# 1956 Cleveland Indians season

The 1956 Cleveland Indians season was the 56th season for the franchise, the 42nd as the Indians and the 25th season at Cleveland Stadium. The team failed to upon their 93–61 campaign from the previous season, and missed the playoffs, thus posted an 88–66 record, good for second place and 9 games behind the first place New York Yankees.

## Offseason

* October 24, 1955: Ralph Kiner was released by the Indians.
* October 25, 1955: Larry Doby was traded by the Indians to the Chicago White Sox for Chico Carrasquel and Jim Busby.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 97 | 57 | .630 | — | 49‍–‍28 | 48‍–‍29 |
| Cleveland Indians | 88 | 66 | .571 | 9 | 46‍–‍31 | 42‍–‍35 |
| Chicago White Sox | 85 | 69 | .552 | 12 | 46‍–‍31 | 39‍–‍38 |
| Boston Red Sox | 84 | 70 | .545 | 13 | 43‍–‍34 | 41‍–‍36 |
| Detroit Tigers | 82 | 72 | .532 | 15 | 37‍–‍40 | 45‍–‍32 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 69 | 85 | .448 | 28 | 41‍–‍36 | 28‍–‍49 |
| Washington Senators | 59 | 95 | .383 | 38 | 32‍–‍45 | 27‍–‍50 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 52 | 102 | .338 | 45 | 22‍–‍55 | 30‍–‍47 |

### Record vs. opponents

1956 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KCA | NYY | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 6–16 | 9–13 | 5–17 | 13–9 | 15–7 | 9–13 | 12–10 |
| Boston | 16–6 | — | 14–8 | 13–9–1 | 12–10 | 12–10 | 8–14 | 9–13 |
| Chicago | 13–9 | 8–14 | — | 15–7 | 13–9 | 14–8 | 9–13 | 13–9 |
| Cleveland | 17–5 | 9–13–1 | 7–15 | — | 11–11 | 17–5 | 10–12 | 17–5 |
| Detroit | 9–13 | 10–12 | 9–13 | 11–11 | — | 16–6 | 12–10 | 15–7–1 |
| Kansas City | 7–15 | 10–12 | 8–14 | 5–17 | 6–16 | — | 4–18 | 12–10 |
| New York | 13–9 | 14–8 | 13–9 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 18–4 | — | 17–5 |
| Washington | 10–12 | 13–9 | 9–13 | 5–17 | 7–15–1 | 10–12 | 5–17 | — |

