All-Time Indians: Harry Bemis

Most people generally ignore the players of the early American League (excepting Nap Lajoie and a few others) with particularly little importance placed on a 5’6″ catcher who produced like a catcher in the early 1900’s, not the early 2000’s, but all Cleveland baseball fans should know a little about the team’s first regular catcher, Harry Bemis.

Bemis didn’t start playing professionally until the age of 24 in 1898 and it took him took him four years in the Eastern League in Canada and the Atlantic League in New Jersey before he caught the eye of the fledgling Bronchos in 1902. In his final year with the Toronto Royals, he batted .307 with six home runs and 17 doubles, numbers never seen from a catcher at the time when nearly all the focus was on working a pitching staff rather than producing at the plate.

Bob Wood had been the Cleveland starting catcher in their inaugural season the year before, but the rookie Bemis at the age of 28 would take over the majority of starts in 1902. Wood still played in 81 games and batted .292, but Bemis would have the best year of his career in his very first time around, batting 312/.366/.404 with 42 runs scored and 29 RBI. Again, these numbers aren’t much by today’s standard, but there were others responsible for the run production including first baseman, Charlie Hickman who knocked in 110 and third baseman, Bill Bradley, who scored 104.

The following season was better in ways for Bemis and worse in others. In almost the same amount of at bats, he hit 20 doubles and knocked in 41, both career highs that wouldn’t be matched again, but his rate stats all dropped as he had significantly fewer singles. The increased production numbers were almost certainly aided by his teammates, who included the Hall of Famers Elmer Flick and Napoleon Lajoie who joined Bradley and Hickman as top batters.

As for Bemis’ other job, the Indians pitching staff began as a conglomeration in 1901, but was being whittled down by 1903. By 1904, things were pretty set as they used only seven pitchers throughout the entire season, six of whom threw more than 150 innings and one who threw only 12. Working with this limited staff, Bemis helped them become one of the greatest ever in the sport as the original ace, Earl Moore, was supplanted by the new ace, Addie Joss, and one through six, they all performed at an incredibly high level. While Bemis was with the team, Joss would lead the league twice in ERA (1904 and 1908) and set the Major League record for lowest career WHIP.

While the fact that he played during the dead ball era does play into this, the staff he worked with was the best, including those who came shortly after in the 1910’s. Eight of the Indians top ten single season ERA marks came with Bemis behind the plate and seven of the lowest ten WHIPs.

The best staff in total was in 1908 when Joss set the Indians single season record with a 1.16 ERA, winning 24 games and Bob Rhoads and Charlie Chech both finished with an ERA below 1.80 as well. It isn’t surprising as Joss and Rhoads were both coming into their primes and Bemis was now an aged veteran. At the plate, he had his worst year to date, but just like with Steve O’Neill a decade later, his greatest value was the pitching staff.

After a poor offensive performance in 1904, Bemis had two more good years in 1905 and 1906, batting .283 across the two years with 26 doubles, 58 RBI and 55 runs in 163 games. Behind Bemis in both these seasons was a considerably younger catcher with at least a little more power, Nig Clarke. Clarke would take over the starting job in 1907, playing in 120 games with Bemis taking the back seat with just 65. In 1908, they would split time more evenly and though Clarke would be considerably better offensively in both seasons, the Naps would ultimately decide for the better defender that year, playing Bemis in 91 games.

At 35, Bemis was nearing the end of his career and the Naps decided to go in a different direction from Clarke in 1909, trying out another young, rookie catcher, Ted Easterly, who gave them similar production to the young Bemis and the young Clarke. Both the other options stayed on the roster, but combined for 97 games while Easterly played in 98. Easterly would be the new answer for the Naps at catcher, not Clarke, as he would remain the starter until O’Neill came around in 1913. O’Neill would be around for much longer, through 1923, giving the Indians real solidarity at the position early on in franchise history as Cleveland went from 1902 through 1932 almost seamlessly using Bemis, Easterly, O’Neill and Luke Sewell.

Securely behind Easterly, 1910 would be Bemis’ final season with the Naps and in Major League Baseball. He batted just .216 in this final year in 61 games with just seven extra base hits. This was a far cry from his prime, but he still managed to accumulate some pretty impressive numbers including 92 doubles, 29 triples, 234 RBI and 214 runs scored, numbers that place him among the greatest catchers in Indians history.

After his release following the 1910 season, Bemis didn’t go far, playing for the Columbus Senators of the American Association for a year, then it was back to New Jersey and Toronto for the next two seasons. The 1914 season was spent with Memphis in the Southern Association and he finally wrapped up his career batting .252 for the Elmira Colonels of the New York State League. Bemis was 41 by the time he wrapped up his playing career, impressive for a catcher of any era.

Ultimately, Bemis played his entire Major League career in Cleveland and would retire there. He died in Cleveland in 1947 at the age of 73.