1995 Cleveland Indians season

1995 Cleveland Indians
AL Champs
AL Central Champs
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) Richard Jacobs
General manager(s) John Hart
Manager(s) Mike Hargrove
Local television WUAB
Jack Corrigan, Mike Hegan
SportsChannel
John Sanders, Rick Manning
Local radio WKNR (1220 AM)
Herb Score, Tom Hamilton, Matt Underwood
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The 1995 Cleveland Indians season was the Major League Baseball season that led to the Indians returning to the World Series for the first time since 1954. In a season that started late by 18 games – giving it just 144 games – the Indians finished in first place in the American League Central Division with a record of 100 wins and 44 losses. This was the first team in the history of the American League ever to win 100 games in a season that had fewer than 154 games.[1]

The most outstanding pitcher for the Indians was their relief pitcher, José Mesa, who finished second in the voting for the American League's Cy Young Award. Mesa pitched in 62 games; he led the league by being the finishing pitcher in 57 games, and he saved a league-leading 46 games, even though he pitched just exactly 64 innings. Mesa was the winning pitcher in three games, and he lost none. Mesa's earned run average was a microscopic 1.13. Mesa only gave up eight earned runs, one unearned run, and three home runs in the entire regular season.

The most outstanding batter and everyday player for the Indians was their left fielder, Albert Belle, who finished second in the voting for the American League's Most Valuable Player Award. Belle played in 143 of the 144 games, and had more than 50 doubles and 50 home runs. Belle led the league in runs scored (121), runs batted in (126), doubles (52), home runs (50), total bases (377), and slugging percentage (0.690). Belle had 173 hits and a batting average of 0.317.

The second most outstanding batter and everyday player for the Indians was their right fielder, Manny Ramirez. Ramirez played in 137 games, scored 85 runs, batted in 107 runs, hit 26 doubles and 31 home runs, had 149 hits, and batted 0.308.

On a team that was led by its outfielders in batting, the Indian's center fielder Kenny Lofton, playing in just 118 games, also had 149 hits, scored 93 runs, batted 0.310, and led the American League with 13 triples and 54 stolen bases. This was Lofton's fourth of five consecutive years leading the American League in stolen bases. Lofton also won a Gold Glove in the outfield. However, Lofton only hit seven home runs and batted in 53 runs.

The Indians won the Central Division by an overwhelming 30 games over the second-place Kansas City Royals, and they went into the playoffs going strong. In their American League Division Series, the Indians defeated the Boston Red Sox in a three games to none sweep. Next, in the American League Championship Series, the Indians defeated the Seattle Mariners four games to two. The Indians' starting pitcher, Orel Hershiser, was voted the American League Championship Series' Most Valuable Player.

In the World Series, the Indians faced the Atlanta Braves, who had finished the regular season with a 90 – 54 record, had defeated the Colorado Rockies three games to one in the National League Division Series, and had swept the Cincinnati Reds four games to none in the National League Championship Series. The Braves had the National League's Cy Young Award winner in Greg Maddux, who finished the season with a 19 – 2 won-loss record and a 1.63 earned run average as a starting pitcher. Maddux also finished in third place in the voting for Most Valuable Player.

In the World Series, the Indians lost the World Series to the Braves by four games to two, with the Braves winning all three games in Atlanta, and the Indians winning two out of three games in Cleveland. The World Series Most Valuable Player was the starting pitcher Tom Glavine of the Braves, who won two games in the Series.

Offseason

Regular season

The Indians led the Majors in nearly every offensive category, including runs scored (840), hits (1,461), home runs (207), runs batted in (803), batting average (.291) and slugging percentage (.479). They also struck out the fewest times (766) of all 28 MLB teams.[6][7] They also had one of the most formidable pitching staffs in the AL, allowing the second-fewest hits (1,261), finishing with the best ERA (3.83), the fewest runs allowed (607), fewest earned runs allowed (554), the most saves (50) and the fewest intentional walks (16).[7]

Season standings

AL Central W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cleveland Indians 100 44 0.694 54–18 46–26
Kansas City Royals 70 74 0.486 30 35–37 35–37
Chicago White Sox 68 76 0.472 32 38–34 30–42
Milwaukee Brewers 65 79 0.451 35 33–39 32–40
Minnesota Twins 56 88 0.389 44 29–43 27–45

Record vs. opponents

1995 American League Records

Sources:

Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore 4–9 9–4 6–1 2–10 8–5 4–5 7–5 3–6 6–7 5–7 6–7 4–1 7–6
Boston 9–4 11–3 5–3 6–7 8–5 3–2 8–4 5–4 5–8 8–4 7–5 3–4 8–5
California 4–9 3–11 10–2 3–2 6–2 5–7 5–2 8–5 7–5 6–7 7–6 6–7 8–2
Chicago 1–6 3–5 2–10 5–8 8–4 8–5 6–7 10–3 3–2–1 7–5 4–9 5–7 6–5
Cleveland 10–2 7–6 2–3 8–5 10–3 11–1 9–4 9–4 6–6 7–0 5–4 6–3 10–3
Detroit 5–8 5–8 2–6 4–8 3–10 3–4 8–5 7–5 5–8 2–3 5–5 4–8 7–6
Kansas City 5–4 2–3 7–5 5–8 1–11 4–3 10–2 6–7 3–7 5–8 7–5 8–6 7–5
Milwaukee 5–7 4–8 2–5 7–6 4–9 5–8 2–10 9–4 5–6 7–2 3–2 5–7 7–5
Minnesota 6–3 4–5 5–8 3–10 4–9 5–7 7–6 4–9 3–4 5–7 4–8 5–8 1–4
New York 7–6 8–5 5–7 2–3–1 6–6 8–5 7–3 6–5 4–3 4–9 4–9 6–3 12–1
Oakland 7–5 4–8 7–6 5–7 0–7 3–2 8–5 2–7 7–5 9–4 7–6 5–8 3–7
Seattle 7–6 5–7 6–7 9–4 4–5 5–5 5–7 2–3 8–4 9–4 6–7 10–3 3–4
Texas 1–4 4–3 7–6 7–5 3–6 8–4 6–8 7–5 8–5 3–6 8–5 3–10 9–3
Toronto 6–7 5–8 2–8 5–6 3–10 6–7 5–7 5–7 4–1 1–12 7–3 4–3 3–9

Notable transactions

Roster

1995 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Game log

{| align="center" border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" style="border:1px solid #aaa"

|- ! colspan="3" | Legend |- ! style="background:#bfb;"| Indians Win ! style="background:#fbb;"| Indians Loss ! style="background:#bbb;"| Game Postponed |}

1995 Regular Season Game Log (100-44) (Home: 54-18; Road: 46-26)

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Peña, TonyTony Peña 91 263 69 .262 5 28
1B Paul Sorrento 104 323 76 .235 25 79
2B Carlos Baerga 135 557 175 .314 15 90
3B Jim Thome 137 452 142 .314 25 73
SS Omar Vizquel 136 542 144 .266 6 56
LF Albert Belle 143 546 173 .317 50 126
CF Kenny Lofton 118 481 149 .310 7 53
RF Manny Ramirez 137 484 149 .308 31 107
DH Eddie Murray 113 436 141 .323 21 82

[15]

Other batters

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Sandy Alomar, Jr. 66, 54 started 203 61 .300 10 35
Wayne Kirby 101 188 39 .207 1 14
Herb Perry 52 162 51 .315 3 23
Álvaro Espinoza 66 143 36 .252 2 17
Dave Winfield 46 115 22 .191 2 4
Rubén Amaro 28 60 12 .200 1 7
Eddie Tucker 17 20 0 .000 0 0
Jesse Levis 12 18 6 .333 0 3
Billy Ripken8 17 7 .412 2 3
Brian Giles 6 9 5 .556 1 3
Jeromy Burnitz 9 7 4 .571 0 0
Bell, DavidDavid Bell 2 2 0 .000 0 0

[15]

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Nagy, CharlesCharles Nagy 29 178 16 6 4.55 139
Hershiser, OrelOrel Hershiser 26 167.3 16 6 3.87 111
Martínez, DennisDennis Martínez 28 167.3 12 5 3.08 99

Other pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO

Relief pitchers

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Mesa, JoséJosé Mesa 62 3 0 46 1.13 58
Tavárez, JuliánJulián Tavárez 57 10 2 0 2.44 68

Post season

1995 American League Divisional Playoffs

Cleveland Indians vs. Boston Red Sox

Cleveland wins the series, 3-0

GameScoreDate
1Boston 4, Cleveland 5October 3, 1995
2Boston 0, Cleveland 4October 4, 1995
3Cleveland 8, Boston 2October 6, 1995

Game 1, October 3

Jacobs Field, Cleveland, Ohio

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 R H E
Boston 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 4 11 2
Cleveland 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 5 10 2
WP: Ken Hill (1-0)   LP: Zane Smith (0-1)
Home runs:
BOS: John Valentin (1), Luis Alicea (1), Tim Naehring
CLE: Albert Belle (1), Tony Peña (1)

Game 2, October 4

Jacobs Field, Cleveland, Ohio

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Boston 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1
Cleveland 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 X 4 4 2
WP: Orel Hershiser (1-0)   LP: Erik Hanson (0-1)
Home runs:
BOS: None
CLE: Eddie Murray (1)

Game 3, October 6

Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland 0 2 1 0 0 5 0 0 0 8 11 2
Boston 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 7 1
WP: Charles Nagy (1-0)   LP: Tim Wakefield (0-1)
Home runs:
CLE: Jim Thome (1)
BOS: None

1995 American League Championship Series

Matchups

GameScoreDate
1Cleveland 2, Seattle 3October 10, 1995
2Cleveland 5, Seattle 2October 11, 1995
3Seattle 5, Cleveland 2October 13, 1995
4Seattle 0, Cleveland 7October 14, 1995
5Seattle 2, Cleveland 3October 15, 1995
6Cleveland 4, Seattle 0October 17, 1995

