| 1954 Cleveland Indians | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| American League champions | ||||
 Team shown in the locker room, 1954 | ||||
| League | American League | |||
| Ballpark | Cleveland Municipal Stadium | |||
| City | Cleveland, Ohio | |||
| Owners | Myron H. Wilson | |||
| General managers | Hank Greenberg | |||
| Managers | Al López | |||
| Television | WXEL (Ken Coleman,Jim Britt) | |||
| Radio | WERE (Jimmy Dudley, Ed Edwards) | |||
| ||||
The1954Cleveland Indians advanced to theWorld Series for the first time insix years. It was the team's thirdAmerican League championship in franchise history. The Indians' 111–43 record is the all-time record for winning percentage by an American League team (.721), as this was before 162 games were played in a season.
For more than 60 years, Cleveland had been the only team inMajor League Baseball to have compiled two different 11-gamewinning streaks within the same season, until theToronto Blue Jays were able to accomplish therare feat during the2015 regular season.[1]
However, their great regular-season record would not be enough to win the World Series, as the Indians got swept in four games by theNew York Giants, after which the Indians would not return to the Fall Classic or any postseason play of any kind until1995.
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cleveland Indians | 111 | 43 | .721 | — | 59–18 | 52–25 |
| New York Yankees | 103 | 51 | .669 | 8 | 54–23 | 49–28 |
| Chicago White Sox | 94 | 60 | .610 | 17 | 45–32 | 49–28 |
| Boston Red Sox | 69 | 85 | .448 | 42 | 38–39 | 31–46 |
| Detroit Tigers | 68 | 86 | .442 | 43 | 35–42 | 33–44 |
| Washington Senators | 66 | 88 | .429 | 45 | 37–41 | 29–47 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 54 | 100 | .351 | 57 | 32–45 | 22–55 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 51 | 103 | .331 | 60 | 29–47 | 22–56 |
Sources:[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | WSH | |||||
| Baltimore | — | 11–11 | 7–15 | 3–19 | 8–14 | 5–17 | 10–12 | 10–12 | |||||
| Boston | 11–11 | — | 5–17 | 2–20–2 | 14–8 | 9–13 | 15–7 | 13–9 | |||||
| Chicago | 15–7 | 17–5 | — | 11–11 | 12–10–1 | 7–15 | 17–5 | 15–7 | |||||
| Cleveland | 19–3 | 20–2–2 | 11–11 | — | 14–8 | 11–11 | 18–4 | 18–4 | |||||
| Detroit | 14–8 | 8–14 | 10–12–1 | 8–14 | — | 6–16 | 13–9 | 9–13 | |||||
| New York | 17–5 | 13–9 | 15–7 | 11–11 | 16–6 | — | 18–4–1 | 13–9 | |||||
| Philadelphia | 12–10 | 7–15 | 5–17 | 4–18 | 9–13 | 4–18–1 | — | 10–12–1 | |||||
| Washington | 12–10 | 9–13 | 7–15 | 4–18 | 13–9 | 9–13 | 12–10–1 | — | |||||
| 1954 Cleveland Indians | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
| Pitchers | Catchers Infielders | Outfielders Other batters | Manager
Coaches
| ||||||
| = Indicates team leader |
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 | Jim Hegan | 139 | 423 | 99 | .234 | 11 | 40 |
| 1B | Vic Wertz | 94 | 295 | 81 | .275 | 14 | 48 |
| 2B | Bobby Ávila | 143 | 555 | 189 | .341 | 15 | 67 |
| 3B | Al Rosen | 137 | 466 | 140 | .300 | 24 | 102 |
| SS | George Strickland | 112 | 361 | 77 | .213 | 6 | 37 |
| LF | Al Smith | 131 | 481 | 135 | .281 | 11 | 50 |
| CF | Larry Doby | 153 | 577 | 157 | .272 | 32 | 126 |
| RF | Dave Philley | 133 | 452 | 102 | .226 | 12 | 60 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wally Westlake | 85 | 240 | 63 | .263 | 11 | 42 |
| Rudy Regalado | 65 | 180 | 45 | .250 | 2 | 24 |
| Bill Glynn | 111 | 171 | 43 | .251 | 5 | 18 |
| Sam Dente | 68 | 169 | 45 | .266 | 1 | 19 |
| Hank Majeski | 57 | 121 | 34 | .281 | 3 | 17 |
| Dave Pope | 60 | 102 | 30 | .294 | 4 | 13 |
| Hal Naragon | 46 | 101 | 24 | .238 | 0 | 12 |
| Dale Mitchell | 53 | 60 | 17 | .283 | 1 | 6 |
| Mickey Grasso | 4 | 6 | 2 | .333 | 1 | 1 |
