All-Time Indians: Herb Score

The story of Herb Score is another Indians tale of what could have been. This story, however had a much better ending than some of the other tragedies like Ray Chapman and Steve Olin. Score came out of nowhere in 1955 to win the Rookie of the Year and lead the league in strikeouts each of his first two seasons. Just when he was looking like the next coming of Bob Feller (his 9.4 strike outs per nine innings is the greatest of all time by an Indian), Score was struck by a ball hit by Yankee infielder Gil McDougald. This occured in May of 1957 and he missed the rest of that season. When he came back he didn't even resemble the fire-baller he used to be. He was only able to pitch 41 innings in 1958 and won a total of two games. 1959 was slightly better as he pitched in 30 games, but his ERA rose to 4.71 and he was only able to win nine games. In 1960 Score was traded to Chicago for Barry Latman as part of the dismantling of the Indians by Frank Lane.

Herb Score came up with fellow star Rocky Colavito and made it look like the Indians were going to continue their success of the late 1940s and early 1950s. The trade of Colavito and Score's injury derailed that train and the Indians dropped into dispair for the the next 30 years, but even through the hard times, Score stayed with the Tribe. After his extremely short playing career, he became a television, then radio announcer for the Cleveland Indians and remained in that position with the team from 1964 through 1997. This made Score the voice of the Indians during one of the most exciting periods of Indians history along with fellow radio announcer Tom Hamilton.

Herb Score died in 2008 and the Indians honored him by wearing a patch on their sleeve during the entire 2009 season. He has been enshrined in the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame (class of 2006). Despite his short career, Score was still one of the greatest pitchers in Indians history.