All-Time Indians: Allie Reynolds

All Indians fans know that the Indians had a great pitching staff in the 1940’s, leading to the team’s most recent World Series victory in 1948. When discussing those rotations, however, the subject generally starts with Bob Feller and ends with the later stars like Bob Lemon and Gene Bearden. Forgotten in the middle are some great talents, including Allie Reynolds, who pitched early in the decade for the Tribe, but didn’t stick around long enough to win the World Series with Cleveland. Of course, this shouldn’t have bothered him much as he would go on to win six, one each year the Indians didn’t take the American League pennant from 1947 through 1954.

Reynolds came out of Oklahoma and was signed by the Indians as an amateur free agent in 1939. After 116 minor league starts, Reynolds made his Major League debut at the end of 1942, pitching in relief twice for a total of five innings. Despite that limited Major League experience, Reynolds started 1943 in the bullpen before getting a couple spot starts in June and ultimately joining the rotation for good in July. Four of his first five starts after joining the rotation permanently were complete games with two being shut outs and Reynolds never looked back. By the end of the season, Reynolds would be the third most used starter behind Al Smith and Jim Bagby, Jr, completing almost 200 innings despite the missed time. In addition, Reynolds lead the league in strike outs (151) and K/9 (6.8), giving the Indians the AL leader in strike outs in five of six seasons from 1938 through 1943 and nine of 13 seasons through 1950.

With Feller still preoccupied with the war effort in the Pacific, Reynolds remained in the rotation for 1944 along with Mel Harder, Steve Gromek and Smith. While he would match his win total of 11 from the season before, Reynolds overall numbers fell off a little, striking out just 84 in 21 starts, finishing with a 3.30 ERA.

The following season, Feller returned and along side Smith, Gromek and Bagby again, the Indians and Allie Reynolds had an amazing season on the mound. Reynolds had more appearances than any other player on the team (44), starting a team high 30 games as well. For the first time, Reynolds wins matched his talent as he won 18 games for the 1945 Indians with a 3.21 ERA. While Gromek was the top pitcher on the team with a 2.55 ERA and 19 wins, Reynolds lead the Indians in strike outs (112) again and was a close second with a 3.21 ERA himself.

The 1946 campaign would be the final season for Reynolds in an Indians uniform. While Feller regained his super-stardom with a 2.18 ERA and a team record 371.1 innings and 348 strike outs, Reynolds remained a strong number two with a 3.88 ERA in 28 starts. While he won just 11 games compared to Feller’s 26, Reynolds was still solid, if just unlucky. Again he struck out more than 100 as he finished second on the team with 107.

While he played just four full seasons with the Indians, he still managed to win 51 games, strike out 456 and hold a 3.31 ERA through 792.1 innings. Considering all pitchers with at least 750 innings pitched for the Indians, that ERA ranks 23rd in team history and 33rd in winning percent. In addition, he is one of just 33 pitchers to throw at least nine shut outs, of which only three pitchers threw fewer innings than Reynolds (Herb Score, Bert Blyleven and Red Donahue).

For those who didn’t know already or couldn’t figure it out by the ridiculous amount of World Series won by Reynolds from 1947 on, he was traded to the Yankees after the 1946 season. In a one for one deal, the Indians brought the future Hall of Famer, Joe Gordon in to play second and, while Gordon did help the Indians win one World Series, that is nothing compared to what Reynolds did with the Yankees. One thing Reynolds would never do again, however, was win 11 games. Instead, he won at least 13 every year for the rest of his career, which was played entirely in New York. In addition to the wins (he won a career high 20 in 1952), Reynolds lead the league in ERA and strike outs one more time in 1952. After getting little recognition in Cleveland, in the largest market in the world, Reynolds made five All-Star teams (missing just 1951 from 1949 through 1954), received MVP votes in five seasons and finished in the top three twice.

In addition to those lofty single season accolades, Reynolds was one of the greatest World Series pitchers ever. In six series, he went 7-2 with a 2.79 ERA in 77.1 innings, striking out 62. The Yankees would win each of these series, giving him six rings, all of which were well deserved. He retired after the 1954 season with a career regular season line of 182 wins, 2,492.1 innings, 1,423 strike outs and an ERA of just 3.30. While he did get Hall of Fame consideration for almost two decades, receiving votes from 1956 through 1974, he never got more than 33.6% and has ultimately been excluded from baseball’s Hall. After retirement, Reynolds stayed in baseball as the MLBPA player’s representative, then later as the president of the AAA American Association. One of the few actual Native Americans to play for the Cleveland Indians, Allie Reynolds died in 1994 where he grew up, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.