1994 Cleveland Indians season explained

Cleveland Indians
Season:	1994
League:	American League
Division:	Central
Ballpark:	Jacobs Field
City:	Cleveland, Ohio
Owners:	Richard Jacobs
General Managers:	John Hart
Managers:	Mike Hargrove
Television:	WUAB Jack Corrigan, Mike Hegan SportsChannel John Sanders, Rick Manning
Radio:	WKNR (1220 AM) Herb Score, Tom Hamilton, Matt Underwood

The 1994 Cleveland Indians season was the 94th season for the franchise. For the first time since 1986, the Indians finished the season with a winning record. However, the 1994 season ended prematurely due to the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike that ended the season on August 12. It was the first season for the Indians playing at Jacobs Field after playing at Cleveland Stadium since 1946.

Offseason

• November 2, 1993: Heathcliff Slocumb was traded by the Indians to the Philadelphia Phillies for Rubén Amaro Jr.^[1]
• December 2, 1993: Dennis Martínez was signed as a free agent by the Indians.^[2]
• December 13, 1993: Randy Milligan was traded by the Indians to the Montreal Expos for a player to be named later. The Expos completed the deal by sending Brian Barnes to the Indians on December 17.^[3]
• December 13, 1993: Sam Horn was released by the Indians.^[4]
• December 20, 1993: Félix Fermín was traded by the Cleveland Indians with Reggie Jefferson and cash to the Seattle Mariners for Omar Vizquel.^[5]
• February 10, 1994: Jack Morris was signed as a free agent by the Indians.^[6]
• March 30, 1994: Pete Rose Jr. was released by the Indians.^[7]

Regular season

• On July 3, 1994, Larry Doby had his number retired by the team. Doby had played for Cleveland for ten seasons (1947–1955, 1958). He was the first African American to play in the American League, playing his first game in Major League Baseball on July 5, 1947, becoming the second African American player to play in MLB. A .287 hitter, Doby was an All-Star in two combined leagues (Negro League and American League) on seven occasions while winning a World Series in both leagues. Doby would later be inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 1998.
• On July 15, 1994, Albert Belle's bat was confiscated by umpire Dave Phillips.^[8] It was the result of White Sox manager Gene Lamont believing that the bat was corked. During the game, Indians pitcher Jason Grimsley removed a ceiling tile in his manager's office and clambered on top of an 18adj=midNaNadj=mid cinder block.^[9] He replaced the corked bat with a conventional bat but the bat had Paul Sorrento's name on it. Belle was suspended for seven games.^[8]

By Friday August 12, 1994, the Indians had compiled a 66-47 record through 113 games, just one game back of the Chicago White Sox for the AL Central Division lead. They had scored 679 runs (6.01 per game) and allowed 562 runs (4.97 per game). They were leading the AL Wildcard Race over the Baltimore Orioles by 2.5 games. Cleveland was leading the Majors in nearly every offensive category, including hits (1,165), runs scored (679), home runs (167), runs batted in (647), batting average (.290), slugging percentage (.484) and total bases (1,946).^[10]

Cleveland pitching was also strong, as Indians pitchers had combined for an MLB-high 17 complete games pitched before the players' strike prematurely ended the season.^[10]

Transactions

• April 3, 1994: Jeremy Hernandez was traded by the Indians to the Florida Marlins for Matt Turner.^[11]
• June 2, 1994: 1994 Major League Baseball draft
  • Jaret Wright was drafted by the Indians in the 1st round (10th pick). Player signed July 21, 1994.^[12]
  • Russell Branyan was drafted by the Indians in the 7th round. Player signed June 9, 1994.^[13]
  • Bruce Aven was drafted by the Indians in the 30th round of the 1994 amateur draft. Player signed June 4, 1994.^[14]
• July 26, 1994: Marco Scutaro was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cleveland Indians.^[15]
• August 9, 1994: Jack Morris was released by the Indians.
• August 31, 1994: Dave Winfield was purchased by the Indians from the Minnesota Twins.^[16]

Opening Day Lineup

Opening Day Starters

	Name	Position
7		CF
13		SS
9		2B
8		LF
33		1B
22		DH
15		C
24		RF
20		3B
32		P

^[17]

Roster

1994 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers		Catchers Infielders		Outfielders Other batters		Manager Coaches (Infield) (Bullpen) (Hitting) (First base) (Third base) (Pitching)

Jacobs Field

See main article: Progressive Field. In May 1990, Cuyahoga County voters approved a 15-year sin tax on alcohol and cigarette sales in order to finance the new sports complex. In June 1992, the ceremonial first pitch was thrown at the site of the new Jacobs Field before construction of the building began.

In 1994, the ballpark opened under the name Jacobs Field as the new home of the Cleveland Indians, which had previously shared Cleveland Municipal Stadium with the NFL's Cleveland Browns. On April 4, 1994, the Indians played their first game at the new stadium. President Bill Clinton threw out the ceremonial first pitch, and the Indians defeated the Seattle Mariners 4-3 in 11 innings.