### Game log

1956 Game Log :
April
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossAttendanceRecord
1April 17@ White Sox2–1Pierce (1–0)Lemon (0–1)16,7730–1
2April 19@ White Sox1–0Harshman (1–0)Score (0–1)5,3690–2
3April 20Tigers3–1Wynn (1–0)Garver (0–1)31,6891–2
4April 21Tigers7–6Aber (1–0)Garcia (0–1)4,2241–3
5April 22Tigers6–4Black (1–0)Narleski (0–1)1–4
6April 22Tigers5–2Lemon (1–1)Marlowe (0–1)12,9802–4
7April 25@ Athletics5–2Score (1–1)Shantz (1–1)18,0053–4
8April 26@ Athletics14–2Wynn (2–0)Kretlow (0–1)9,0144–4
9April 27@ Tigers4 – 3 (10)Mossi (1–0)Lary (0–2)3,7355–4
10April 29@ Tigers1 – 0 (10)Hoeft (1–0)Score (1–2)5–5
11April 29@ Tigers8–4Lemon (2–1)Black (1–1)22,2226–5 :
May
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossAttendanceRecord
12May 1@ Senators3–2Wynn (3–0)Ramos (1–1)9,6397–5
13May 3@ Orioles7–1Garcia (1–1)Wight (0–4)12,3788–5
14May 4@ Orioles4–3Wilson (3–0)Score (1–3)8,1308–6
15May 5@ Orioles2–1Lemon (3–1)Ferrarese (0–1)9,2709–6
16May 7@ Red Sox5–1Brewer (3–1)Garcia (1–2)4,3969–7
17May 8@ Yankees4–3Kucks (3–1)Wynn (3–1)8,7949–8
18May 9@ Yankees6–5Score (2–3)Morgan (0–3)12,22510–8
19May 10@ Yankees7–2Lemon (4–1)McDermott (1–2)10,38211–8
20May 11Athletics4 – 1 (5)Garcia (2–2)Kretlow (1–3)8,62212–8
21May 12Athletics5–3Wynn (4–1)Herriage (0–1)4,72813–8
22May 13Athletics5–2Ditmar (3–2)Feller (0–1)13–9
23May 13Athletics9–4Score (3–3)Lasorda (0–1)11,30814–9
24May 14Yankees3–2Lemon (5–1)Kucks (3–2)18,95015–9
25May 16Yankees4–1Morgan (1–3)Garcia (2–3)6,26315–10
26May 18Senators5 – 4 (11)Stewart (2–0)Narleski (0–2)7,74715–11
27May 19Senators5–1Score (4–3)Pascual (2–5)4,66616–11
28May 20Orioles6–1Lemon (6–1)Wilson (4–2)17–11
29May 20Orioles5–1Garcia (3–3)Palica (2–5)12,31818–11
30May 22Red Sox5–3Brewer (5–1)Wynn (4–2)15,28618–12
31May 23Red Sox6–3Score (5–3)Sullivan (3–1)3,70019–12
32May 25@ White Sox2–1Pierce (5–1)Garcia (3–4)31,84019–13
33May 27@ White Sox5 – 4 (15)Wilson (1–0)McLish (0–1)23,85719–14
34May 27@ White Sox4–2Wynn (5–2)Harshman (2–3)25,85620–14
35May 28Tigers3–1Gromek (3–3)Score (5–4)9,54620–15
36May 30White Sox6–3Pierce (6–3)Houtteman (0–1)20–16
37May 30White Sox9–8Staley (1–0)Garcia (3–5)26,78820–17 :
June
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossAttendanceRecord
38June 1@ Senators5–3Wiesler (1–2)Lemon (6–2)4,73820–18
39June 2@ Senators15–0Score (6–4)Stone (2–1)2,31721–18
40June 3@ Senators8 – 4 (12)McLish (1–1)Chakales (3–3)22–18
41June 3@ Senators7–1Griggs (1–2)Mossi (1–1)11,81722–19
42June 4@ Senators7–0Garcia (4–5)Ramos (3–3)5,02123–19
43June 5@ Orioles8–3Lemon (7–2)Moore (4–4)25,04124–19
44June 6@ Orioles5–1Houtteman (1–1)Johnson (1–2)12,36325–19
45June 7@ Orioles5–2Wight (3–5)McLish (1–2)3,92725–20
46June 8@ Yankees9–0Wynn (6–2)Ford (7–3)50,81226–20
47June 9@ Yankees15–8Daley (1–0)Morgan (2–5)31,41927–20
48June 10@ Yankees6–0Kucks (7–3)Lemon (7–3)47,46527–21
49June 11@ Red Sox4–1McLish (2–2)Porterfield (2–5)6,33028–21
50June 11@ Red Sox5–1Brewer (9–1)Garcia (4–6)24,19328–22
51June 12@ Red Sox9–7Sullivan (5–3)Wynn (6–3)29,19028–23
52June 13@ Red Sox8–88,25828–23
53June 14@ Red Sox10–9Delock (2–4)Lemon (7–4)7,13628–24
