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1961 Cleveland Indians season

Field	Value
name	Cleveland Indians
season	1961
league	American League
ballpark	Cleveland Municipal Stadium
city	Cleveland, Ohio
owners	William R. Daley
general_managers	Frank Lane, Gabe Paul
managers	Jimmy Dykes
television	WJW-TV
(Ken Coleman, Harry Jones)
radio	WERE
(Jimmy Dudley, Bob Neal)

(Ken Coleman, Harry Jones) (Jimmy Dudley, Bob Neal) |}} The 1961 Cleveland Indians season was a season in American baseball. The team finished fifth in the newly expanded 10-team American League with a record of 78–83, games behind the New York Yankees. Although the 1961 season ended up being a disappointment, the Indians had a brief flurry of pennant fever early in the 1961 season. After starting 12–13, the Indians started to streak, going 22–4 over their next 26 games to reach a record of 34–17 (were 38–20 after 58 games). However the Indians cooled off afterwards and were quickly knocked out of first place, as they went 44–66 the rest of the year. For the second year in a row, the Indians had held first place in June, only to slump to a losing record. This would happen again in 1962 as well (47–34 start in early July).

Offseason

December 14, 1960: 1960 MLB expansion draft
- Marty Keough was drafted from the Indians by the Washington Senators.
- Jim King was drafted from the Indians by the Washington Senators.
December 27, 1960: Paul Casanova was signed as a free agent by the Indians.

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

April 23, 1961: Paul Casanova was released by the Indians.
May 10, 1961: Joe Morgan, a player to be named later and cash were traded by the Indians to the St. Louis Cardinals for Bob Nieman. The Indians completed the deal by sending Mike Lee to the Cardinals on June 1.
June 12, 1961: Tommy John was signed as an amateur free agent by the Indians.
October 5, 1961: Jimmy Piersall was traded by the Indians to the Washington Senators for Dick Donovan, Gene Green, and Jim Mahoney.

Opening Day Lineup

Cleveland Indians}}"	Opening Day Starters	Cleveland Indians}};
16	Johnny Temple	2B
14	Tito Francona	LF
37	Jimmy Piersall	CF
8	Willie Kirkland	RF
3	Woodie Held	SS
10	Vic Power	1B
5	Bubba Phillips	3B
11	Johnny Romano	C
31	Jim Perry	P

Roster

1961 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers

Player stats

	= Indicates team leader

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	Johnny Romano	142	509	152	.299	21	80
1B	Vic Power	147	563	151	.268	5	63
2B	Johnny Temple	129	518	143	.276	3	30
SS	Woodie Held	146	509	136	.267	23	78
3B	Bubba Phillips	143	546	144	.264	18	72
LF	Tito Francona	155	592	178	.301	16	85
CF		121	484	156	.322	6	40
RF	Willie Kirkland	146	525	136	.259	27	95

Other batters

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

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Mike de la Hoz	61	173	45	.260	3	23
Chuck Essegian	60	166	48	.289	12	35
Don Dillard	74	147	40	.272	7	17
Valmy Thomas	27	86	18	.209	2	6
Ken Aspromonte	22	70	16	.229	0	5
	39	65	23	.354	2	10
Walt Bond	38	52	9	.173	2	7
Ty Cline	12	43	9	.209	0	1
Jack Kubiszyn	25	42	9	.214	0	0
Bob Hale	42	36	6	.167	0	6
Hal Jones	12	35	6	.171	2	4
Al Luplow	5	18	1	.056	0	0
	4	10	2	.200	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Mudcat Grant	35	244.2	15	9	3.86	146
Gary Bell	34	228.1	12	16	4.10	163
Jim Perry	35	223.2	10	17	4.71	90
Wynn Hawkins	30	133.0	7	9	4.06	51
Sam McDowell	1	6.1	0	0	0.00	5

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Barry Latman	45	176.2	13	5	4.02	108
Dick Stigman	22	64.1	2	5	4.62	48
	11	48.0	0	4	6.56	23

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Frank Funk	56	11	11	11	3.31	64
	48	3	2	3	3.75	42
Bobby Locke	37	4	4	2	4.53	37
Joe Schaffernoth	15	0	1	0	4.76	9
Bill Dailey	12	1	0	0	0.95	7
Russ Heman	6	0	0	1	3.60	4
Steve Hamilton	2	0	0	0	3.00	4

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Johnny Romano, Catcher, Starter (both games)
Johnny Temple, Second Base, Starter (both games)
Jim Perry, Pitcher, Reserve (first game)
Barry Latman, Pitcher, Reserve (second game)

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Selma

References

[https://www.baseball-reference.com/k/keougma01.shtml Marty Keough page at Baseball Reference]
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kingji01.shtml Jim King page at Baseball Reference]
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/c/casanpa01.shtml Paul Casanova page at Baseball Reference]
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/n/niemabo01.shtml Bob Nieman page at Baseball Reference]
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/j/johnto01.shtml Tommy John page at Baseball Reference]
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/p/piersji01.shtml Jim Piersall page at Baseball Reference]
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET196104110.shtml 1961 Opening Day Lineup] at ''Baseball-Reference''
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., ''The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition''. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

Info: Wikipedia Source

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