| Luke Easter | 6 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| Rocky Nelson | 4 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Joe Ginsberg | 3 | 2 | 1 | .500 | 0 | 1 |
| Jim Dyck | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | 1 |
| Bob Kennedy | 1 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 0 | 0 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early Wynn | 40 | 270.2 | 23 | 11 | 2.73 | 155 |
| Mike Garcia | 45 | 258.2 | 19 | 8 | 2.64 | 129 |
| Bob Lemon | 36 | 258.1 | 23 | 7 | 2.72 | 110 |
| Art Houtteman | 32 | 188.0 | 15 | 7 | 3.35 | 68 |
| Bob Feller | 19 | 140.0 | 13 | 3 | 3.09 | 59 |
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ray Narleski | 42 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 2.22 | 52 |
| Don Mossi | 40 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 1.94 | 55 |
| Hal Newhouser | 26 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 2.51 | 25 |
| Bob Hooper | 17 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2.72 | 12 |
| Dave Hoskins | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.04 | 9 |
| Bob Chakales | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.87 | 3 |
| José Santiago | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |
| Dick Tomanek | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.40 | 0 |
This was the first time (and only to date) that theCleveland Indians were swept in aWorld Series. The only highlight for the Indians was that they kept theYankees from winning their sixth straight series. The last time the Yankees had not won the series or pennant beforehand was 1948, when, again, the Indians kept them out (although that year, they won the Series). It was also the only World Series from 1949 to 1958 which did not feature the Yankees.
September 29, 1954, at thePolo Grounds inNew York
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cleveland (A) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 |
| New York (N) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 3 |
| W:Marv Grissom (1–0) L:Bob Lemon (0–1) | |||||||||||||
| HR:NYG –Dusty Rhodes (1) | |||||||||||||
September 30, 1954, at thePolo Grounds inNew York
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cleveland (A) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| New York (N) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | x | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| W:Johnny Antonelli (1–0) L:Early Wynn (0–1) | ||||||||||||
| HR:CLE –Al Smith (1) NYG –Dusty Rhodes (2) | ||||||||||||
October 1, 1954, atCleveland Stadium inCleveland, Ohio
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York (N) | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 1 |
| Cleveland (A) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| W:Rubén Gómez (1–0) L:Mike Garcia (0–1) S:Hoyt Wilhelm (1) | ||||||||||||
| HR:CLE –Vic Wertz (1) | ||||||||||||
October 2, 1954, atCleveland Stadium inCleveland, Ohio
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York (N) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 3 |
| Cleveland (A) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 2 |
| W:Don Liddle (1–0) L:Bob Lemon (0–2) S:Johnny Antonelli (1) | ||||||||||||
| HR:CLE –Hank Majeski (1) | ||||||||||||
1954 World Series(4–0):New York Giants (N.L.) over Cleveland Indians (A.L.)
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Giants | 1 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 21 | 33 | 7 | |
| Cleveland Indians | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 26 | 4 | |
| Total Attendance: 251,507 Average Attendance: 62,877 | ||||||||||||||
| Winning Player's Share: – $11,118 Losing Player's Share – $6,713 | ||||||||||||||
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Fargo-Moorhead[5]
The 1954 Indianapolis Indians featuredHerb Score andRocky Colavito. Colavito hit 38 home runs and accumulated 116 RBIs.[6]