1973 Cleveland Indians season

1973 Cleveland Indians
1973 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)	Nick Mileti
General manager(s)	Gabe Paul, Phil Seghi
Manager(s)	Ken Aspromonte
Local television	WJW-TV
Local radio	WERE (1300)
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The 1973 Cleveland Indians season was the 73rd in the franchise's history. The club finished in sixth place in the American League East.

Offseason[]

In January, Vernon Stouffer sold the Cleveland Indians to Nick Mileti for $10 million.^[1] It was $1.4 million more than the group led by George Steinbrenner had offered in December 1971.^[2]

Notable transactions[]

October 19, 1972: Eddie Leon was traded by the Indians to the Chicago White Sox for Walt Williams.^[3]
November 27, 1972: Graig Nettles and Jerry Moses were traded by the Indians to the New York Yankees for John Ellis, Jerry Kenney, Charlie Spikes, and Rusty Torres.^[4]
November 30, 1972: Del Unser and Terry Wedgewood (minors) were traded by the Indians to the Philadelphia Phillies for Oscar Gamble and Roger Freed.^[5]
November 30, 1972: Tom Ragland was traded by the Texas Rangers to the Cleveland Indians for Vince Colbert.^[6]
March 8, 1973: Alex Johnson was traded by the Indians to the Texas Rangers for Rich Hinton and Vince Colbert.^[7]
March 24, 1973: Ray Fosse and Jack Heidemann were traded by the Indians to the Oakland Athletics for Dave Duncan and George Hendrick.^[8]

Regular season[]

John Adams started to drum at Cleveland Stadium on August 24, 1973, when the Indians played the Texas Rangers. Cleveland won, 11–5. Ever since, Adams has sat in the highest bleacher seat in left center field with his bass drum and has been a fixture for the team.^{[citation needed]}

Season standings[]

v t AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Baltimore Orioles	97	65	0.599	—	50–31	47–34
Boston Red Sox	89	73	0.549	8	48–33	41–40
Detroit Tigers	85	77	0.525	12	47–34	38–43
New York Yankees	80	82	0.494	17	50–31	30–51
Milwaukee Brewers	74	88	0.457	23	40–41	34–47
Cleveland Indians	71	91	0.438	26	34–47	37–44

Record vs. opponents[]

1973 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	12–6	9–9	8–4	15–3	8–4	9–9	5–7	10–2
Boston	11–7	—	7–5	6–6	9–9	3–15	8–4	12–6	6–6	14–4	4–8	9–3
California	6–6	5–7	—	8–10	5–7	7–5	10–8	5–7	10–8	6–6	6–12	11–7
Chicago	4–8	6–6	10–8	—	7–5	5–7	6–12	3–9	9–9	8–4	6–12	13–5
Cleveland	6–12	9–9	7–5	5–7	—	9–9	2–10	9–9	7–5	7–11	3–9	7–5
Detroit	9–9	15–3	5–7	7–5	9–9	—	4–8	12–6	5–7	7–11	7–5	5–7
Kansas City	4–8	4–8	8–10	12–6	10–2	8–4	—	8–4	9–9	6–6	8–10	11–7
Milwaukee	3–15	6–12	7–5	9–3	9–9	6–12	4–8	—	8–4	10–8	4–8	8–4
Minnesota	4–8	6–6	8–10	9–9	5–7	7–5	9–9	4–8	—	3–9	14–4	12–6
New York	9–9	4–14	6–6	4–8	11–7	11–7	6–6	8–10	9–3	—	4–8	8–4
Oakland	7–5	8–4	12–6	12–6	9–3	5–7	10–8	8–4	4–14	8–4	—	11–7
Texas	2–10	3–9	7–11	5–13	5–7	7–5	7–11	4–8	6–12	4–8	7–11	—

Notable transactions[]

May 4, 1973: Jerry Kenney was released by the Indians.^[9]
June 12, 1973: Lowell Palmer was traded by the Indians to the New York Yankees for Mike Kekich.^[10]

Opening Day Lineup[]


Opening Day Starters
#	Name	Position
28	Rusty Torres	RF
20	George Hendrick	CF
14	Chris Chambliss	1B
7	John Ellis	DH
24	Charlie Spikes	LF
11	Dave Duncan	C
25	Buddy Bell	3B
10	Jack Brohamer	2B
4	Leo Cárdenas	SS
36	Gaylord Perry	P

^[11]

Roster[]

