The virtual 1969-76 Yankees, Red Sox, and Indians (Part 5: 1972-73)
Last week’s episode delivered a division title for our Red Sox, a strong rebound performance for our Indians, and another pretty-good-but-not-good-enough outcome for our Yankees.
Yankees: Actual Red Sox: Actual Indians: Actual
Year W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA
1969 80 81 5 562 587 87 75 3 743 736 62 99 6 573 717
1970 93 69 2 680 612 87 75 3 786 722 76 86 5 649 675
1971 82 80 4 648 641 85 77 3 691 667 60 102 6 543 747
1972 79 76 4 557 527 85 70 2 640 620 72 84 5 472 519
Yankees: Virtual Red Sox: Virtual Indians: Virtual
Year W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA
1969 80 81 5 594 617 85 77 4 775 781 68 93 6 576 658
1970 95 67 2 677 599 89 73 3 781 706 82 80 4 706 680
1971 87 75 3 662 611 84 78 4 690 673 73 89 5 657 748
1972 82 73 3 590 545 89 66 1 627 579 82 74 4 558 534
Will our Bosox repeat, or might they be knocked off by The Tribe or The Bombers?
The 1972-73 offseason: Actual deals we will make
Oct. 27, 1972: The Boston Red Sox released pitchers Ray Culp and Gary Peters.
The end of the line for a couple of good ones.
Nov. 30, 1972: The Cleveland Indians traded outfielder Del Unser and infielder Terry Wedgewood to the Philadelphia Phillies for outfielders Oscar Gamble and Roger Freed.
Like the actual Indians, we see this offer as too good to turn down. Even though both Gamble and Freed carry the burden of the failed pheenom, we recognize that both have genuine talent that still might be revealed. Unser and secondary prospect are a fair price. As will be shown below, we’ve got at least one new center field option to replace Unser.
Jan. 18, 1973: The Boston Red Sox signed first baseman Orlando Cepeda as a free agent.
The Designated Hitter (or, as it was often called back then, the Designated Pinch Hitter) is arriving in our league! And our Red Sox will be quick to give this big-bat-with-no-wheels-left a chance at the job.
March 24, 1973: The Cleveland Indians traded catcher Ray Fosse and infielder Jack Heidemann to the Oakland Athletics for catcher Dave Duncan and outfielder George Hendrick.
We’ve considered this Blockbuster before:
Charlie Finley fancied himself a promotional genius, but he was anything but; his constant barrage of tacky, gimmicky marketing campaigns was ill-conceived and generally made Finley’s A’s look ridiculous. Furthermore Finley operated his franchise on the most meager of shoestrings; for most of his tenure, Finley’s “front office” consisted — literally — of himself, a handful of trusted scouts, and a couple of part-time interns to handle paperwork. And on top of all that Finley was a thoroughly unlikeable man, infuriating everyone who knew him; in his 20 years in baseball, Finley made absolutely zero friends, and countless enemies.
It would seem to have added up to a recipe for disaster, a hopeless laughingstock of a franchise reminiscent of the old Phillies or St. Louis Browns at their dreariest. But, no: Finley took on an organization that actually was a hopeless laughingstock, and in a decade’s time he transformed it into one of the most devastating dynasties in history. The reason was simple: For all his faults, the one enormous, staggering strength of Finley’s was his baseball acumen. As a judge of talent at every level and in every phase of the game, Finley’s brilliance takes a back seat to no one’s in the history of the sport.
Phil Seghi, meanwhile, was among the most hapless of GMs. In his long tenure in that role in Cleveland — which had just begun a couple of months prior to this trade — Seghi would reliably pull off pointless, unfathomable moves; often his decisions seemed to be simply random, as though he worked his way through each day merrily flipping coins.
Yet here, against the longest odds, Seghi picked Finley’s pocket. Robbed him blind. Worked him over.
