# 1960 Cleveland Indians season

The 1960 Cleveland Indians season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Indians' fourth-place finish in the American League with a record of 76 wins and 78 losses, 21 games behind the AL Champion New York Yankees. This season was notable for the infamous trade of Rocky Colavito.

## Offseason

* December 6, 1959: Minnie Miñoso, Dick Brown, Don Ferrarese, and Jake Striker were traded by the Indians to the Chicago White Sox for Johnny Romano, Bubba Phillips, and Norm Cash.
* December 15, 1959: Billy Martin, Gordy Coleman and Cal McLish were traded by the Cleveland Indians to the Reds for Johnny Temple.
* Prior to 1960 season: Jim King was obtained by the Indians from the Toronto Maple Leafs as part of a minor league working agreement.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 97 | 57 | .630 | — | 55‍–‍22 | 42‍–‍35 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 89 | 65 | .578 | 8 | 44‍–‍33 | 45‍–‍32 |
| Chicago White Sox | 87 | 67 | .565 | 10 | 51‍–‍26 | 36‍–‍41 |
| Cleveland Indians | 76 | 78 | .494 | 21 | 39‍–‍38 | 37‍–‍40 |
| Washington Senators | 73 | 81 | .474 | 24 | 32‍–‍45 | 41‍–‍36 |
| Detroit Tigers | 71 | 83 | .461 | 26 | 40‍–‍37 | 31‍–‍46 |
| Boston Red Sox | 65 | 89 | .422 | 32 | 36‍–‍41 | 29‍–‍48 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 58 | 96 | .377 | 39 | 34‍–‍43 | 24‍–‍53 |

### Record vs. opponents

1960 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CHW | CLE | DET | KCA | NYY | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 16–6 | 13–9 | 14–8 | 13–9 | 13–9 | 9–13 | 11–11 |
| Boston | 6–16 | — | 5–17 | 9–13 | 14–8 | 13–9 | 7–15 | 11–11 |
| Chicago | 9–13 | 17–5 | — | 11–11 | 11–11 | 15–7 | 10–12 | 14–8 |
| Cleveland | 8–14 | 13–9 | 11–11 | — | 7–15 | 15–7 | 6–16 | 16–6 |
| Detroit | 9–13 | 8–14 | 11–11 | 15–7 | — | 10–12 | 8–14 | 10–12 |
| Kansas City | 9–13 | 9–13 | 7–15 | 7–15 | 12–10 | — | 7–15–1 | 7–15 |
| New York | 13–9 | 15–7 | 12–10 | 16–6 | 14–8 | 15–7–1 | — | 12–10 |
| Washington | 11–11 | 11–11 | 8–14 | 6–16 | 12–10 | 15–7 | 10–12 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 3, 1960: Al Cicotte was purchased by the Toronto Maple Leafs from the Indians.
* April 12, 1960: Norm Cash was traded by the Indians to the Detroit Tigers for Steve Demeter.
* April 17, 1960: 1959 AL home run king Rocky Colavito was traded by the Indians to the Detroit Tigers for 1959 AL batting champion Harvey Kuenn.
* April 18, 1960: Herb Score was traded by the Indians to the Chicago White Sox for Barry Latman.
* June 11, 1960: Paul Casanova was released by the Indians.
* June 13, 1960: Russ Nixon and Carroll Hardy were traded by the Indians to the Boston Red Sox for Marty Keough and Ted Bowsfield. It was he second time the Indians traded Nixon to the Red Sox in three months: a March 16 deal sent Nixon to Boston for fellow catcher Sammy White, but White retired rather than report to Cleveland and the trade was nullified March 25.
* August 3, 1960: In what was termed the first (and up to the present day, only) "trade" of managers in baseball history, Cleveland and Detroit exchanged Joe Gordon for Jimmy Dykes. In the days that followed, the two teams also "traded" coaches, as the Indians' Jo-Jo White and the Tigers' Luke Appling swapped jobs to remain aides to Gordon and Dykes.

