1920 Cleveland Indians season

1920 Cleveland Indians
World Series Champions
American League Champions
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkDunn Field
CityCleveland, Ohio
OwnersJim Dunn
ManagersTris 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.

Regular season

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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

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American League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cleveland Indians 98 56 .636 — 51‍–‍27 47‍–‍29
Chicago White Sox 96 58 .623 2 52‍–‍25 44‍–‍33
New York Yankees 95 59 .617 3 49‍–‍28 46‍–‍31
St. Louis Browns 76 77 .497 21½ 40‍–‍38 36‍–‍39
Boston Red Sox 72 81 .471 25½ 41‍–‍35 31‍–‍46
Washington Senators 68 84 .447 29 37‍–‍38 31‍–‍46
Detroit Tigers 61 93 .396 37 32‍–‍46 29‍–‍47
Philadelphia Athletics 48 106 .312 50 25‍–‍50 23‍–‍56

Record vs. opponents

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1920 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYY PHA SLB WSH
Boston — 12–10 6–16 13–9 9–13 13–9–1 9–13 10–11
Chicago 10–12 — 10–12 19–3 10–12 16–6 14–8 17–5
Cleveland 16–6 12–10 — 15–7 9–13 16–6 15–7 15–7
Detroit 9–13 3–19 7–15 — 7–15 12–10–1 10–12 13–9
New York 13–9 12–10 13–9 15–7 — 19–3 12–10 11–11
Philadelphia 9–13–1 6–16 6–16 10–12–1 3–19 — 8–14 6–16
St. Louis 13–9 8–14 7–15 12–10 10–12 14–8 — 12–9–1
Washington 11–10 5–17 7–15 9–13 11–11 16–6 9–12–1 —


Roster

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1920 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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= Indicates team leader

Batting

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Starters by position

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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 Steve O'Neill 149 489 157 .321 3 55
1B Doc Johnston 147 535 156 .292 2 71
2B Bill Wambsganss 153 565 138 .244 1 55
3B Larry Gardner 154 597 185 .310 3 118
SS Ray Chapman 111 435 132 .303 3 49
LF Charlie Jamieson 108 370 118 .319 1 40
CF Tris Speaker 150 552 214 .388 8 107
RF Elmer Smith 129 456 144 .316 12 103

Other batters

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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
Joe Evans 56 172 60 .349 0 23
Jack Graney 62 152 45 .296 0 13
Joe Wood 61 137 37 .270 1 30
Harry Lunte 23 71 14 .197 0 7
Joe Sewell 22 70 23 .329 0 12
George Burns 44 56 15 .268 0 13
Les Nunamaker 34 54 18 .333 0 14
Pinch Thomas 9 9 3 .333 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Jim Bagby 48 339.2 31 12 2.89 73
Stan Coveleski 41 315.0 24 14 2.49 133
Ray Caldwell 34 237.2 20 10 3.86 80
Guy Morton 29 137.0 8 6 4.47 72
Duster Mails 9 63.1 7 0 1.85 25

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

Relief pitchers

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

Player G IP W L SV ERA SO
George Uhle 27 84.2 4 5 0 5.21 27
Elmer Myers 16 71.2 2 4 0 4.77 16
Bob Clark 11 42.0 1 2 0 3.43 8
Dick Niehaus 19 40.0 1 2 0 3.60 12
Tony Faeth 13 25.0 0 0 0 4.32 14
Joe Boehling 3 13.0 0 1 0 4.85 4
Tim Murchison 2 5.0 0 0 0 0.00 0
Joe Wood 1 2.0 0 0 0 22.50 1
George Ellison 1 1.0 0 0 0 0.00 1

1920 World Series

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Main article: 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)

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

Game 1

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

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 5 0
Brooklyn 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 5 1
W: Stan Coveleski (1–0)  L: Rube Marquard (0–1)

Game 2

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

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 1
Brooklyn 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 x 3 7 0
W: Burleigh Grimes (1–0)  L: Jim Bagby (0–1)

Game 3

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

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 1
Brooklyn 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 x 2 6 1
W: Sherry Smith (1–0)  L: Ray Caldwell (0–1)

Game 4

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

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Brooklyn 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 1
Cleveland 2 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 x 5 12 1
W: Stan Coveleski (2–0)  L: Leon Cadore (0–1)

Game 5

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

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Brooklyn 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 13 1
Cleveland 4 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 x 8 12 2
W: Jim Bagby (1–1)  L: Burleigh Grimes (1–1)
HR: CLE – Elmer Smith (1), Jim Bagby (1)

Game 6

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

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Brooklyn 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
Cleveland 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 x 1 7 3
W: Duster Mails (1–0)  L: Sherry Smith (1–1)

Game 7

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

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Brooklyn 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 2
Cleveland 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 x 3 7 3
W: Stan Coveleski (3–0)  L: Burleigh Grimes (1–2)

Composite box

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

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland Indians 6 2 2 6 2 2 1 0 0 21 53 12
Brooklyn Robins 3 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 8 44 6
Total Attendance: 236,928   Average Attendance: 29,616
Winning Player's Share: – $5,207   Losing Player's Share – $3,254

References

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  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.
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