The story is that apparently the young Hendrick was grousing about not getting a regular job in the Oakland outfield, and he requested a trade. Finley was all too willing to comply, as he both undervalued the multi-talented Hendrick (who hadn’t yet hit in his brief major league chances, but had torn apart the minors) and overvalued Fosse’s defensive advantage over Duncan.
Like the actual Indians, ours won’t hesitate to say, “Yes.”
The 1972-73 offseason: Actual deals we will not make
Oct. 19, 1972: The Cleveland Indians traded infielder Eddie Leon to the Chicago White Sox for outfielder Walt Williams.
A corner outfielder without home run power doesn’t interest us.
Oct. 24, 1972: The Cleveland Indians traded catcher George Pena to the San Diego Padres for infielder Fred Stanley.
And since we’ve still got Leon to provide middle infield depth, we don’t need Stanley.
Nov. 2, 1972: The Cleveland Indians traded infielder-outfielder Kurt Bevacqua to the Kansas City Royals for pitcher Mike Hedlund.
Our Indians don’t have Bevacqua.
Nov. 24, 1972: The New York Yankees traded pitcher Rob Gardner and a player to be named later to the Oakland Athletics for outfielder Matty Alou. (On Dec. 1, 1972, the Yankees sent infielder-outfielder Rich McKinney to the Athletics, completing the deal.)
Nor do our Yankees have Gardner. Our Indians do, but aren’t interested in Alou, at this point in his career another corner outfielder without home run power.
Nov. 30, 1972: The Cleveland Indians traded pitcher Vince Colbert to the Texas Rangers for infielder Tom Ragland.
We no longer have Colbert.
Feb. 28, 1973: The New York Yankees traded first baseman Tony Solaita to the Pittsburgh Pirates for first baseman George Kopacz.
We’ve already traded Solaita.
March 6, 1973: The Cleveland Indians selected pitcher Jerry Johnson off waivers from the San Francisco Giants.
We’re aren’t interested in the rapidly-fading Johnson.
March 8, 1973: The Cleveland Indians traded outfielder Alex Johnson to the Texas Rangers for pitchers Vince Colbert and Rich Hinton.
Nor do we have this Johnson.
April 2, 1973: The Cleveland Indians traded first baseman-outfielder Tom McCraw and infielder Bob Marcano to the California Angels for shortstop Leo Cardenas.
And we don’t have McCraw.
April 5, 1973: The New York Yankees traded infielder Frank Baker to the Baltimore Orioles for infielder Tom Matchick.
We’ve got a spot for Baker on our bench.
The 1972-73 offseason: Deals we will invoke
Oct. 27, 1972: The Cleveland Indians traded outfielder Danny Walton to the Minnesota Twins for catcher Rick Dempsey.
Actually it was the Yankees swapping Walton for Dempsey. Our Indians will be happy to give the strong-fielding prospect Dempsey a chance as a backup.
Nov. 27, 1972: The New York Yankees traded pitcher Phil Hennigan to the New York Mets for pitchers Brent Strom and Bob Rauch.
And it was actually the Indians making this deal with the Mets. Our Yankees will give the young lefty Strom a shot at the rotation.
Nov. 27, 1972: The New York Yankees traded pitchers Stan Bahnsen, Ken Crosby, and Larry Gowell and outfielders Rusty Torres and Charlie Spikes to the Cleveland Indians for outfielder-first baseman Chris Chambliss, outfielder-third baseman Buddy Bell, and pitcher Vicente Romo.
In reality on this date, the Yankees traded Torres and Spikes along with John Ellis and Jerry Kenney to Cleveland in exchange for Graig Nettles and Jerry Moses. Yes, really.
We examined it here:
The Indians’ issue was that they had two good third basemen, in Nettles and the young Buddy Bell. So, trading one or the other made sense.
But they didn’t have to make a trade. They could have continued to deploy Bell in the outfield, where he was just fine defensively.
And of all things, trading Nettles to a division rival in exchange for three nice-but-nothing-special prospects most assuredly didn’t make sense. Lee MacPhail’s 1966-73 tenure as Yankees’ GM wasn’t exactly memorable, but this was one exceptional contribution he made to the franchise, laying one of the cornerstones for their great 1976-81 team.