### Opening Day Lineup

Opening Day Starters :
| # | Name | Position |
| 1 | Johnny Temple | 2B |
| 6 | Harvey Kuenn | CF |
| 12 | Walt Bond | RF |
| 14 | Tito Francona | LF |
| 15 | Russ Nixon | C |
| 10 | Vic Power | 1B |
| 3 | Woodie Held | SS |
| 7 | Bubba Phillips | 3B |
| 39 | Gary Bell | P |

### Roster
## 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 | Johnny Romano | 108 | 316 | 86 | .272 | 16 | 52 |
| 1B | Vic Power | 147 | 580 | 167 | .288 | 10 | 84 |
| 2B | Ken Aspromonte | 117 | 459 | 133 | .290 | 1 | 10 |
| 3B | Bubba Phillips | 113 | 304 | 63 | .207 | 4 | 33 |
| SS | Woodie Held | 109 | 376 | 97 | .258 | 1 | 21 |
| LF | Tito Francona | 147 | 544 | 159 | .292 | 17 | 79 |
| CF | Jimmy Piersall | 138 | 486 | 137 | .282 | 18 | 66 |
| RF | Harvey Kuenn | 126 | 474 | 146 | .308 | 9 | 54 |

#### 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 |
| Johnny Temple | 98 | 381 | 102 | .268 | 2 | 19 |
| Mike de la Hoz | 49 | 160 | 41 | .256 | 6 | 23 |
| Marty Keough | 65 | 149 | 37 | .248 | 3 | 11 |
| Walt Bond | 40 | 131 | 29 | .221 | 5 | 18 |
| Red Wilson | 32 | 88 | 19 | .216 | 1 | 10 |
| Russ Nixon | 25 | 82 | 20 | .244 | 1 | 6 |
| Bob Hale | 70 | 70 | 21 | .300 | 0 | 12 |
| Hank Foiles | 24 | 68 | 19 | .279 | 1 | 6 |
| Joe Morgan | 22 | 47 | 14 | .298 | 2 | 4 |
| George Strickland | 32 | 42 | 7 | .167 | 1 | 3 |
| Rocky Bridges | 10 | 27 | 9 | .333 | 0 | 3 |
| Ty Cline | 7 | 26 | 8 | .308 | 0 | 2 |
| Chuck Tanner | 21 | 25 | 7 | .280 | 0 | 4 |
| Carroll Hardy | 29 | 18 | 2 | .111 | 0 | 1 |
| John Powers | 8 | 12 | 2 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| Don Dillard | 6 | 7 | 1 | .143 | 0 | 0 |
| Pete Whisenant | 7 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| Steve Demeter | 4 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 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 |
| Jim Perry | 36 | 261.1 | 18 | 10 | 3.62 | 120 |
| Gary Bell | 23 | 154.2 | 9 | 10 | 4.13 | 109 |

#### 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 |
| Mudcat Grant | 33 | 159.2 | 9 | 8 | 4.40 | 75 |
| Barry Latman | 31 | 147.1 | 7 | 7 | 4.03 | 44 |
| Dick Stigman | 41 | 133.2 | 5 | 11 | 4.51 | 104 |
| Bobby Locke | 32 | 123.0 | 3 | 5 | 3.37 | 53 |
| Wynn Hawkins | 15 | 66.0 | 4 | 4 | 4.23 | 39 |
| Jack Harshman | 15 | 54.1 | 2 | 4 | 3.98 | 25 |
| Ted Bowsfield | 11 | 40.2 | 3 | 4 | 5.09 | 14 |

#### 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 |
| Johnny Klippstein | 49 | 5 | 5 | 14 | 2.91 | 46 |
| John Briggs | 21 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4.46 | 19 |
| Don Newcombe | 20 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4.33 | 27 |
| Frank Funk | 9 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1.99 | 18 |
| Carl Mathias | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.52 | 13 |
| Mike Lee | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 | 6 |
| Bobby Tiefenauer | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 | 2 |
| Carl Thomas | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7.45 | 5 |
| Bob Grim | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11.57 | 2 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Toronto Maple Leafs | International League | Mel McGaha |
| AA | Mobile Bears | Southern Association | Al Hollingsworth and Johnny Lipon |
| A | Reading Indians | Eastern League | Ray Mueller |
| B | Burlington Indians | Carolina League | Pinky May |
| C | Minot Mallards | Northern League | Walt Novick |
| D | Selma Cloverleafs | Alabama–Florida League | Ken Landenberger and Paul O'Dea |
| D | Lakeland Indians | Florida State League | Johnny Lipon and Charlie Gassaway |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Toronto