, 1988: Luis Aguayo was signed as a free agent with the Cleveland Indians.^[2]
• December 3, 1988: Jesse Orosco was signed as a free agent by the Indians.^[3]
• December 5, 1988: Bud Black was signed as a free agent by the Indians.^[4]
• December 6, 1988: Julio Franco was traded by the Indians to the Texas Rangers for Pete O'Brien, Oddibe McDowell, and Jerry Browne.^[5]
• March 26, 1989: Keith Atherton was traded by the Minnesota Twins to the Cleveland Indians for Carmelo Castillo.^[6]

Ohio Cup

The first Ohio Cup, which was an annual pre-season baseball game, was played in 1989. The single-game cup was played at Cooper Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, and was staged just days before the start of each new Major League Baseball season.

Regular season

Notable transactions

• June 5, 1989: 1989 Major League Baseball draft
  • Alan Embree was drafted by the Indians in the 5th round. Player signed September 6, 1989.^[7]
  • Jim Thome was drafted by the Indians in the 13th round. Player signed June 18, 1989.^[8]
  • Brian Giles was drafted by the Indians in the 17th round. Player signed July 18, 1989.^[9]
• June 22, 1989: Willie Cañate was signed by the Indians as an amateur free agent.^[10]
• July 2, 1989: Oddibe McDowell was traded by the Indians to the Atlanta Braves for Dion James.^[11]
• July 27, 1989: Doug Piatt was traded by the Indians to the Montreal Expos for Rick Carriger (minors).^[12]
• August 7, 1989: Keith Atherton was released by the Cleveland Indians.^[13]

Opening Day Lineup

Opening Day Starters

	Name	Position
20		LF
14		2B
30		CF
9
28		RF
25		DH
26		3B
6		C
16		SS
21		P

^[14]

Roster

1989 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers		Catchers Infielders		Outfielders Other batters		Manager Coaches (Third base) (Bullpen) (Hitting) (First base) (Pitching)

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C		111	323	75	.232	3	17
1B		155	554	144	.260	12	55
2B		153	598	179	.299	5	45
3B		147	519	141	.272	13	64
SS		156	484	115	.238	0	21
LF		69	239	53	.222	3	22
CF		162	651	158	.243	39	112
RF		132	489	105	.215	18	59
DH		102	253	60	.237	8	29

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
	71	245	75	.306	4	29
	62	218	49	.225	7	37
	71	198	47	.237	8	33
	79	178	41	.230	1	13
	47	97	17	.175	1	8
	30	83	17	.205	4	8
	30	77	17	.221	2	7
	32	59	11	.186	1	5
	24	58	16	.276	2	6
	12	25	3	.120	0	1
	13	24	6	.250	0	1
	18	17	0	.000	0	0
	8	17	5	.294	0	1
	7	16	1	.063	0	0
	9	14	3	.214	0	1
	6	10	1	.100	0	0
	9	10	0	.000	0	0
	5	7	1	.143	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	33	222.1	12	11	3.36	88
	31	208.0	9	14	3.63	132
	31	206.0	13	6	3.37	129
	28	184.1	13	10	3.10	124

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	34	113.2	5	9	4.28	47
	32	99.0	5	6	5.00	47
	15	71.2	4	6	4.40	42
	9	33.0	0	1	4.09	10
	12	25.2	1	1	8.06	12
	2	6.2	0	2	6.75	3

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
	59	7	10	32	2.34	65
	69	3	4	3	2.08	79
	32	0	3	2	4.15	13
	25	1	4	1	3.75	24
	14	0	0	0	2.95	12
	7	0	0	0	4.05	6
	6	0	1	0	7.36	4
	5	0	0	0	3.60	7
	3	0	1	0	15.00	0
	2	0	0	0	3.38	0

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

• Doug Jones, relief pitcher, reserve
• Greg Swindell, pitcher, reserve

Team leaders

• Games – Joe Carter (162)
• AB – Jerry Browne (598)
• Runs – Jerry Browne (83)
• Hits – Jerry Browne (179)
• Doubles – Joe Carter (32)
• Triples – Brook Jacoby (5)
• Home runs – Joe Carter (35)
• RBI – Joe Carter (105)
• Walks – Pete O'Brien (83)
• Strikeouts – Cory Snyder (134)
• Stolen bases – Jerry Browne (14)
• Batting average – Dion James (.306)
• On-base percentage – Jerry Browne (.370)
• Hit by pitch – Joe Carter (8)
• Wins – Tom Candiotti, Greg Swindell (13)
• Strikeouts – John Farrell – (132)
• Earned run average – Greg Swindell – (3.10)
• Saves – Doug Jones – (32)

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

^{[15] [16]}

References

• 1989 Cleveland Indians at Baseball Reference
• 1989 Cleveland Indians at Baseball Almanac

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/f/fermife01.shtml Félix Fermín
2. Web site: Luis Aguayo . Baseball Reference . June 21, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100614213709/http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/aguaylu01.shtml. June 14, 2010 . live.
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/o/oroscje01.shtml Jesse Orosco
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/blackbu02.shtml Bud Black
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/f/francju01.shtml Julio Franco
6. Web site: Keith Atherton Stats.
7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/e/embreal01.shtml Alan Embree
8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/t/thomeji01.shtml Jim Thome
9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/g/gilesbr02.shtml Brian Giles
10. https://www.baseball-reference.com/c/canatwi01.shtml Willie Cañate
11. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mcdowod01.shtml Oddibe McDowell
12. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/piattdo01.shtml Doug Piatt
13. Web site: Keith Atherton Stats.
14. https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE198904030.shtml 1989 Opening Day Lineup
15. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
16. Web site: 1989 Cleveland Indians Minor League Affiliates.