Our Indians won’t be so accommodating. Our Yankees would love Nettles—a perfect Yankee Stadium fit—but he just isn’t available for a price our Yankees are willing to pay. So the third baseman who’ll be traded is Bell.
And we can include Chambliss as well, and, what the heck, Romo, but in return our Yanks will have to surrender a serious pitcher, Bahnsen, as well as the prospects Torres and Spikes, who’ll replace Chambliss and Bell in the Cleveland outfield.
Our version of the Yankees emerges with good young players at both infield corners, and our version of the Indians gains another stalwart starting pitcher.
Dec., 1972: The New York Yankees traded infielder Jerry Kenney to the Boston Red Sox for catcher Hal King.
Adjusting both benches.
Jan. 24, 1973: The New York Yankees traded pitcher Mike Nagy to the St. Louis Cardinals for a player to be named later. (On March 29, 1973, the Cardinals sent pitcher Lance Clemons to the Yankees, completing the deal.)
Actually it was the Red Sox making this deal with St. Louis, but our Yankees have Nagy so they’ll do it instead.
Feb. 14, 1973: The Boston Red Sox sold outfielder Billy Conigliaro to the Oakland Athletics.
Billy C. now says he wants to play again, but we’ve run out of patience with him.
March 27, 1973: The Boston Red Sox sold infielder Phil Gagliano to the Cincinnati Reds.
Actually the Red Sox traded Gagliano along with Andy Kosco to the Reds for a marginal pitching prospect named Mel Behney. Huh?
Our Red Sox don’t have room for Gagliano, but we’re keeping Kosco on our bench.
March, 1973: The New York Yankees sold infielder John Kennedy to the Texas Rangers.
March, 1973: The New York Yankees sold pitcher Tom Hilgendorf to the Cleveland Indians.
March, 1973: The Boston Red Sox sold infielder Mike Andrews to the Chicago White Sox.
Roster cut-down casualties. The sad case is Andrews, who was a star just a few years ago until back trouble ruined his career.
The 1973 season: Actual deals we will make
June 7, 1973: The New York Yankees purchased pitcher Sam McDowell from the San Francisco Giants.
Like the actual Yankees, we’ve got room in the rotation to see if Sudden Sam might have a comeback in him.
June 7, 1973: The New York Yankees traded first baseman Frank Tepedino, outfielder Wayne Nordhagen, and players to be named later to the Atlanta Braves for pitcher Pat Dobson. (On Aug. 15, 1973, the Yankees sent pitcher Dave Cheadle to the Braves, and on Sep. 5, 1973, the Yankees sent pitcher Alan Closter to the Braves, completing the deal.)
Another arm to address the starting pitching problems we’ve developed. This is an odd deal by the Braves, who surrendered a lot to acquire the 31-year-old Dobson last winter and are anything but pitching-rich, and are now ready to dump him for a collection of odds and ends just because he’s off to a 3-7 start. We have no illusion that Dobson is a star, but we think he’s got solid innings-eater mileage left.
June 8, 1973: The Cleveland Indians traded pitcher Steve Mingori to the Kansas City Royals for pitcher Mike Jackson.
Our Indians have acquired Jackson before, and gotten rid of him before. But Mingori is struggling so badly that we’ll take what we can get.
June 12, 1973: The Cleveland Indians traded pitcher Lowell Palmer to the New York Yankees for pitcher Mike Kekich.
Farting around at the back margin of the respective staffs.
Aug. 3, 1973: The Cleveland Indians selected pitcher Ken Sanders off waivers from the Minnesota Twins.
Hey, he used to be good. What the heck.
The 1973 season: Actual deals we will not make
April 17, 1973: The New York Yankees purchased third baseman-outfielder Jim Ray Hart from the San Francisco Giants.
Intriguing an idea though it is to see what Jimmy Ray might be able to do as a DH, our Yankees haven’t got the room.