54June 15Yankees6–2Kucks (8–3)Garcia (4–7)34,02528–25
55June 16Yankees3–1Sturdivant (4–1)Score (6–5)40,96428–26
56June 17Yankees9–4Coleman (2–1)Wynn (6–4)41,76528–27
57June 19Red Sox9–7Lemon (8–4)Delock (2–5)14,68429–27
58June 20Red Sox5 – 4 (10)Mossi (2–1)Hurd (1–3)14,27130–27
59June 21Red Sox5–0Wynn (7–4)Brewer (9–2)6,49831–27
60June 22Senators4–0Garcia (5–7)Stobbs (5–5)9,94632–27
61June 23Senators9–8Narleski (1–2)Ramos (4–6)4,69133–27
62June 24Senators7 – 2 (6)Lemon (9–4)Wiesler (2–4)13,07234–27
63June 26Orioles4–3Wynn (8–4)Zuverink (4–3)8,25035–27
64June 27Orioles12 – 11 (11)Mossi (3–1)Brown (4–1)4,51436–27
65June 29White Sox5–2Score (7–5)Wilson (10–4)37–27
66June 29White Sox13–2Pierce (12–2)Lemon (9–5)34,37137–28
67June 30White Sox8–3Staley (3–0)Mossi (3–2)10,80137–29 :
July
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossAttendanceRecord
68July 1White Sox7–6Narleski (2–2)Consuegra (1–2)38–29
69July 1White Sox6–1Lemon (10–5)Donovan (4–3)31,85739–29
70July 3Athletics9–3Narleski (3–2)Ditmar (6–9)6,22140–29
71July 4@ Tigers6–4Score (8–5)Foytack (5–6)41–29
72July 4@ Tigers3–1Wynn (9–4)Maas (0–5)33,15142–29
73July 5@ Tigers13–7Lary (5–10)Lemon (10–6)5,27042–30
74July 6@ Athletics4–2Garcia (6–7)Herriage (1–8)16,17143–30
75July 7@ Athletics5–2Ditmar (7–9)Score (8–6)16,34243–31
76July 8@ Athletics17–3Wynn (10–4)McMahan (0–3)15,95844–31
77July 12@ Yankees9–5Kucks (12–4)Lemon (10–7)24,32944–32
78July 13@ Yankees10–0Sturdivant (8–2)Wynn (10–5)40,66444–33
79July 14@ Yankees5 – 4 (10)Byrne (4–1)Mossi (3–3)27,35844–34
80July 15@ Red Sox10–7Houtteman (2–1)Nixon (3–3)45–34
81July 15@ Red Sox3–1Sisler (4–3)Garcia (6–8)32,29045–35
82July 16@ Red Sox7–3Lemon (11–7)Sullivan (8–4)14,26246–35
83July 18@ Senators7–5Ramos (6–7)Feller (0–2)46–36
84July 18@ Senators11–1Aguirre (1–0)Pascual (4–11)8,02247–36
85July 19@ Senators5–4Stewart (4–2)McLish (2–3)3,17847–37
86July 21@ Orioles4–3Lemon (12–7)Ferrarese (4–7)48–37
87July 21@ Orioles4 – 3 (10)Mossi (4–3)Loes (1–3)22,98649–37
88July 22@ Orioles8–0Wynn (11–5)Wight (5–8)10,01950–37
89July 24Senators11–0Garcia (7–8)Stewart (4–3)9,58251–37
90July 25Senators11–3Score (9–6)Pascual (4–12)5,09952–37
91July 26Senators1 – 0 (7)Lemon (13–7)Stobbs (7–8)6,80453–37
92July 27Orioles3–2Wynn (12–5)Schmitz (0–2)10,06354–37
93July 28Orioles8–6Johnson (4–5)Garcia (7–9)5,17254–38
94July 29Orioles3–0Score (10–6)Palica (3–9)55–38
95July 29Orioles4–0Aguirre (2–0)Ferrarese (4–8)13,00556–38
96July 30Yankees13–6Ford (14–4)Lemon (13–8)22,65956–39
97July 31Yankees5–0Wynn (13–5)Kucks (14–6)29,61957–39 :
August
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossAttendanceRecord
98August 1Yankees5–1Lemon (14–8)Byrne (6–2)32,91558–39
99August 2Yankees4–0Score (11–6)Sturdivant (9–5)25,26659–39
100August 3Red Sox7–1Parnell (5–2)Garcia (7–10)1,85859–40
101August 4Red Sox6 – 5 (10)Delock (9–6)Garcia (7–11)13,68359–41
102August 5Red Sox2 – 1 (7)Sisler (5–5)Lemon (14–9)28,92459–42
103August 6@ Tigers9–0Foytack (9–8)Score (11–7)29,81359–43
104August 7@ Tigers5–2Garcia (8–11)Lary (10–12)11,96360–43
105August 8@ White Sox7 – 6 (14)Staley (4–1)McLish (2–4)26,60660–44
106August 9@ White Sox9–2Harshman (9–7)Wynn (13–6)9,05060–45
