1972 Cleveland Indians season

1972 Cleveland Indians
1972 Cleveland Indians
Major League affiliations
	American League (since 1901) Eastern Division (since 1969); ;
Location
	Cleveland Municipal Stadium (since 1932); Cleveland, Ohio (since 1901);
Other information
Owner(s)	Vernon Stouffer
General manager(s)	Gabe Paul
Manager(s)	Ken Aspromonte
Local television	WJW-TV
Local radio	WERE (1300)
	< Previous season Next season >

The 1972 Cleveland Indians season was the 72nd in franchise history. The team finished fifth in the American League East with a record of 72–86, 14 games behind the Detroit Tigers.

Offseason[]

George Steinbrenner offer[]

On December 6, 1971, George Steinbrenner led a group of investors (including Ted Bonda, Ed Jeffrey, Howard Metzenbaum, Steve O'Neill, Gabe Paul and Al Rosen) that negotiated with Jim Stouffer, the son of Indians owner Vernon Stouffer about the potential purchase of the franchise. The group offered $8.6 million and agreed to absorb $300,000 in debt (Stouffer borrowed against the Indians television contract for 1972).^[1] Although Steinbrenner and Jim Stouffer agreed to a sale, Vernon Stouffer disapproved of the deal. He felt that he was able of getting $10 million for the franchise.^[2]

Notable transactions[]

November 29, 1971: Sam McDowell was traded by the Indians to the San Francisco Giants for Gaylord Perry and Frank Duffy.^[3]
December 2, 1971: Roy Foster, Ken Suarez, Mike Paul, and Rich Hand were traded by the Indians to the Texas Rangers for Del Unser, Gary Jones, Terry Ley, and Denny Riddleberger.^[4]
December 6, 1971: Adolfo Phillips was purchased by the Indians from the Montreal Expos.^[5]

Regular season[]

Season standings[]

v t AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Detroit Tigers	86	70	0.551	—	44–34	42–36
Boston Red Sox	85	70	0.548	½	52–26	33–44
Baltimore Orioles	80	74	0.519	5	38–39	42–35
New York Yankees	79	76	0.510	6½	46–31	33–45
Cleveland Indians	72	84	0.462	14	43–34	29–50
Milwaukee Brewers	65	91	0.417	21	37–42	28–49

Record vs. opponents[]

1972 American League Records v t Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	TEX
Baltimore	—	7–11	6–6	8–4	8–10	10–8	6–6	10–5	6–6	7–6	6–6	6–6
Boston	11–7	—	8–4	6–6	8–7	5–9	6–6	11–7	4–8	9–9	9–3	8–4
California	6–6	4–8	—	7–11	8–4	5–7	9–6	7–5	7–8	4–8	8–10	10–7
Chicago	4–8	6–6	11–7	—	8–4	5–7	8–9	9–3	8–6	7–5	7–8	14–4
Cleveland	10–8	7–8	4–8	4–8	—	10–8	6–6	5–10	8–4	7–11	2–10	9–3
Detroit	8–10	9–5	7–5	7–5	8–10	—	7–5	10–8	9–3	7–9	4–8	10–2
Kansas City	6–6	6–6	6–9	9–8	6–6	5–7	—	7–5	9–9	7–5	7–11	8–6
Milwaukee	5–10	7–11	5–7	3–9	10–5	8–10	5–7	—	4–8	9–9	4–8	5–7
Minnesota	6–6	8–4	8–7	6–8	4–8	3–9	9–9	8–4	—	6–6	8–9	11–7
New York	6–7	9–9	8–4	5–7	11–7	9–7	5–7	9–9	6–6	—	3–9	8–4
Oakland	6–6	3–9	10–8	8–7	10–2	8–4	11–7	8–4	9–8	9–3	—	11–4
Texas	6–6	4–8	7–10	4–14	3–9	2–10	6–8	7–5	7–11	4–8	4–11	—

Notable transactions[]

June 6, 1972: 1972 Major League Baseball Draft
- Rick Manning was drafted by the Indians in the 1st round (2nd pick).^[6]
- Dennis Eckersley was drafted by the Indians in the 3rd round. Player signed June 12, 1972.^[7]
- Rick Langford was drafted by the Indians in the 36th round, but did not sign.^[8]
September 18, 1972: Lowell Palmer was selected off waivers by the Indians from the St. Louis Cardinals.^[9]

Opening Day Lineup[]


Opening Day Starters
#	Name	Position
1	Del Unser	CF
11	Eddie Leon	2B
20	Alex Johnson	LF
12	Graig Nettles	3B
14	Chris Chambliss	1B
8	Ray Fosse	C
9	Buddy Bell	RF
15	Frank Duffy	SS
36	Gaylord Perry	P

^[10]

Roster[]