May 4, 1973: The Boston Red Sox sold pitcher Sonny Siebert to the Texas Rangers as part of a conditional deal.
The 36-year-old Sonny is clearly in decline, but we’re not ready to give up on him.
May 10, 1973: The Cleveland Indians traded pitcher Steve Dunning to the Texas Rangers for pitcher Dick Bosman and outfielder Ted Ford.
The former No. 1 draft pick from Stanford has been a bust so far, but he’s still just 24, and we’ll choose to see if he can get it straightened out in the minors. And anyway, our Indians still have Ted Ford.
June 15, 1973: The Cleveland Indians traded pitcher Ed Farmer to the Detroit Tigers for infielder Kevin Collins and pitcher Tom Timmermann.
Our Indians have Farmer parked in triple-A, but have no interest in these Tiger marginalities.
Aug. 7, 1973: The New York Yankees traded a player to be named later and cash to the St. Louis Cardinals for pitcher Wayne Granger. (On Sep. 12, 1973, the Yankees sent pitcher Ken Crosby to the Cardinals, completing the deal.
Our Yanks don’t have a spot for Granger in the bullpen.
Aug. 13, 1973: The New York Yankees sold infielder Bernie Allen to the Montreal Expos.
We’d rather have Allen available on our bench than not over the stretch run.
Aug. 18, 1973: The New York Yankees purchased first baseman Mike Hegan from the Oakland Athletics as part of a conditional deal.
We have no need for Hegan.
Sep. 24, 1973: The New York Yankees selected catcher Duke Sims off waivers from the Detroit Tigers.
Our Indians still have Sims, and he isn’t going to be made available to our Yankees.
1973 season results
Yankees
After the frustrating performances of 1971 and ’72, we’re reinvigorating the roster with youth. Twenty-one-year-old Bell will take over at third base, and 24-year-old Chambliss at first, as 24-year-old Ron Blomberg will become the DH (platooning with 24-year-old John Ellis). Rookies Brent Strom and Doc Medich, also both 24, will be given the opportunity to replace Bahnsen in the starting rotation.
1973 New York Yankees Won 86 Lost 76 Finished 4th
Pos Player Age G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
1B C. Chambliss* 24 147 515 61 136 25 2 10 58 54 70 .264 .334 .379 .713 104
2B H. Clarke# 33 148 560 55 147 20 0 2 41 45 46 .263 .314 .309 .623 79
SS R. Metzger# 25 146 522 53 131 14 10 1 35 36 64 .251 .296 .322 .617 77
3B B. Bell 21 148 568 71 149 23 8 9 62 46 44 .262 .322 .379 .700 100
RF-LF J. Briggs* 29 135 439 69 106 16 5 20 58 81 74 .241 .360 .437 .797 127
CF B. Murcer* 27 160 616 87 187 29 2 22 102 50 67 .304 .357 .464 .821 134
LF R. White# 29 154 575 83 142 20 3 16 61 71 72 .247 .330 .376 .705 102
C T. Munson 26 147 519 79 156 29 4 20 81 48 64 .301 .361 .487 .849 141
DH R. Blomberg* 24 100 301 44 99 13 1 12 64 34 25 .329 .393 .498 .892 154
DH-C J. Ellis 24 76 219 29 58 6 2 5 38 23 31 .265 .335 .379 .714 104
1B-3B D. Cater 33 63 195 29 59 11 1 0 29 10 23 .303 .337 .369 .706 102
OF R. Bladt 26 66 97 14 19 2 2 1 9 9 15 .196 .266 .289 .555 59
