1953 Cleveland Indians season

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, 8½ games behind the New York Yankees.

1953 Cleveland Indians
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Myron H. Wilson
General manager(s)Hank Greenberg
Manager(s)Al López
Local televisionWXEL
(Bob Neal, Red Jones)
Local radioWERE
(Jack Graney, Jimmy Dudley)
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Offseason
  • December 11, 1952: Earl Averill, Jr. was signed as an amateur free agent by the Indians.[1]

Regular season

Al Rosen became the first third baseman in the history of the American League to win the MVP Award.[2]

Season standings
American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 9952 0.656 — 50–27 49–25
Cleveland Indians 9262 0.597 8½ 53–24 39–38
Chicago White Sox 8965 0.578 11½ 41–36 48–29
Boston Red Sox 8469 0.549 16 38–38 46–31
Washington Senators 7676 0.500 23½ 39–36 37–40
Detroit Tigers 6094 0.390 40½ 30–47 30–47
Philadelphia Athletics 5995 0.383 41½ 27–50 32–45
St. Louis Browns 54100 0.351 46½ 23–54 31–46

Record vs. opponents
1953 American League Records

Sources:
Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYY PHI STL WSH
Boston —6–1613–913–910–1115–717–510–12
Chicago 16–6—11–11–114–8–19–1310–1217–512–10
Cleveland 9–1311–11–1—14–811–1119–317–511–11
Detroit 9–138–14–18–14—6–1611–11–37–1511–11
New York 11–1013–911–1116–6—17–517–514–6
Philadelphia 7–1512–103–1911–11–35–17—13–98–14
St. Louis 5–175–175–1715–75–179–13—10–12
Washington 12–1010–1211–1111–116–1414–812–10—

Notable transactions

Roster
1953 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

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
CJim Hegan11229965.217937
1BBill Glynn147411100.243330
2BBobby Ávila141559160.286855
SSGeorge Strickland123419119.284547
3BAl Rosen155599201.33643145
OFLarry Doby149513135.26329102
OFHarry Simpson8224255.227722
OFDale Mitchell134500150.3001360

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 Westlake8221872.330946
Luke Easter6821164.303731
Bob Kennedy10016138.236322
Al Smith4715036.240314
Ray Boone3411227.241421
Joe Tipton4710925.229613
Joe Ginsberg4610931.284010
Owen Friend346816.235213
Hank Majeski505015.300212
Jim Lemon16468.17415
Barney McCosky22214.19003
Hank Foiles771.14300
Dick Aylward430.00000
Dick Weik100---00

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 Lemon41286.221153.3698
Mike Garcia38271.21893.25134
Early Wynn36251.217123.93138
Bob Feller25175.21073.5960
Dick Tomanek19102.006

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 Hoskins26112.2933.9955
Art Houtteman22109773.8040
Bob Chakales727022.676
Steve Gromek511113.278

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 Hooper435474.0216
Bill Wight202113.7114
Lou Brissie160027.625
Al Aber61107.504
Ted Wilks40007.362

Awards and records

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
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 Bay[5]

  • 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.[6] That season, Twins player Frank Gravino would hit 52 home runs.[7] The Twins would host the Northern League All-Star game and defeat the Northern League All-Stars by a score of 8–4.[8] The Twins finished with a record of 86–39 (improving from their record of 44–80 in 1952[8]) and bested Duluth to win the Northern League championship.[9] Roger Maris was selected as the 1953 Northern League Rookie of the Year.[9]

Notes
  1. Earl Averill, Jr. at Baseball-Reference
  2. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 152, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  3. Brooks Lawrence at Baseball-Reference
  4. Ray Boone at Baseball-Reference
  5. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
  6. Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero, p. 54, Tom Clavin and Danny Peary, Touchstone Books, Published by Simon & Schuster, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-1-4165-8928-0
  7. Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero, p. 55
  8. Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero, p. 56
  9. Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero, p. 58

References
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