If the Indians have had one aspect of their team to be proud of over their 114 year history, it is the starting pitching. Of the 12 players in the Hall of Fame as a member of the Cleveland Indians, five are starting pitchers and among the 30 Hall of Famers who played for the Tribe, 14 were starting pitchers. While the greatest of these are well known, the following list will profile the best groups. While the early seasons featured a four man rotation, each team in Cleveland American League baseball history has used at least five starters and the rankings will be based on the top five starters from each season.
For further information about each individual pitcher, click their names to go to their All-Time Indians article.
10. 1943: Jim Bagby, Jr. – Al Smith – Allie Reynolds – Mel Harder – Vern Kennedy
While there are two World Series teams featured on this list, we start with a team that won just 82 games despite tremendous starting pitching and they did it without the greatest Indians pitcher of all time, who was off fighting in World War II. Bagby, Jr. lead the squad with 33 starts, 17 wins and a 3.10 ERA while Smith was right behind with a 2.55 ERA and 17 wins of his own in 27 starts. No starter held an ERA above that 3.10 or a batting average allowed above .240. In that matter, Reynolds was the best with a .191 BAA in 198.2 innings.
9. 1952: Bob Lemon – Mike Garcia – Early Wynn – Bob Feller – Steve Gromek
This rotation sat between two World Series appearances and featured three Hall of Famers, although not at the perfect time. It was too early for Wynn, who won 23 games with a 2.90 ERA in 285.2 innings and too late for Feller, who held a 4.75 ERA in one of his final seasons as a starting pitcher. Despite the three Hall of Famers, it was Garcia who was the top pitcher in ERA (2.37), matching Lemon with 22 wins. While officially it may have been a four man rotation, this was really a three man rotation with Lemon, Garcia and Wynn accounting for 787.2 innings between them.
8. 1966: Gary Bell – Sonny Siebert – Sam McDowell – Steve Hargan – Luis Tiant
The 1960’s were a pitching heavy decade, but even more so for the Indians where three of the franchises greatest pitchers coincided at the same time. While the team was largely unsuccessful, winning just 81 games due to minimal offense, the pitching staff deserved no blame. All but Bell of the starting five finished with an ERA below 2.90 with Hargan leading the pack with a 2.48. McDowell had a particularly impressive season with a 10.43 K/9 (surpassed only by his 10.71 the year before) from 225 strike outs and a .183 BAA. To make matters more impressive, Bell pitched the most games (37 starts) and innings (254.1 IP) despite not starting a single game the year before.
7. 1920: Stan Coveleski – Jim Bagby, Sr. – Ray Caldwell – Guy Morton – Duster Mails
Another team with a three man rotation, each of Coveleski, Bagby and Caldwell won 20 games (Bagby set a still active team record with 31) and pitched more than 230 innings. Hall of Famer, Coveleski lead the group with a 2.49 ERA and .231 BAA through 315 innings. Morton and Mails made a combined 25 starts, but Mails was of particular ability as he finished the year 7-0 with a 1.85 ERA. He became a starter later in the season and that was a good thing as he would ultimately make two World Series starts, allowing no runs and just six hits in 15.2 innings. His 0.00 World Series ERA and .113 BAA remain team records.
6. 1954: Wynn – Garcia – Lemon – Art Houtteman – Feller
Largely similar to the 1952 team, this version, featuring a more mature Wynn and Lemon, was even better. Both Lemon and Wynn won 23 games with an ERA between 2.72 and 2.73 while Feller had a bit of a resurgence in his age 34 season (13-3, 3.09 ERA, .232 BAA). In fact, each starter excelled in keeping runners off the bases as Wynn, Garcia and Lemon all finished with a BAA below .230. While this was a more rounded squad than some listed above, the top three pitchers, Wynn, Garcia and Lemon, combined for 787.2 innings.
5. 1917: Bagby, Sr. – Coveleski – Ed Klepfer – Morton – Fritz Coumbe
In his second season with the Indians, the Hall of Famer and World Series winning Coveleski had one of his best seasons in 1917, leading a staff of near equally talented starters. Coveleski posted a personal best 1.81 ERA with a 0.99 WHIP and .184 BAA, while the leader in starts (37) and innings (320.2), Bagby, finished with an even 2.00. These were the primary two starters, but Klepfer made 27 starts with a 2.37 ERA with a 14-4 record and Morton made 18 of his own in between relief appearances. Coumbe was mostly a reliever, but still made ten starts, adding up 134.1 total innings on the year with a 2.15 ERA.
4. 1913: Cy Falkenberg – Vean Gregg – Willie Mitchell – Fred Blanding – George Kahler
Just a few years prior to the #5 ranked group, the 1913 squad featured five completely different pitchers with equal or greater results. Falkenberg (who’s nickname came from his similarity to Cy Young), lead the team with 23 wins in 36 starts, but it was Mitchell who broke the 2.00 barrier with a 1.91 ERA. Each of the top four starters won at least 14 games, posted an ERA below 2.60 and made at least 22 starts. Kahler was also solid with a 3.15 ERA in 15 spot starts, but the prime force of this rotation was the top four, who all pitched at least 215 innings.
3. 1906: Otto Hess – Bob Rhoads – Addie Joss – Bill Bernhard – Happy Townsend
The Indians used just eight pitchers total in 1906 and only four of those pitched more than 95 innings. Of those, Hess, Rhoads and Joss each won 20 or more games and held an ERA below 1.85. Joss’ 1.72 ERA in 282 innings was second best to his own season back in 1904 (1.59) at the time. Hess and Rhoads each pitched at least 315 innings and held batters to a .215 BAA. This rotation lead the team to a third place finish, just five games out of first, at the time the best finish in Cleveland history.
2. 1968: McDowell – Tiant – Siebert – Hargan – Stan Williams
Four of the top five staffs on this list were from before 1920, showing the increase in offense in general in baseball over the ages, but the 1968 rotation was a throw back. Tiant (1.60 ERA) and McDowell (1.81) broke the 2.00 ERA barrier while Siebert and Williams both finished below 3.00. Unlike those early teams, however, these pitchers could strike people out. With 264 and 283 strike outs respectively, Tiant and McDowell each set top ten single season marks that remain today and three of five Indians starters still hold top ten marks in BAA, including Tiant’s all-time record of .164. Not taking advantage of fewer innings to increase rate stats, Tiant, McDowell and Siebert each pitched 200 innings with McDowell leading the way with 269. Tiant also set top ten marks in K/9 (9.2) and WHIP (0.87) while McDowell was even better with a 9.5 K/9.
1. 1908: Joss – Rhoads – Glen Liebhardt – Heinie Berger – Charlie Chech
Back to the beginning of Cleveland history, it is impossible to mention great pitching staffs without the 1908 Cleveland Naps. Joss set the current Indians record for ERA with an almost impossible 42 earned runs allowed in 325 innings. Despite being in the day of the three or four man rotation, each of the five most used starters made at least 20 starts and threw at least 265.2 innings. Not to be left out, Rhoads posted a 1.77 ERA and Chech a 1.74, all qualifying for the league title. Each pitcher won at least 11 games with Joss (24 wins) and Rhoads (18) leading the way. Even the two starters who weren’t setting all time marks, Liebhardt (2.20 ERA) and Berger (2.12) both finished with ERAs barely above 2.00 with Liebhardt also posting an impressive strike out total of 146 in 262 innings, at the time the third highest total ever. In the end, the combined ERA between the starters of 1.753 is a number that not only has never otherwise been neared, it is a number that no individual pitcher will likely reach again. The game has changed much since 1908, but even compared with their peers, this Cleveland pitching rotation was the best ever.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