RF O. Velez 22 23 77 8 15 4 0 2 8 15 24 .195 .326 .325 .651 87
2B-3B B. Allen* 34 33 82 7 17 4 0 1 9 8 7 .207 .275 .293 .567 63
SS F. Baker* 26 44 63 9 12 1 2 1 12 7 7 .190 .268 .317 .585 67
C H. King* 29 35 43 5 8 0 0 4 10 6 10 .186 .286 .465 .751 112
RF R. Swoboda 29 35 43 5 5 0 0 1 3 4 18 .116 .191 .186 .378 9
Others 6 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 .167 .167 .167 .333 -4
Total 5440 709 1447 217 42 127 681 547 662 .266 .333 .391 .724 107
* Bats left
# Bats both
Pitcher Age G GS CG W L SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA ERA+
M. Stottlemyre 31 38 38 19 18 15 0 273 259 112 93 13 79 95 3.07 120
D. Medich 24 34 32 11 16 8 0 235 217 84 77 20 74 145 2.95 125
F. Peterson* 31 31 31 6 10 14 0 184 207 93 81 18 49 59 3.96 93
P. Dobson 31 22 21 6 10 8 0 142 150 72 66 22 34 70 4.18 88
B. Strom* 24 33 12 1 3 8 1 102 109 56 47 12 40 79 4.15 89
S. McDowell* 30 16 15 2 6 8 0 96 73 47 42 4 64 75 3.94 93
S. Kline 25 9 9 2 4 4 0 56 52 28 23 4 22 12 3.70 100
D. Segui 35 59 0 0 8 6 25 100 74 36 31 8 54 93 2.79 132
V. Romo 30 44 1 0 4 3 12 88 84 46 38 12 47 51 3.89 95
F. Beene 30 23 2 0 6 0 3 91 67 21 17 5 27 49 1.68 219
M. Kekich* 28 9 0 0 1 1 1 15 18 12 12 1 14 6 7.20 51
J. Magnuson* 26 8 0 0 0 1 0 27 38 17 13 2 9 9 4.33 85
Others 1 0 0 0 0 16 20 6 6 1 2 11 3.38 109
Total 162 47 86 76 42 1425 1368 630 546 122 515 754 3.45 107
* Throws left
We have some issues in the rotation, as Steve Kline goes down with a sore arm and Strom struggles. This creates the openings for McDowell and Dobson. But Medich is terrific.
Altogether it’s a season in which most things go as planned. The result is a solid ballclub in every respect, not great, but real good in both halves of the inning. We’re definitely good enough to seriously contend.
Alas, Pythagoras has other ideas. We underperform our expected result by five wins, and in a strong division we drop to fourth place, our most distant finish since 1969. It’s another frustrating year.
Red Sox
We’re largely standing pat with the crew that delivered a division flag in 1972. The only major change is at second base, where we’ve discarded Andrews and will give youngster Buddy Hunter first crack at the job. On the pitching side, young lefty Bill Lee, who’s performed well out of the bullpen in 1971-72, will be given the opportunity to crack the rotation.
1973 Boston Red Sox Won 89 Lost 73 Finished 3rd
Pos Player Age G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
1B C. Cooper* 23 132 441 52 109 18 1 11 53 39 54 .247 .305 .367 .673 85
2B-3B J. Kenney* 28 86 252 30 66 8 3 1 21 37 21 .262 .354 .329 .683 89
SS-CF J. Beniquez 23 118 396 56 101 16 3 8 33 38 57 .255 .318 .371 .689 90
3B R. Petrocelli 30 100 356 44 87 13 1 13 45 47 64 .244 .332 .396 .728 100
RF D. Evans 21 131 423 66 98 20 2 14 51 59 76 .232 .324 .388 .712 96
CF-RF R. Smith# 28 115 423 79 128 23 2 21 69 68 49 .303 .398 .515 .913 150
