1959 Cleveland Indians season

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1959 Cleveland Indians
Major League affiliations
  • American League (since 1901)
Location
  • Cleveland Municipal Stadium (since 1932)
  • Cleveland, Ohio (since 1901)
Other information
Owner(s)William R. Daley
General manager(s)Frank Lane
Manager(s)Joe Gordon
Local televisionWEWS-TV
(Ken Coleman, Bill McColgan)
Local radioWERE
(Jimmy Dudley, Bob Neal)
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The 1959 Cleveland Indians season was the 59th in franchise history. The Indians finished in second place in the American League with a record of 89 wins and 65 losses, five games behind the AL Champion Chicago White Sox.

Offseason[]

Regular season[]

On June 10, right fielder Rocky Colavito hit four home runs in one game against the Baltimore Orioles.[5]

Season standings[]

  • v
  • t
American League 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Chicago White Sox 94 60 0.610 — 47–30 47–30
Cleveland Indians 89 65 0.578 5 43–34 46–31
New York Yankees 79 75 0.513 15 40–37 39–38
Detroit Tigers 76 78 0.494 18 41–36 35–42
Boston Red Sox 75 79 0.487 19 43–34 32–45
Baltimore Orioles 74 80 0.481 20 38–39 36–41
Kansas City Athletics 66 88 0.429 28 37–40 29–48
Washington Senators 63 91 0.409 31 34–43 29–48


Record vs. opponents[]

1959 American League Records
  • v
  • t

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BAL BOS CHW CLE DET KC NY WSH
Baltimore — 8–14 11–11–1 10–12 13–9 8–14 12–10 12–10
Boston 14–8 — 8–14 8–14 11–11 11–11 13–9 10–12
Chicago 11–11–1 14–8 — 15–7 13–9 12–10 13–9–1 16–6
Cleveland 12–10 14–8 7–15 — 14–8 15–7 11–11 16–6
Detroit 9–13 11–11 9–13 8–14 — 15–7 14–8 10–12
Kansas City 14–8 11–11 10–12 7–15 7–15 — 5–17 12–10
New York 10–12 9–13 9–13–1 11–11 8–14 17–5 — 15–7
Washington 10–12 12–10 6–16 6–16 12–10 10–12 7–15 —


Notable transactions[]

  • April 11, 1959: Mickey Vernon was traded by the Indians to the Milwaukee Braves for Humberto Robinson.[6]
  • May 4, 1959: Randy Jackson was traded by the Indians to the Chicago Cubs for Bob Smith.[7]
  • June 6, 1959: Jim Bolger and cash were traded by the Indians to the Philadelphia Phillies for Willie Jones.[4]
  • September 9, 1959: Chuck Tanner was purchased by the Indians from the Boston Red Sox.[8]

Opening Day Lineup[]

Opening Day Starters
# Name Position
37 Jimmy Piersall CF
1 Billy Martin 2B
9 Minnie Miñoso LF
6 Rocky Colavito RF
15 Russ Nixon C
10 Vic Power 1B
3 Woodie Held 3B
4 George Strickland 2B
39 Gary Bell P

[9]

Roster[]

1959 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager
  • 35 Joe Gordon

Coaches

Player stats[]

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 Russ Nixon 82 258 62 .240 1 29
1B Vic Power 147 595 172 .289 10 60
2B Billy Martin 73 242 63 .260 9 24
SS Woodie Held 143 525 132 .251 29 71
3B George Strickland 132 441 105 .238 3 48
LF Minnie Miñoso 148 570 172 .302 21 92
CF Jimmy Piersall 100 317 78 .246 4 30
RF Rocky Colavito 154 588 151 .257 42 111

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
Tito Francona 122 399 145 .363 20 79
Jim Baxes 77 247 59 .239 15 34
Dick Brown 48 141 31 .220 5 16
Ed Fitz Gerald 49 129 35 .271 1 4
Ray Webster 40 74 15 .203 2 10
Granny Hamner 27 67 11 .164 1 3
Carroll Hardy 32 53 11 .208 0 2
Chuck Tanner 14 48 12 .250 1 5
Hal Naragon 14 36 10 .278 0 5
Gene Leek 13 36 8 .222 1 5
Elmer Valo 34 24 7 .292 0 5
Willie Jones 11 18 4 .222 0 1
Billy Moran 11 17 5 .294 0 2
Gordy Coleman 6 15 8 .533 0 2
Don Dillard 10 10 4 .400 0 1
Jim Bolger 8 7 0 .000 0 0
Randy Jackson 7 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
Cal McLish 35 235.1 19 8 3.63 113
Gary Bell 44 234 16 11 4.04 136
Herb Score 30 160.2 9 11 4.71 147
Jake Striker 1 6.2 1 0 2.70 5

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
Mudcat Grant 38 165.1 10 7 4.14 85
Jim Perry 44 153 12 10 2.65 79
Bobby Locke 24 77.2 0 1 5.22 17
Don Ferrarese 15 76 5 3 3.20 45
Mike Garcia 29 72 3 6 4.00 49
Jack Harshman 13 66 5 1 2.59 35
Bob Smith 12 29.1 0 1 5.22 17
John Briggs 4 12.2 0 1 5.22 17

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
Al Cicotte 26 3 1 1 5.32 23
Dick Brodowski 18 2 2 5 1.80 9
Bud Podbielan 6 0 1 0 5.84 5
Humberto Robinson 5 1 0 0 4.15 6

Awards and honors[]

League leaders[]

  • Rocky Colavito, American League leader in home runs (tied)

Farm system[]

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA San Diego Padres Pacific Coast League Catfish Metkovich
AA Mobile Bears Southern Association Mel McGaha
A Reading Indians Eastern League Al Hollingsworth
B Burlington Indians Carolina League Pinky May
C Minot Mallards Northern League Ken Landenberger
D Selma Cloverleafs Alabama–Florida League Johnny Lipon
D North Platte Indians Nebraska State League
D Batavia Indians New York–Penn League Paul O'Dea

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Mobile, Selma[10]

References[]

  1. ^ Jay Porter page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Billy Martin page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Jim Piersall page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ a b Jim Bolger page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 258, David Nemec and Scott latow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  6. ^ Mickey Vernon page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Bob Smith page at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ Chuck Tanner Trades and Transactions by Baseball Almanac
  9. ^ "1959 Opening Day Lineup at Baseball-Reference"
  10. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

External links[]

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