Top 10 Well Rounded Single Season Indians Hitters

When breaking up the greatest seasons in Indians history into groups for rankings, pulling out the speed and power seasons was easy. This, however, left out some of the greatest single season performances in Indians history by players who didn’t necessarily steal 50 bases or knock in 130 runs to go with their otherwise terrific overall performance. This list, the second of our three looking at the best offensive seasons in Indians history, will focus on those players who did a little of everything. As with the other lists, players are only eligible to appear on one, so if a great all time season is missing, it may be coming up in the future or have been featured already.

10. Roberto Alomar – 2001

While he only played three seasons in Cleveland, Alomar had a three year peak that could match nearly any other hitter in Indians history. His 1999 season came in 10th on the speed list and with an increase in hits, triples and BB/K rate, his 2001 season wound up being his best in average and slugging percent for his entire Hall of Fame career.

He hit nearly all the most favorite bench marks with 30 steals, 100 RBI and 20 home runs although he fell seven hits short of 200. While defense isn’t considered in this particular list, he won his tenth and final Gold Glove, his fourth consecutive. He also finished fourth in MVP voting, losing to Ichiro Suzuki who also won the Rookie of the Year, and finishing behind Bret Boone and Jason Giambi as well.

9. Kenny Lofton – 1994

Lofton was featured extensively on the speed list, linked in the opening, but his season in 1994 was cut short thanks to the strike, making it look poor when comparing counting stats (he “only” stole 60 bases in 112 games). We won’t hold that against him here as it was his best season for average in his career as he lead the league in hits, went to his first All-Star game and finished fourth in MVP voting (beaten by his own teammate, Albert Bell, Ken Griffey Jr. and Frank Thomas, who won the award).

While I generally use a standard of 500 at bats when judging average, when you drop it down to 450 to make up for the missed games, Lofton’s 1994 ranks 22nd in Indians history in batting average. While this may not seem particularly impressive, his .349 is still the highest mark since 1948 (Lou Boudreau) and the second highest since 1936. In fact, the only hitters to bat higher than .335 since 1948 were Lofton, Bobby Avila (1954), Miguel Dilone (1980) and Alomar, listed above.

8. Lew Fonseca – 1929

This is a bit of an odd one for a few reasons. First, Fonseca was a very average player for most of his career, posting a WAR between -0.5 and 2.8 during 11 of his 12 seasons and was a part timer for nine of those. Even weirder was that he received multiple MVP vote points in 1928 despite not doing anything spectacular. His 1929 season, however, was spectacular.

That year, he lead the league in hitting at .369 and moved into 9th place in Indians history in single season average. Since, he has only dropped one spot and he remains one of two players since 1929 to bat above .356. Never before a power or speed hitter, he hit 44 doubles and 15 triples while stealing 19 bases, all career highs he never neared again. After striking out more than he walked in every season previously, he walked 50 times to just 23 K’s and this was a trend he would continue in the future.

7. Joe Sewell – 1923

Speaking of a hitter walking more than he struck out, that was Sewell’s specialty. In 1923 he was at his apex, walking 98 times and striking out just 12, but that isn’t why he’s on this list (at least not the only reason). His .456 still ranks among the best 10 marks in Indians history despite the recent advent of walk heavy sluggers and his 41 doubles and ten triples were particularly impressive. He also managed to break the century mark in RBI and nearly got there for runs scored as well.

Like Alomar and Lofton, Sewell would finish fourth in MVP voting in 1923, tied with Wally Gerber and behind Harry Heilmann, Eddie Collins and some guy named Babe. With a  7.5 WAR, this was the best overall season of Sewell’s Hall of Fame career although he would surpass his hits, doubles and triples totals in other seasons.

6. Lou Boudreau – 1948

Two players on this top ten list won the MVP for their season and two won the World Series. Boudreau in 1948 was the only to do both. As mentioned with Lofton, he ranks as the Indians highest average hitter since 1936 (Earl Averill, different list) and like Sewell, had an OBP that is still among the top ten in Indians history.

Boudreau scored 100, he knocked in 100 and while he didn’t quite get to 200 hits or 20 home runs, he was close enough to give him credit (especially since they are all just arbitrarily round figures). If you separate Indians history into halves, roughly at the advent of the DH, Boudreau’s season was the last great all around offensive and defensive season in the first half of Indians history. Don’t forget, he also managed that year, bringing home Cleveland their most recent World Series trophy and the first in 28 years.