L-3-1 C. Yastrzemski* 33 152 540 82 160 25 4 19 95 105 58 .296 .406 .463 .869 139
C C. Fisk 25 135 508 65 125 21 0 26 71 37 99 .246 .308 .441 .749 105
DH O. Cepeda 35 128 495 46 143 22 0 18 77 45 73 .289 .347 .442 .790 117
CF-LF R. Miller* 25 129 397 59 104 15 6 5 39 46 53 .262 .338 .368 .706 95
SS L. Aparicio 39 88 250 28 68 9 1 0 25 23 15 .272 .322 .316 .638 77
DH-1B A. Kosco 31 73 219 38 61 12 0 14 48 20 45 .279 .328 .525 .853 132
2B-SS M. Guerrero 23 66 219 19 51 5 2 0 11 10 21 .233 .270 .274 .544 51
2B B. Hunter 25 57 133 14 23 5 0 1 9 25 20 .173 .299 .233 .532 49
OF-1B B. Oglivie* 24 58 147 16 32 9 1 2 9 9 32 .218 .267 .333 .600 65
C V. Correll 27 41 123 11 19 3 0 3 11 12 30 .154 .226 .252 .478 32
2B-SS R. Burleson 22 49 119 12 26 4 0 1 7 8 20 .218 .267 .277 .544 50
3B J. Mason 28 14 28 4 5 1 0 0 2 3 5 .179 .258 .214 .472 32
Total 5469 721 1406 229 26 157 676 631 792 .257 .332 .395 .727 100
* Bats left
# Bats both
Pitcher Age G GS CG W L SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA ERA+
B. Lee* 26 38 33 18 17 11 1 285 275 100 87 20 76 120 2.75 148
L. Tiant 32 35 35 23 20 13 0 272 217 105 101 32 78 206 3.34 121
J. Curtis* 25 35 30 10 13 12 0 221 225 103 88 24 83 101 3.58 113
M. Pattin 30 34 30 11 15 14 1 219 238 112 105 31 69 119 4.32 94
S. Siebert 36 23 17 1 5 7 0 102 110 59 50 12 31 68 4.41 92
R. Moret* 23 15 7 2 6 1 0 78 69 30 27 9 34 45 3.12 130
L. McGlothen 23 15 6 0 1 3 0 50 70 36 34 8 19 34 6.12 66
D. Pole 22 6 4 0 2 1 0 28 35 18 17 2 9 12 5.46 74
S. Lyle* 28 51 0 0 5 6 27 82 70 30 25 5 17 62 2.74 148
B. Bolin 34 39 0 0 3 3 4 53 45 16 16 5 13 31 2.72 149
B. Veale* 37 32 0 0 2 2 2 36 37 16 14 2 12 25 3.50 116
Others 0 0 0 0 0 14 15 8 7 1 8 10 4.50 90
Total 162 65 89 73 35 1440 1406 633 571 151 449 833 3.57 114
* Throws left
Hunter flops, and second base is a muddle, with utilityman Jerry Kenney emerging with most of the playing time. Injuries bedevil third baseman Rico Petrocelli and outfielder Reggie Smith, and slumps frustrate sophomores Carlton Fisk, Cecil Cooper, and Ben Oglivie.
Thus despite a comeback performance from 33-year-old Carl Yastrzemski—delivering his best year with the bat since 1970, and stepping up nicely to the challenge of filling in at third base for a month in Petrocelli’s absence—our offensive output is distinctly less than what we’ve come to expect.
Our pitching is outstanding. Lee blossoms wonderfully as a starter, and Luis Tiant proves that his great work in 1972 was no fluke. From top to bottom ours is one of the best staffs in the league.
However, with the so-so hitting, we’re a contender, but we can’t repeat our championship.
Indians
Despite our improved performance in 1972, we were quite active in the off-season market. We’ve bolstered the pitching with the addition of Bahnsen, the power-hitting Duncan replaces Fosse behind the plate, and we’re giving serious opportunities to a trio of young outfielders picked up in trades: Torres, Hendrick, and Gamble.