1972 Cleveland Indians

Roster

Pitchers

35 Bill Butler
44 Vince Colbert
46 Steve Dunning
47 Ed Farmer
34 Steve Hargan
38 Phil Hennigan
40 Tom Hilgendorf
42 Mike Kilkenny
30 Ray Lamb
43 Marcelino López
31 Steve Mingori
33 Lowell Palmer
36 Gaylord Perry
37 Denny Riddleberger
41 Dick Tidrow
32 Milt Wilcox

Catchers

8 Ray Fosse
52 Larry Johnson
10 Jerry Moses

Infielders

7 Jack Brohamer
17 Lou Camilli
14 Chris Chambliss
15 Frank Duffy
18 Jack Heidemann
11 Eddie Leon
12 Graig Nettles
16 Fred Stanley

Outfielders

9 Buddy Bell
25 Kurt Bevacqua
27 Roy Foster
20 Alex Johnson
23 Ron Lolich
29 John Lowenstein
22 Tommy McCraw
28 Adolfo Phillips
1 Del Unser

Manager

2 Ken Aspromonte

Coaches

-- Clay Bryant
6 Bobby Hofman (Third Base)
3 Joe Lutz (First Base)
21 Warren Spahn (Pitching)

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	Ray Fosse	134	457	110	.241	10	41
1B	Chris Chambliss	121	466	136	.292	6	44
2B	Jack Brohamer	136	527	123	.233	5	35
SS	Frank Duffy	130	385	92	.239	3	27
3B	Graig Nettles	150	557	141	.253	17	70
LF	Alex Johnson	108	356	85	.239	8	37
CF	Del Unser	132	383	91	.238	1	17
RF	Buddy Bell	132	466	119	.255	9	36

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
Tommy McCraw	129	391	101	.258	7	33
Eddie Leon	89	225	45	.200	4	16
John Lowenstein	68	151	32	.212	6	21
Roy Foster	73	143	32	.224	4	13
Jerry Moses	52	141	31	.220	4	14
Ron Lolich	24	80	15	.188	2	8
Lou Camilli	39	41	6	.146	0	3
Kurt Bevacqua	19	35	4	.114	1	1
Jack Heidemann	10	20	3	.150	0	0
Fred Stanley	6	12	2	.167	0	0
Adolfo Phillips	12	7	0	.000	0	0
Larry Johnson	1	2	1	.500	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
Gaylord Perry	41	342.2	24	16	1.92	234
Dick Tidrow	39	237.1	14	15	2.77	123
Milt Wilcox	32	156	7	14	3.40	90
Steve Dunning	16	105	6	4	3.26	52

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
Ray Lamb	34	107.2	5	6	3.09	64
Vince Colbert	22	74.2	1	7	4.58	36
Mike Kilkenny	22	58	4	1	3.41	44
Tom Hilgendorf	19	47	3	1	2.68	25
Bill Butler	6	11.2	0	0	1.54	6
Marcelino López	4	8.1	0	0	5.40	1

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
Ed Farmer	46	2	5	7	4.40	33
Steve Mingori	41	0	6	10	3.95	47
Phil Hennigan	38	5	3	6	2.67	44
Denny Riddleberger	38	1	3	0	2.50	34
Steve Hargan	12	0	3	0	5.85	10
Lowell Palmer	1	0	0	0	4.50	3

Awards and honors[]

All-Star Game

Gaylord Perry, Pitcher, Reserve

Farm system[]

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Portland Beavers	Pacific Coast League	Ray Hathaway, Clay Bryant and Dan Carnevale
AA	Elmira Pioneers	Eastern League
A	Reno Silver Sox	California League	Lou Klimchock
Rookie	GCL Indians	Gulf Coast League	Pinky May

^[11]

Notes[]

^ Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, p. 6, Bill Madden, Harper Collins Publishing, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-06-169031-0
^ Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, pp. 6–7
^ Sam McDowell page at Baseball Reference
^ Del Unser page at Baseball Reference
^ Adolfo Phillips page at Baseball Reference
^ Rick Manning page at Baseball Reference
^ Dennis Eckersley page at Baseball Reference
^ Rick Langford page at Baseball Reference
^ Lowell Palmer page at Baseball-Reference
^ 1972 Opening Day Lineup at Baseball-Reference
^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References[]

[1] Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, p. 6, Bill Madden, Harper Collins Publishing, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-06-169031-0

[2] Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, pp. 6–7

[3] Sam McDowell page at Baseball Reference

[4] Del Unser page at Baseball Reference

[5] Adolfo Phillips page at Baseball Reference

[6] Rick Manning page at Baseball Reference

[7] Dennis Eckersley page at Baseball Reference

[8] Rick Langford page at Baseball Reference

[9] Lowell Palmer page at Baseball-Reference

[10] 1972 Opening Day Lineup at Baseball-Reference

[11] Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

1972 Cleveland Indians
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901) Eastern Division (since 1969)
Location
Cleveland Municipal Stadium (since 1932) Cleveland, Ohio (since 1901)
Other information
Owner(s)	Vernon Stouffer
General manager(s)	Gabe Paul
Manager(s)	Ken Aspromonte
Local television	WJW-TV
Local radio	WERE (1300)
< Previous season Next season >