Game 1

October 10: Kingdome, Seattle, Washington

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 10 1
Seattle 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 X 3 7 0
WP: Bob Wolcott (1-0)   LP: Dennis Martínez (0-1)   Sv: Norm Charlton (1)
Home runs:
CLE: Albert Belle (1)
SEA: Mike Blowers (1)

Game 2

October 11: Kingdome, Seattle, Washington

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 1 0 5 12 0
Seattle 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 6 1
WP: Orel Hershiser (1-0)   LP: Tim Belcher (0-1)
Home runs:
CLE: Manny Ramírez (2)
SEA: Ken Griffey, Jr. (1), Jay Buhner (1)

Game 3

October 13: Jacobs Field, Cleveland, Ohio

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E
Seattle 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 5 9 1
Cleveland 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 4 2
WP: Norm Charlton (1-0)   LP: Julián Tavárez (0-1)
Home runs:
SEA: Jay Buhner (2)
CLE: None

Game 4

October 14: Jacobs Field, Cleveland, Ohio

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Seattle 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 1
Cleveland 3 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 X 7 9 0
WP: Ken Hill (1-0)   LP: Andy Benes (0-1)
Home runs:
SEA: None
CLE: Eddie Murray (1), Jim Thome (1)

Game 5

October 15: Jacobs Field, Cleveland, Ohio

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Seattle 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 5 2
Cleveland 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 X 3 10 4
WP: Orel Hershiser (2-0)   LP: Chris Bosio (0-1)   Sv: José Mesa (1)
Home runs:
SEA: None
CLE: Jim Thome (1)

Game 6

October 17: Kingdome, Seattle, Washington

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 4 8 0
Seattle 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1
WP: Dennis Martínez (1-1)   LP: Randy Johnson (0-1)
Home runs:
CLE: Carlos Baerga (1)
Home: None

1995 World series

Game 1

October 21, 1995, at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 0
Atlanta 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 X 3 3 2
WP: Greg Maddux (1-0)   LP: Orel Hershiser (0-1)
Home runs:
Away: None
ATL: Fred McGriff (1)

Game 2

October 22, 1995, at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 6 2
Atlanta 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 X 4 8 2
WP: Tom Glavine (1-0)   LP: Dennis Martínez (0-1)   Sv: Mark Wohlers (1)
Home runs:
CLE: Eddie Murray (1)
ATL: Javy López (1)

Game 3

October 24, 1995, at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Ohio

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E
Atlanta 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 0 0 0 6 12 1
Cleveland 2 0 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 7 12 2
WP: José Mesa (1-0)   LP: Alejandro Peña (0-1)
Home runs:
ATL: Fred McGriff (2), Ryan Klesko (1)
Home: None

Game 4

October 25, 1995, at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Ohio

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Atlanta 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 1 5 11 1
Cleveland 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 6 0
WP: Steve Avery (1-0)   LP: Ken Hill (0-1)   Sv: Pedro Borbón, Jr. (1)
Home runs:
ATL: Ryan Klesko (2)
CLE: Albert Belle (1), Manny Ramírez (1)

Game 5

October 26, 1995, at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Ohio

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Atlanta 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 4 7 0
Cleveland 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 X 5 8 1
WP: Orel Hershiser (1-1)   LP: Greg Maddux (1-1)   Sv: José Mesa (1)
Home runs:
ATL: Luis Polonia (1), Ryan Klesko (3)
CLE: Albert Belle (2), Jim Thome (1)

Game 6

October 28, 1995, at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
Atlanta 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 X 1 6 0
WP: Tom Glavine (2-0)   LP: Jim Poole (0-1)   Sv: Mark Wohlers (2)
Home runs:
Away: None
ATL: David Justice (1)

Game log

1995 Postseason Game Log
Legend:           = Win           = Loss           = Postponement
Bold = Indians team member

Award winners

Hershiser became the Most Valuable Player of the 1995 American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners, and he is the only player to win the League Championship series Most Valuable Player Award in both leagues.

All-Star Game

Minor league affiliates

Classification level Team League Season article
AAA Buffalo Bisons International League 1995 Buffalo Bisons season
AA Canton–Akron Indians Eastern League 1995 Canton–Akron Indians season
Advanced A Kinston Indians Carolina League
A Columbus RedStixx South Atlantic League
Short Season A Watertown Indians New York–Penn League
Rookie Burlington Indians Appalachian League

References

  1. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.371, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  2. Derek Lilliquist at Baseball-Reference
  3. Paul Byrd at Baseball-Reference
  4. Torey Lovullo at Baseball-Reference
  5. Billy Ripken at Baseball-Reference
  6. http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/1995.shtml
  7. 1 2 1995 Major League Baseball Season Summary Baseball-Reference.com
  8. Dave Winfield at Baseball-Reference
  9. Paul Assenmacher at Baseball-Reference
  10. 1 2 Bud Black at Baseball-Reference
  11. Casey Candaele at Baseball-Reference
  12. Matt Williams at Baseball-Reference
  13. Todd Frohwirth at Baseball-Reference
  14. Ken Hill at Baseball-Reference
  15. 1 2 1995 Cleveland Indians Statistics and Roster Baseball-Reference.com
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