1973 Cleveland Indians Won 92 Lost 70 Finished 2nd
Pos Player Age G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
1B G. Scott 29 158 604 100 189 30 4 26 108 61 92 .313 .374 .505 .879 144
2B D. Nelson 29 135 518 75 155 22 4 7 43 32 70 .299 .332 .398 .730 103
SS F. Duffy 26 116 361 36 95 16 4 8 50 25 41 .263 .309 .396 .705 96
3B G. Nettles* 28 160 552 72 136 20 0 20 83 76 74 .246 .343 .391 .734 105
RF-LF O. Gamble* 23 113 390 59 104 11 3 20 44 34 37 .267 .326 .464 .790 119
CF-RF G. Hendrick 23 113 440 67 118 18 0 21 61 25 71 .268 .307 .452 .759 110
LF-RF J. Lowenstein* 26 108 336 49 98 18 1 7 44 25 45 .292 .334 .414 .748 108
C D. Duncan 27 95 344 45 80 11 1 17 43 35 86 .233 .308 .419 .727 101
DH-LF R. Scheinblum# 30 123 425 56 127 19 3 8 49 63 49 .299 .387 .414 .801 124
CF-RF R. Torres# 24 122 312 32 64 8 1 7 28 50 62 .205 .311 .304 .616 73
DH-C D. Sims* 32 84 261 35 65 10 0 9 33 32 36 .249 .331 .391 .722 101
DH-LF R. Freed 27 77 209 28 49 5 0 11 33 33 65 .234 .339 .416 .755 110
SS-2B E. Leon 26 76 200 21 43 5 1 3 15 15 53 .215 .263 .295 .558 56
OF T. Ford 26 52 149 17 35 7 1 3 16 15 29 .235 .308 .356 .663 85
2B J. Brohamer* 23 60 120 12 25 5 1 2 11 11 12 .208 .267 .317 .583 62
C C. Taylor 29 35 73 9 16 3 0 0 8 15 11 .219 .341 .260 .601 70
C R. Dempsey 23 18 50 4 10 1 0 0 4 6 8 .200 .276 .220 .496 40
SS R. Hermoso 25 18 47 5 11 1 0 0 4 2 5 .234 .280 .255 .535 50
OF R. Lolich 26 20 47 5 11 2 0 1 5 2 9 .234 .265 .340 .606 68
Others 92 13 22 3 0 4 10 6 12 .239 .283 .402 .685 89
Total 5530 740 1453 215 24 174 692 563 867 .263 .329 .405 .734 104
* Bats left
# Bats both
Pitcher Age G GS CG W L SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA ERA+
G. Perry 34 41 41 29 21 17 0 344 315 143 129 34 115 238 3.38 118
J. Colborn 27 43 36 20 19 11 1 283 272 118 105 21 80 125 3.34 119
S. Bahnsen 28 39 39 13 19 17 0 262 262 112 102 21 109 116 3.50 114
D. Tidrow 26 38 32 10 12 12 1 220 228 117 105 24 76 112 4.30 93
M. Wilcox 23 9 6 1 3 3 0 45 48 30 29 5 23 27 5.80 69
M. Kekich* 28 5 2 0 0 1 0 17 24 16 13 2 12 9 6.88 58
T. Hilgendorf* 31 48 1 1 6 3 12 95 87 38 33 9 36 58 3.13 128
R. Lamb 28 34 0 0 3 2 2 57 63 27 27 4 28 42 4.26 94
R. Gardner* 28 17 3 0 3 1 1 45 58 25 24 5 23 19 4.80 83
K. Sanders 31 15 0 0 5 1 7 27 18 6 5 2 9 14 1.67 239
B. Butler* 26 13 2 0 1 2 0 22 27 13 11 1 11 18 4.50 89
M. Garman 23 12 0 0 0 0 0 22 32 15 13 1 15 9 5.32 75
S. Mingori* 29 5 0 0 0 0 0 12 10 8 8 3 10 4 6.00 67
E. Stephenson* 25 5 0 0 0 0 1 8 10 7 6 2 6 4 6.75 59
Others 0 0 0 0 0 7 9 4 3 1 3 5 3.86 103
Total 162 74 92 70 25 1466 1463 679 613 135 556 800 3.76 106
* Throws left
Torres fails to hit, but that’s one of the few setbacks we encounter. Generally, things go either as anticipated, or better.