1973 Cleveland Indians

Roster

Pitchers

49,27 Dick Bosman
46 Steve Dunning
47 Ed Farmer
40 Tom Hilgendorf
46 Mike Jackson
32 Jerry Johnson
18 Mike Kekich
42 Mike Kilkenny
30 Ray Lamb
31 Steve Mingori
36 Gaylord Perry
47 Ken Sanders
34 Brent Strom
41 Dick Tidrow
31 Tom Timmermann
43 Milt Wilcox

Catchers

8 Alan Ashby
11 Dave Duncan
7 John Ellis

Infielders

25 Buddy Bell
10 Jack Brohamer
4 Leo Cárdenas
14 Chris Chambliss
15 Frank Duffy
9 Jerry Kenney
16 Tom Ragland

Outfielders

Manager

2 Ken Aspromonte

Coaches

6 Rocky Colavito (First Base)
3 Joe Lutz (Third 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	Dave Duncan	95	344	80	.233	17	43
1B	Chris Chambliss	155	572	156	.273	11	53
2B	Jack Brohamer	102	300	66	.220	4	29
SS	Frank Duffy	116	361	95	.263	8	50
3B	Buddy Bell	156	631	169	.268	14	59
LF	Charlie Spikes	140	506	120	.237	23	73
CF	George Hendrick	113	440	118	.268	21	61
RF	Rusty Torres	122	312	64	.205	7	28
DH	Oscar Gamble	113	390	104	.267	20	44

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
John Ellis	127	437	118	.270	14	68
Walt Williams	104	350	101	.289	8	38
John Lowenstein	98	305	89	.292	6	40
Leo Cárdenas	72	195	42	.215	0	12
Tom Ragland	67	183	47	.257	0	12
Ron Lolich	61	140	32	.229	2	15
Tommy Smith	14	41	10	.244	2	3
Ted Ford	11	40	9	.225	0	3
Alan Ashby	11	29	5	.172	1	3
Jerry Kenney	5	16	4	.250	0	2

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	344	19	19	3.38	238
Dick Tidrow	42	274.2	14	16	4.42	138
Milt Wilcox	26	134.1	8	10	5.83	82
Brent Strom	27	123	2	10	4.61	91
Dick Bosman	22	97	1	8	6.22	41
Steve Dunning	4	18	0	2	6.50	10

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
Tom Timmermann	29	124.1	8	7	4.92	62
Mike Kekich	16	50	1	4	7.02	26

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
Tom Hilgendorf	48	5	3	6	3.14	58
Jerry Johnson	39	5	6	5	6.18	45
Ray Lamb	32	3	3	2	4.60	60
Ed Farmer	16	0	2	1	4.67	10
Ken Sanders	15	5	1	5	1.65	14
Steve Mingori	5	0	0	0	6.17	4
Mike Kilkenny	5	0	0	0	22.50	3
Mike Jackson	1	0	0	0	0.00	1

Awards and honors[]

All-Star Game

Farm system[]

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Oklahoma City 89ers	American Association	Frank Lucchesi
AA	San Antonio Brewers	Texas League	Tony Pacheco
A	Reno Silver Sox	California League	Lou Klimchock
Rookie	GCL Indians	Gulf Coast League

^[12]

Notes[]

^ Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, p. 16, Bill Madden, Harper Collins Publishing, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-06-169031-0
^ Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, p. 6
^ Walt Williams page at Baseball Reference
^ Graig Nettles page at Baseball Reference
^ Oscar Gamble page at Baseball Reference
^ https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/raglato01.shtml
^ Rich Hinton page at Baseball Reference
^ Ray Fosse page at Baseball Reference
^ Jerry Kenney page at Baseball Reference
^ Mike Kekich page at Baseball-Reference
^ 1973 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. 16, Bill Madden, Harper Collins Publishing, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-06-169031-0

[2] Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, p. 6

[3] Walt Williams page at Baseball Reference

[4] Graig Nettles page at Baseball Reference

[5] Oscar Gamble page at Baseball Reference

[6] ttps://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/raglato01.shtml

[7] Rich Hinton page at Baseball Reference

[8] Ray Fosse page at Baseball Reference

[9] Jerry Kenney page at Baseball Reference

[10] Mike Kekich page at Baseball-Reference

[11] 1973 Opening Day Lineup at Baseball-Reference

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

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1973 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)	Nick Mileti
General manager(s)	Gabe Paul, Phil Seghi
Manager(s)	Ken Aspromonte
Local television	WJW-TV
Local radio	WERE (1300)
< Previous season Next season >