1920 Cleveland Indians season

Last updated

1920  Cleveland Indians
World Series Champions
American League Champions
League American League
Ballpark Dunn Field
City Cleveland, Ohio
Owners Jim Dunn
Managers Tris Speaker
  1919 Seasons 1921  

The 1920 Cleveland Indians season was the 20th season in franchise history. The Indians won the American League pennant and proceeded to win their first World Series title in the history of the franchise. Pitchers Jim Bagby, Stan Coveleski and Ray Caldwell combined to win 75 games. [1] Despite the team's success, the season was perhaps more indelibly marked by the death of starting shortstop Ray Chapman, who died after being hit by a pitch on August 16.

Contents

Regular season

The 1920 Cleveland Indians 1920 Indians.jpg
The 1920 Cleveland Indians

During the season, Jim Bagby became the last pitcher to win 30 games in one season for the Indians in the 20th century. [2]

On August 17, shortstop Ray Chapman died after being hit by a pitch in a game against the Yankees, becoming the second of only two Major League Baseball players to have died as a result of an injury received in a game (the first was Mike "Doc" Powers in 1909). [3]

Season standings

American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cleveland Indians 98560.63651–2747–29
Chicago White Sox 96580.623252–2544–33
New York Yankees 95590.617349–2846–31
St. Louis Browns 76770.49721½40–3836–39
Boston Red Sox 72810.47125½41–3531–46
Washington Senators 68840.4472937–3831–46
Detroit Tigers 61930.3963732–4629–47
Philadelphia Athletics 481060.3125025–5023–56

Record vs. opponents


Sources:
TeamBOSCWSCLEDETNYYPHASLBWSH
Boston 12–106–1613–99–1313–9–19–1310–11
Chicago 10–1210–1219–310–1216–614–817–5
Cleveland 16–612–1015–79–1316–615–715–7
Detroit 9–133–197–157–1512–10–110–1213–9
New York 13–912–1013–915–719–312–1011–11
Philadelphia 9–13–16–166–1610–12–13–198–146–16
St. Louis 13–98–147–1512–1010–1214–812–9–1
Washington 11–105–177–159–1311–1116–69–12–1

Roster

1920 Cleveland Indians
Roster
PitchersCatchers

Infielders

OutfieldersManager

Coaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

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

PosPlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
C Steve O'Neill 149489157.321355
1B Doc Johnston 147535156.292271
2B Bill Wambsganss 153565138.244155
3B Larry Gardner 154597185.3103118
SS Ray Chapman 111435132.303349
LF Charlie Jamieson 108370118.319140
CF Tris Speaker 150552214.3888107
RF Elmer Smith 129456144.31612103

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

PlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
Joe Evans 5617260.349023
Jack Graney 6215245.296013
Joe Wood 6113737.270130
Harry Lunte 237114.19707
Joe Sewell 227023.329012
George Burns 445615.268013
Les Nunamaker 345418.333014
Pinch Thomas 993.33300

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Jim Bagby 48339.231122.8973
Stan Coveleski 41315.024142.49133
Ray Caldwell 34237.220103.8680
Guy Morton 29137.0864.4772
Duster Mails 963.1701.8525

Note: Guy Morton was team leader in saves with 3.

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

PlayerGIPWLSVERASO
George Uhle 2784.24505.2127
Elmer Myers 1671.22404.7716
Bob Clark 1142.01203.438
Dick Niehaus 1940.01203.6012
Tony Faeth 1325.00004.3214
Joe Boehling 313.00104.854
Tim Murchison 25.00000.000
Joe Wood 12.000022.501
George Ellison 11.00000.001

1920 World Series

On October 10, 1920, which was the fifth game of the World Series, Bill Wambsganss of the Indians executed an unassisted triple play. He caught a line drive, touched second base, and tagged the runner coming from first base. [4] On the same day, Elmer Smith hit the first grand slam in World Series history. During that same game, Indians pitcher Jim Bagby became the first pitcher to hit a home run in World Series history. [5]

AL Cleveland Indians (5) vs. NL Brooklyn Robins (2)

GameScoreDateLocationAttendance
1Indians – 3, Robins – 1October 5 Ebbets Field 23,759
2Indians – 0, Robins – 3October 6 Ebbets Field 22,559
3Indians – 1, Robins – 2October 7 Ebbets Field 25,088
4Robins – 1, Indians – 5October 9 Dunn Field 25,734
5Robins – 1, Indians – 8October 10 Dunn Field 26,884
6Robins – 0, Indians – 1October 11 Dunn Field 27,194
7Robins – 0, Indians – 3October 12 Dunn Field 27,525

Game 1

October 5, 1920, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York

Team123456789RHE
Cleveland020100000350
Brooklyn000000100151
W: Stan Coveleski (1–0)  L: Rube Marquard (0–1)

Game 2

October 6, 1920, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York

Team123456789RHE
Cleveland000000000071
Brooklyn10101000x370
W: Burleigh Grimes (1–0)  L: Jim Bagby (0–1)

Game 3

October 7, 1920, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York

Team123456789RHE
Cleveland000100000131
Brooklyn20000000x261
W: Sherry Smith (1–0)  L: Ray Caldwell (0–1)

Game 4

October 9, 1920, at Dunn Field in Cleveland, Ohio

Team123456789RHE
Brooklyn000100000151
Cleveland20200100x5121
W: Stan Coveleski (2–0)  L: Leon Cadore (0–1)

Game 5

October 10, 1920, at Dunn Field in Cleveland, Ohio

Team123456789RHE
Brooklyn0000000011131
Cleveland40031000x8122
W: Jim Bagby (1–1)  L: Burleigh Grimes (1–1)
HR: CLEElmer Smith (1), Jim Bagby (1)

Game 6

October 11, 1920, at Dunn Field in Cleveland, Ohio

Team123456789RHE
Brooklyn000000000030
Cleveland00001000x173
W: Duster Mails (1–0)  L: Sherry Smith (1–1)

Game 7

October 12, 1920, at Dunn Field in Cleveland, Ohio

Team123456789RHE
Brooklyn000000000052
Cleveland00011010x373
W: Stan Coveleski (3–0)  L: Burleigh Grimes (1–2)

Composite box

1920 World Series (5–2): Cleveland Indians (A.L.) over Brooklyn Robins (N.L.)

Team123456789RHE
Cleveland Indians 622622100215312
Brooklyn Robins 3011101018446
Total Attendance: 236,928   Average Attendance: 29,616
Winning Player's Share: – $5,207   Losing Player's Share – $3,254

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References

  1. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.100, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN   978-0-451-22363-0
  2. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.99, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN   978-0-451-22363-0
  3. Merron, Jeff (June 22, 2002). "Major Leaguers Who Died In-Season". espn.com
  4. "Unassisted Triple Plays by Baseball Almanac". Baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved March 10, 2013.
  5. "The Ballplayers – World Series". baseballbiography.com. Retrieved March 10, 2013.