Highlights

Statistic	Person(s)	Date
		April 4, 1994
	Eric Anthony (Seattle Mariners), home run	April 4, 1994
First Indians Hit	Sandy Alomar Jr., single to right field	April 4, 1994
		April 4, 1994
	Ken Griffey Jr. (Seattle Mariners)	April 7, 1994
	Eric Anthony (Seattle Mariners)	April 4, 1994
First Indians Home Run		April 7, 1994
First Indians Run	Candy Maldonado, scored on Manny Ramírez 2-run double in the 8th inning	April 4, 1994
First Winning Pitcher		April 4, 1994
	Hipólito Pichardo (Kansas City Royals)	April 15, 1994

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; AVG = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	SB
align=left		80	292	44	84	15	1	14	43	.288	8
align=left		26	23	5	5	1	0	2	5	.217	2
align=left		103	442	81	139	32	2	19	80	.314	8
align=left		106	412	90	147	35	2	36	101	.357	9
align=left		90	231	27	55	13	0	1	19	.238	1
align=left		22	23	6	8	1	1	1	5	.348	2
align=left		78	191	33	56	6	0	5	23	.293	11
align=left		1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1.000	0
align=left		20	73	6	15	5	0	1	8	.205	1
align=left		112	459	105	160	32	9	12	57	.349	60
align=left		42	92	14	18	5	1	5	12	.196	1
align=left		4	10	1	1	0	0	0	0	.100	0
align=left		108	433	57	110	21	1	17	76	.254	8
align=left		40	112	18	33	8	1	2	10	.295	0
align=left		4	9	1	1	0	0	0	1	.111	0
align=left		91	290	51	78	22	0	17	60	.269	4
align=left		95	322	43	90	14	0	14	62	.280	0
align=left		98	321	58	86	20	1	20	52	.268	3
align=left		69	286	39	78	10	1	1	33	.273	13
Team Totals	113	4022	679	1165	240	20	167	647	.290	131

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
align=left		0	1	5.40	6	0	0	13.1	12	10	8	15	5
align=left		0	2	8.64	7	0	0	8.1	16	9	8	4	2
align=left		11	3	3.82	20	20	0	127.1	133	61	54	40	60
align=left		0	0	8.04	7	0	0	15.2	26	14	14	10	9
align=left		1	1	5.28	19	0	4	15.1	17	12	9	15	12
align=left		5	2	4.57	14	13	0	82.2	91	47	42	34	59
align=left		1	3	4.91	36	0	1	29.1	34	17	16	8	15
align=left		1	2	4.24	4	4	0	17.0	20	11	8	6	18
align=left		11	6	3.52	24	24	0	176.2	166	75	69	44	92
align=left		7	5	3.82	51	0	2	73.0	71	33	31	26	63
align=left		10	6	5.60	23	23	0	141.1	163	96	88	67	100
align=left		0	1	11.45	6	4	0	11.0	23	16	14	9	5
align=left		10	8	3.45	23	23	0	169.1	175	76	65	48	108
align=left		0	1	6.06	4	1	0	16.1	21	11	11	10	11
align=left		7	2	2.54	41	0	3	71.0	61	25	20	37	73
align=left		1	1	4.97	13	0	5	12.2	13	8	7	3	10
align=left		0	1	8.49	14	0	5	11.2	14	11	11	12	16
align=left		0	1	11.25	12	0	0	8.0	13	11	10	7	2
align=left		0	1	21.60	1	1	0	1.2	6	8	4	1	0
align=left		1	0	2.13	9	0	1	12.2	13	6	3	7	5
align=left		0	0	10.38	1	0	0	4.1	9	5	5	1	1
Team Totals	66	47	4.36	113	113	21	1018.2	1097	562	494	404	666

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Minor league affiliates

Level	Team	League	Season article
AAA		International League	1994 Charlotte Knights season
AA	Canton–Akron Indians	Eastern League	1994 Canton–Akron Indians season
Advanced A	Kinston Indians	Carolina League
A	Columbus RedStixx	South Atlantic League
Short Season A	Watertown Indians	New York–Penn League
Rookie	Burlington Indians	Appalachian League

References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/slocuhe01.shtml Heathcliff Slocumb
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/martide01.shtml Dennis Martínez
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/millira01.shtml Randy Milligan
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hornsa01.shtml Sam Horn
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/f/fermife01.shtml Félix Fermín
6. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/morrija02.shtml Jack Morris
7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/rosepe02.shtml Pete Rose, Jr.
8. Web site: ESPN.com - Page2 - Biggest cheaters in baseball.
9. Web site: Spitters, Beanballs, and the Incredible Shrinking Strike Zone / G. Waggoner, K. Moloney, and H. Howard | BaseballLibrary.com . 2008-09-02 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081012020753/http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/excerpts/spitters6.stm . October 12, 2008 . mdy-all .
10. Web site: 1994 Major League Baseball Season Summary.
11. https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hernaje02.shtml Jeremy Hernandez
12. https://www.baseball-reference.com/w/wrighja02.shtml Jaret Wright
13. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/branyru01.shtml Russell Branyan
14. Web site: Bruce Aven Stats.
15. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/scutama01.shtml Marco Scutaro
16. https://www.baseball-reference.com/w/winfida01.shtml Dave Winfield
17. https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE199404040.shtml 1994 Opening Day Lineup

• 1994 Cleveland Indians team at Baseball-Reference
• 1994 Cleveland Indians at Baseball Almanac