107August 10@ Athletics11–0Lemon (15–9)Burnette (2–4)13,46361–45
108August 11@ Athletics8–5Mossi (5–3)Crimian (1–6)13,59462–45
109August 12@ Athletics6–3Score (12–7)Kretlow (4–6)16,70263–45
110August 14Tigers6 – 4 (15)Bunning (3–1)Mossi (5–4)14,14863–46
111August 15Tigers1–0Lary (12–12)Lemon (15–10)11,85863–47
112August 16Tigers5–4Score (13–7)Hoeft (14–10)7,21764–47
113August 17Athletics9–3Crimian (2–6)Aguirre (2–1)7,40664–48
114August 18Athletics8–1Wynn (14–6)Kretlow (4–7)4,35565–48
115August 19Athletics5–2Lemon (16–10)Burnette (2–6)66–48
116August 19Athletics2–1Garcia (9–11)Ditmar (9–16)10,31967–48
117August 21@ Yankees3–0Score (14–7)Larsen (7–5)39,18768–48
118August 22@ Yankees3–2Sturdivant (12–6)Wynn (14–7)23,58468–49
119August 23@ Red Sox2–1Parnell (7–3)Lemon (16–11)26,43968–50
120August 24@ Red Sox5–3Garcia (10–11)Brewer (16–7)6,04769–50
121August 25@ Red Sox9–6Sisler (6–6)Score (14–8)19,83069–51
122August 26@ Senators4–1Wynn (15–7)Stone (4–5)6,88070–51
123August 27@ Senators5–2Lemon (17–11)Griggs (1–6)4,87971–51
124August 28@ Orioles1–0Moore (11–6)Aguirre (2–2)13,67371–52
125August 29@ Orioles3–2Mossi (6–4)Fornieles (3–7)8,88272–52
126August 31@ White Sox3–2Score (15–8)Pierce (18–7)73–52
127August 31@ White Sox1 – 0 (10)Donovan (9–7)Wynn (15–8)31,44573–53 :
September
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossAttendanceRecord
128September 1@ White Sox5–1Lemon (18–11)Staley (5–2)17,74974–53
129September 2@ White Sox4–3Harshman (12–9)Aguirre (2–3)14,70474–54
130September 3@ Athletics5–2Gorman (8–8)Garcia (10–12)13,45974–55
131September 3@ Athletics2–1Wynn (16–8)Burnette (3–7)11,83775–55
132September 4@ Athletics5–2Crimian (3–7)Score (15–9)7,33275–56
133September 7White Sox2–1Harshman (13–9)Lemon (18–12)11,20275–57
134September 8White Sox4–2Pierce (19–7)Wynn (16–9)5,58375–58
135September 9White Sox4–1Score (16–9)Donovan (10–8)76–58
136September 9White Sox6–2Staley (6–2)Aguirre (2–4)28,45776–59
137September 11Orioles3–1Lemon (19–12)Moore (11–7)5,42777–59
138September 12Orioles2–1Wynn (17–9)Brown (9–5)4,73878–59
139September 13Orioles4–1Johnson (8–10)Aguirre (2–5)1,66378–60
140September 14Red Sox10–2Score (17–9)Parnell (7–5)79–60
141September 14Red Sox4–3Sisler (7–7)Mossi (6–5)10,00079–61
142September 15Red Sox5–3Delock (13–6)Feller (0–3)5,24279–62
143September 16Yankees10–3Sturdivant (15–8)Lemon (19–13)79–63
144September 16Yankees4–3Wynn (18–9)Kucks (18–8)39,65180–63
145September 18Senators1–0Score (18–9)Wiesler (3–12)81–63
146September 18Senators6–0Garcia (11–12)Stobbs (15–13)4,30582–63
147September 19Senators6 – 0 (7)Lemon (20–13)Abernathy (1–1)36583–63
148September 21@ Tigers5–1Wynn (19–9)Hoeft (18–13)19,19984–63
149September 22@ Tigers5–1Score (19–9)Foytack (14–13)7,73885–63
150September 23@ Tigers11–1Lary (20–13)Lemon (20–14)13,30085–64
151September 25Athletics4 – 1 (10)Wynn (20–9)Crimian (4–8)3,60486–64
152September 26Athletics8–4Score (20–9)Ditmar (12–22)3,63087–64
153September 28Tigers2–1Aguirre (3–5)Hoeft (19–14)4,52888–64
154September 29Tigers9–1Lary (21–13)Houtteman (2–2)2,94688–65
155September 30Tigers8–4Hoeft (20–14)Feller (0–4)5,91088–66 :

## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; AVG = Batting average; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases
| Pos | Player | G | AB | R | H | AVG | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB |
| C | Jim Hegan | 122 | 315 | 42 | 70 | .222 | 15 | 2 | 6 | 34 | 1 |
| 1B | Vic Wertz | 136 | 481 | 65 | 127 | .264 | 22 | 0 | 32 | 106 | 0 |
| 2B | Bobby Ávila | 138 | 513 | 74 | 115 | .224 | 14 | 2 | 10 | 54 | 17 |
| 3B | Al Rosen | 121 | 416 | 64 | 111 | .267 | 18 | 2 | 15 | 61 | 1 |
| SS | Chico Carrasquel | 141 | 474 | 60 | 115 | .243 | 15 | 1 | 7 | 48 | 0 |
| LF | Gene Woodling | 100 | 317 | 56 | 83 | .262 | 17 | 0 | 8 | 38 | 2 |
| CF | Jim Busby | 135 | 494 | 72 | 116 | .235 | 17 | 3 | 12 | 50 | 8 |
| RF | Rocky Colavito | 101 | 322 | 55 | 89 | .276 | 11 | 4 | 21 | 65 | 0 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; AVG = Batting average; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases
| Player | G | AB | R | H | AVG | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB |
| Al Smith | 141 | 526 | 87 | 144 | .274 | 26 | 5 | 16 | 71 | 6 |
| George Strickland | 85 | 171 | 22 | 36 | .211 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 17 | 0 |
| Preston Ward | 87 | 150 | 18 | 38 | .253 | 10 | 0 | 6 | 21 | 0 |
| Hal Naragon | 53 | 122 | 11 | 35 | .287 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 0 |
| Sam Mele | 57 | 114 | 17 | 29 | .254 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 20 | 0 |
| Earl Averill | 42 | 93 | 12 | 22 | .237 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 0 |
| Dave Pope | 25 | 70 | 6 | 17 | .243 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Rudy Regalado | 16 | 47 | 4 | 11 | .234 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Joe Caffie | 12 | 38 | 7 | 13 | .342 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Dale Mitchell | 38 | 30 | 2 | 4 | .133 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Kenny Kuhn | 27 | 22 | 7 | 6 | .273 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Stu Locklin | 9 | 6 | 0 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hoot Evers | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .--- | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hank Foiles | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .--- | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bobby Young | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .--- | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts
| Player | G | GS | IP | W | L | ERA | BB | SO |
| Early Wynn | 38 | 35 | 277.2 | 20 | 9 | 2.72 | 91 | 158 |
| Bob Lemon | 39 | 35 | 255.1 | 20 | 14 | 3.03 | 89 | 94 |
| Herb Score | 35 | 33 | 249.1 | 20 | 9 | 2.53 | 129 | 263 |
| Mike Garcia | 35 | 30 | 197.2 | 11 | 12 | 3.78 | 74 | 119 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts
| Player | G | GS | IP | W | L | SV | ERA | BB | SO |
| Hank Aguirre | 16 | 9 | 65.1 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3.72 | 27 | 31 |
| Bob Feller | 19 | 4 | 58.0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 4.97 | 23 | 18 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | SV | ERA | BB | SO |
| Don Mossi | 48 | 87.2 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 3.59 | 33 | 59 |
| Cal McLish | 37 | 61.2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4.96 | 32 | 27 |
| Ray Narleski | 32 | 59.1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1.52 | 19 | 42 |
| Art Houtteman | 22 | 46.2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6.56 | 31 | 19 |
| Bud Daley | 14 | 20.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.20 | 14 | 13 |
| Sal Maglie | 2 | 5.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.60 | 2 | 2 |

## Award winners

All-Star Game

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Indianapolis Indians | American Association | Kerby Farrell |
| AA | Mobile Bears | Southern Association | Jo-Jo White |
| A | Reading Indians | Eastern League | Don Heffner |
| B | Fayetteville Highlanders | Carolina League | L. D. Meyer |
| B | Keokuk Kernels | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Pinky May |
| C | Fargo-Moorhead Twins | Northern League | Tom Oliver |
| D | Daytona Beach Islanders | Florida State League | Hank Majeski |
| D | Vidalia Indians | Georgia State League | Mark Wylie |
| D | North Platte Indians | Nebraska State League | Spencer Harris |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Indianapolis, Fayetteville
In 1956, the Indianapolis Indians were 92–62. On May 18, they defeated the Louisville Colonels by a score of 24–0. Roger Maris had seven runs batted in for the game. The Indians went on to win the 1956 Junior World Series by defeating the Rochester Red Wings. In Game 2 of the Junior World Series, Maris would set a record by getting seven runs batted in.