Hendrick and Gamble blossom, with Gamble surprising with his power. George Scott delivers his best year yet. Richie Scheinblum continues to be an on-base machine, and Nettles reliably provides the long ball. The double-play combo of Frank Duffy and Dave Nelson, not counted upon to produce much offense, both hit in career-best fashion. We lead the league in team home runs and slugging percentage, the sort of thing no Tribe ball club has contemplated in a very long time.
Right-hander Jim Colborn blossoms as a first-rate starting pitcher, joining Bahnsen and ace Gaylord Perry to form a superb Big Three. Our hodge-podge of a bullpen is an issue, but it’s rescued to some extent by scrap-heap pickups Tom Hilgendorf and Ken Sanders.
It adds up to the best Cleveland team in nearly a generation. We can’t quite capture a flag—the Orioles bounce back to do that—but, assisted by the good fortune of overperforming our Pythagorean record by four games, we finish in second place, the first Indians team to accomplish that since 1959. Our total of 92 wins is the most by any Indians team since 1955.
It’s a very, very good year. We think we’ve got the elements of a champion in place, if we can just fill in the last few pieces.
Yankees: Actual Red Sox: Actual Indians: Actual
Year W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA
1969 80 81 5 562 587 87 75 3 743 736 62 99 6 573 717
1970 93 69 2 680 612 87 75 3 786 722 76 86 5 649 675
1971 82 80 4 648 641 85 77 3 691 667 60 102 6 543 747
1972 79 76 4 557 527 85 70 2 640 620 72 84 5 472 519
1973 80 82 4 641 610 89 73 2 738 647 71 91 6 680 826
Yankees: Virtual Red Sox: Virtual Indians: Virtual
Year W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA W L Pos RS RA
1969 80 81 5 594 617 85 77 4 775 781 68 93 6 576 658
1970 95 67 2 677 599 89 73 3 781 706 82 80 4 706 680
1971 87 75 3 662 611 84 78 4 690 673 73 89 5 657 748
1972 82 73 3 590 545 89 66 1 627 579 82 74 4 558 534
1973 86 76 4 709 630 89 73 3 721 633 92 70 2 740 679
Next time
Will one of our teams be playing October baseball in 1974?
Interesting re-imagining of the Nettles trade. Yankees get Chambliss a year early, so does that mean we keep Fritz Peterson and his declining skills? Too bad he didn’t go instead of Bahnsen. The ‘74 Yanks finished a close second and the virtual Yanks have been consistently better, but the virtual Indians look like a powerhouse. Can’t wait for next week.
“Yankees get Chambliss a year early, so does that mean we keep Fritz Peterson and his declining skills?”
Well, I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you. State secret and all that. To be revealed next week!
That’s ok, I can wait. As a Yankee fan who grew up in that era, I’ve enjoyed this series, even though they don’t get two of my favorites, Nettles and Lyle.
“Phil Seghi, meanwhile, was among the most hapless of GMs.” I agree 100%. But I also say Gabe Paul was either just as hapless, or he ran the real Indians like some Svengali, looking to keep control simply to keep himself in power.
Wow. The Indians robbed Oakland blind in the Hendrick/Fosse deal? I wish I had your rose-colored glasses!
Yikes. Chambliss AND Bell? I agree with John Agius – “Interesting re-imagining of the Nettles trade”. Wow. I don’t know what to say to that one.
Dang. In 1973 I was 10 years old and still would have to wait 21 years!!!!! to see the Indians finish that high. Don’t do this to me, Steve. Please.
I think the Indians made out in the short term on that trade. Bahnsen had a good year and was sorely missed in the Yankee rotation. Would have turned out even better for the Indians if Charlie Spikes played instead of Rusty Torres.
“Would have turned out even better for the Indians if Charlie Spikes played instead of Rusty Torres.”
Indeed. My Indians chose to put Spikes in AAA for 1973, because he hadn’t yet played above AA and was still only 22. Spikes will be on the big league Cleveland roster in 1974.
Torres was a couple of years older and had significantly more experience in both the minors and majors (and based on his minor league stats, looked like he would be a decent-to-good major league hitter).