1953 Cleveland Indians season

March 2026 November 2013 Cleveland Indians 1953 American League Cleveland Municipal Stadium Cleveland, Ohio Myron H. Wilson Hank Greenberg Al López WXEL(Bob Neal, Red Jones) WERE(Jack Graney, Jimmy Dudley) The 1953 Cleveland Indians season was a season in American baseball. The team finished second in the American League with a record of 92–62, 8 1 2 games behind the New York Yankees. Offseason December 11, 1952: Earl Averill, Jr. was signed as an amateur free agent by the Indians.Earl Averill, Jr. at Baseball-Reference Regular season Al Rosen became the first third baseman in the history of the American League to win the MVP Award.Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 152, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, 978-0-451-22363-0 Season standings Record vs. opponents CLE Notable transactions May 1953: Brooks Lawrence was acquired from the Indians by the Cincinnati Reds.Brooks Lawrence at Baseball-Reference June 15, 1953: Ray Boone, Al Aber, Steve Gromek, and Dick Weik were traded by the Indians to the Detroit Tigers for Art Houtteman, Owen Friend, Bill Wight, and Joe Ginsberg.Ray Boone at Baseball-Reference Roster 1953 Cleveland Indians Roster Pitchers 29 Al Aber 12 Lou Brissie 20 Bob Chakales 19 Bob Feller 25 Mike Garcia 27 Steve Gromek 26 Bob Hooper 41,29,11 Art Houtteman 21 Bob Lemon 28 Dick Tomanek 18,27 Bill Wight 28 Ted Wilks 24 Early Wynn Catchers 15 Dick Aylward 16 Hank Foiles 15 Joe Ginsberg  4 Jim Hegan 18 Joe Tipton Infielders  1 Bobby Ávila  8 Ray Boone  9 Luke Easter  8 Owen Friend 14,6 Bill Glynn  5 Hank Majeski  7 Al Rosen  2 George Strickland Outfielders 6,14 Larry Doby 33 Bob Kennedy 17 Jim Lemon  3 Dale Mitchell 35 Harry Simpson 32 Al Smith 31 Wally Westlake Other batters 32 Barney McCosky 37 Dick Weik Manager 10 Al López Coaches 44 Tony Cuccinello (Third Base) 43 Mel Harder (Pitching) 42 Red Kress (First Base) 40 Bill Lobe(Bullpen) Player stats = Indicates team leader = Indicates league 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 Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI C Jim Hegan 112 299 65 .217 9 37 1B Bill Glynn Bill Glynn (baseball) 147 411 100 .243 3 30 2B Bobby Ávila 141 559 160 .286 8 55 SS George Strickland George Strickland (baseball) 123 419 119 .284 5 47 3B Al Rosen 155 599 201 .336 43 145 OF Larry Doby 149 513 135 .263 29 102 OF Harry Simpson 82 242 55 .227 7 22 OF Dale Mitchell Dale Mitchell (baseball) 134 500 150 .300 13 60 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 Wally Westlake 82 218 72 .330 9 46 Luke Easter Luke Easter (baseball) 68 211 64 .303 7 31 Bob Kennedy 100 161 38 .236 3 22 Al Smith Al Smith (outfielder) 47 150 36 .240 3 14 Ray Boone 34 112 27 .241 4 21 Joe Tipton 47 109 25 .229 6 13 Joe Ginsberg 46 109 31 .284 0 10 Owen Friend 34 68 16 .235 2 13 Hank Majeski 50 50 15 .300 2 12 Jim Lemon 16 46 8 .174 1 5 Barney McCosky 22 21 4 .190 0 3 Hank Foiles 7 7 1 .143 0 0 Dick Aylward 4 3 0 .000 0 0 Dick Weik 1 0 0 ---- 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 Bob Lemon 41 286.2 21 15 3.36 98 Mike Garcia Mike Garcia (baseball, born 1923) 38 271.2 18 9 3.25 134 Early Wynn 36 251.2 17 12 3.93 138 Bob Feller 25 175.2 10 7 3.59 60 Dick Tomanek 1 9.0 1 0 2.00 6 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 Dave Hoskins 26 112.2 9 3 3.99 55 Art Houtteman 22 109.0 7 7 3.80 40 Bob Chakales 7 27.0 0 2 2.67 6 Steve Gromek 5 11.0 1 1 3.27 8 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 Bob Hooper 43 5 4 7 4.02 16 Bill Wight 20 2 1 1 3.71 14 Lou Brissie 16 0 0 2 7.62 5 Al Aber 6 1 1 0 7.50 4 Ted Wilks 4 0 0 0 7.36 2 Awards and records Al Rosen, American League MVP Farm system Minor League Baseball AAA Indianapolis Indians American Association Birdie Tebbetts A Reading Indians Eastern League Kerby Farrell B Spartanburg Peaches Tri-State League Jimmy Bloodworth C Fargo-Moorhead Twins Northern League Zeke Bonura and Santo Luberto C Sherbrooke Indians Provincial League Pinky May D Daytona Beach Islanders Florida State League Ed Levy D Green Bay Blue Jays Wisconsin State League Phil Seghi LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Fargo-Moorhead, Daytona Beach, Green BayJohnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007 On May 6, 1953, the Fargo-Moorhead Twins defeated Sioux Falls in their Opening Day game by a score of 12–3. A record crowd of 10,123 fans came to Barnett Field. In the game, Roger Maris got his first professional baseball hit.Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero, p. 54, Tom Clavin and Danny Peary, Touchstone Books, Published by Simon & Schuster, New York, 2010, 978-1-4165-8928-0 That season, Twins player Frank Gravino would hit 52 home runs.Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero, p. 55 The Twins would host the Northern League All-Star game and defeat the Northern League All-Stars by a score of 8–4.Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero, p. 56 The Twins finished with a record of 86–39 (improving from their record of 44–80 in 1952) and bested Duluth to win the Northern League championship.Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero, p. 58 Roger Maris was selected as the 1953 Northern League Rookie of the Year. Notes 2 References 1953 Cleveland Indians season at Baseball Reference Category:Cleveland Guardians seasons Cleveland Indians season Cleveland Indians