5. George Burns – 1926

While Tris Speaker remains baseball’s career doubles king and the Indians have had plenty who put up high numbers since, the team record remains with Burns, who won the 1926 MVP for his efforts. This also equated to an extremely high average and an impressive slugging percent given that he hit for extra bases just seven other times that season.

His 216 hits lead the league, as did his 64 doubles and both numbers, along with his 114 RBI and 97 runs scored, were career highs. Burns had a long and successful career prior to this point, but at the age of 33 he put together his best ever and his second to last above average season before seeing his career end quickly after.

4. Napoleon Lajoie – 1910

Like Alomar, Lofton, Speaker and Joe Jackson, this isn’t the only list Lajoie is on, so 1910 wasn’t necessarily his best season (1906 was), but it was by far his most qualified for this particular list. A player so popular the team was named after him and he was given the reigns as player-manager, Lajoie lead the AL in hits, doubles, average and total bases in 1910, setting franchise records in all three although none would last long.

In fact, Shoeless Joe would beat his average and hits records the very next season while Speaker broke his doubles mark in 1923. Even so, all three still rank among the best seasons in Indians history with his average and hits ranking in the top ten with his doubles and OBP in the top ten. While we can’t tell how many times he struck out or was caught stealing, Lajoie added 26 steals and 60 walks in his impressive season.

3. Tris Speaker – 1920

Speaking of Speaker, the Gray Eagle was the player closest to hitting .400 after Jackson did it when he was the player-manager of the 1920, World Series winning Indians. He fell short at .388, but that mark remains the highest in Indians history since 1913.

While he was one double short of Lajoie, he outperformed him in triples and home runs and general production stats by a large margin, scoring 137, third in Indians history while knocking in over 100 out of the three hole. When not reaching base via a single or double, Speaker enjoyed long walks to first to the tune of 97 (to just 13 strike outs) and this lead to a .483 OBP, still the greatest in Indians history.

2. Shoeless Joe Jackson – 1911

He’s already been mentioned multiple times, so you knew he was coming, but Jackson isn’t just worthy of being #2 on this particular list, but may also be the best contact hitter in Indians history for his career. Interestingly enough, this season wasn’t his best (that one came in at #1 on the speed list), but it was the year he set the current Indians record for average and hits while finishing with a .468 OBP still ranked fourth in Tribe history behind only three separate Tris Speaker seasons.

OBP was the only stat he would lead the league in during 1911, but he did lead the AL in hits each of the next two seasons. He was surpassed in MVP voting in 1911 by only Eddie Collins, Ed Walsh and the winner Ty Cobb, who was the only person keeping Jackson from leading the Majors in hits, average, doubles, slugging percent and runs scored.

1. Tris Speaker – 1923

Lists to discover who the best overall season belonged to (without these separations of type of season) and who had the best offensive career overall (we’ve only looked at position by position break downs) are yet to be undertaken by BurningRiverBaseball, but there is little question that Tris Speaker will have a say in both.

Despite being 35 years old and 17 years in the game, Speaker would have his best season as an Indian in 1923 (9 WAR). His previous high in RBI hat been the 107 in 1920 and he shattered that mark with 130, a league best and a new Indians record that would stand until Ed Morgan broke it in 1930. The doubles machine’s previous high in two baggers had been 52 in 1921 and he crushed that as well with a league high 59, another team record that would only be broken by Burns since. In addition, his OBP was second in franchise history only to his previous mark and he beat the 1920 season severely in slugging percent, largely due to his increase in home runs (as well as the doubles). This was the season. He hit .380, walked 93 times to 15 strike outs while increasing power production as Speaker saved his best for last.

While this list may seem largely devoid of modern players, that’s for two reasons. First, the years between about 1956 and 1993 were so terrible that there were essentially no players deserving of consideration for this particular list. Of players in the most recent decade, Victor Martinez (2006) and Jose Ramirez (2016) received a look, but only Michael Brantley (2014) was deserving of a spot in the top 15.

The simple fact is, the early decades of the Indians were filled with some of the best players in baseball history. It was not a prerequisite for this particular list (see Lew Fonseca), but great players have great seasons so it should be no surprise that six of ten spots are maintained by Hall of Famers with two other players who are deserving of the honor (one of whom is banned for life [and then some]).

Borderline: Joe Vosmik (1935), Johnny Hodapp (1930), Charlie Jamieson (1923), Jeff Heath (1941) & Michael Brantley (2014)