All-Time Indians: Willie Kirkland

After high school in Michigan, Willie Kirkland began his baseball career in Tennessee in the Mountain State league and was quickly signed at the age of 20 by the New York Giants in 1954. This year, the Giants swept the Indians in the World Series, but Kirkland would only make it as far as B level Danville. After some time in the army, Kirkland started in AAA with the now San Francisco Giants in 1958 and made his MLB debut after just 12 games.

Some of Kirkland’s best seasons would be the three he played in San Francisco, batting .261/.327/.459 in 394 games with 57 home runs and 189 RBI. After this solid run, he was traded to Cleveland as the Indians were trying to rid themselves of the bad mojo acquired along with Harvey Kuenn. Kuenn was, of course, the price for Rocky Colavito and he played just one season in Cleveland before being moved again to the National League.

With the Indians, Kirkland would continue his growth as a player, posting the best numbers of his career, before or after, in his first season in 1961. On the field, Kirkland took over Kuenn’s place as the starting right fielder and quickly became the best hitter on the team. His 27 home runs and 95 RBI each lead the team and only Tito Francona scored more than his 84 runs scored. Despite this, Kirkland wasn’t one of the Indians three offensive All-Stars as Francona, Johnny Romano and Johnny Temple represented the Tribe in the mid-summer classic.

Kirkland wouldn’t have another All-Star worthy season although he did play for nine years, eight with at least 120 games played. His second with the Indians was a slight drop off from his first as be batted just .200, but he was still one of their top hitters, knocking in 72 runs on the power of 21 home runs, a full quarter of his total hits. This time, Romano was the only hitter to surpass Kirkland’s production numbers in home runs and RBI as offensive numbers fell all around baseball. Things wouldn’t get better for hitters until expansion and a raised mound brought back the runs in 1969, but that would be too late for Kirkland.

In 1938, his playing time dropped again after falling from 146 games to 137 in his first two years in Cleveland. In this, his final year, he played just 127, but raised his average back to .230 and hit another 15 home runs with 47 RBI. Down the line, his rate stats were lower while with the Indians than with the Giants, but he played more games and ultimately hit more home runs (63) and knocked in more (289) and he would with any team in his career. Even though he only played three seasons during a time of poor offense, Kirkland still put up respectable career numbers that place him among the best Indians right fielders in history.

Nearing the end of his productive seasons, Kirkland was traded to Baltimore to bring back home the outfielder Al Smith, who had played for both the Cleveland Buckeyes and Indians earlier in his career. Smith would play just one more season split between Cleveland and Boston, but Kirkland would continue on until 1966. After batting .200 over 66 games with Baltimore, but without the power he had shown earlier in his career, Kirkland was sold to Washington where he ended his MLB career. He had played just 98 games in 1964, but would play more than 120 each season for his last two and even had a resurgent season in 1965 with 14 home runs and 54 RBI. Ultimately, he would have 148 home runs and 509 RBI in the Major Leagues.

In 1967, Kirkland stayed with the Senators, playing for their Pacific Coast League team in Hawaii and after he was released he would travel the rest of the way across the Pacific to play in the Nippon League. For six years he would play for the Hanshin Tigers, putting up a career line of .246/.308/.450 from the age of 34 through 39. These were slightly better than his career numbers in America and he added 126 home runs and 302 RBI as well in Japan. After the 1973 season, Kirkland retired from the game for good.