# 1961 Cleveland Indians season

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, 30+1⁄2 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

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 109 | 53 | .673 | — | 65‍–‍16 | 44‍–‍37 |
| Detroit Tigers | 101 | 61 | .623 | 8 | 50‍–‍31 | 51‍–‍30 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 95 | 67 | .586 | 14 | 48‍–‍33 | 47‍–‍34 |
| Chicago White Sox | 86 | 76 | .531 | 23 | 53‍–‍28 | 33‍–‍48 |
| Cleveland Indians | 78 | 83 | .484 | 30½ | 40‍–‍41 | 38‍–‍42 |
| Boston Red Sox | 76 | 86 | .469 | 33 | 50‍–‍31 | 26‍–‍55 |
| Minnesota Twins | 70 | 90 | .438 | 38 | 36‍–‍44 | 34‍–‍46 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 70 | 91 | .435 | 38½ | 46‍–‍36 | 24‍–‍55 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 61 | 100 | .379 | 47½ | 33‍–‍47 | 28‍–‍53 |
| Washington Senators | 61 | 100 | .379 | 47½ | 33‍–‍46 | 28‍–‍54 |

### Record vs. opponents

1961 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CHW | CLE | DET | KCA | LAA | MIN | NYY | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 11–7 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 13–5 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 9–9–1 | 14–4 |
| Boston | 7–11 | — | 9–9 | 5–13 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 11–7–1 | 11–7 | 5–13 | 10–8 |
| Chicago | 7–11 | 9–9 | — | 12–6 | 6–12 | 14–4 | 10–8 | 9–9–1 | 6–12 | 13–5 |
| Cleveland | 9–9 | 13–5 | 6–12 | — | 6–12 | 8–9 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 4–14 | 12–6 |
| Detroit | 9–9 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 12–6 | — | 12–6–1 | 14–4 | 11–7 | 8–10 | 13–5 |
| Kansas City | 5–13 | 8–10 | 4–14 | 9–8 | 6–12–1 | — | 9–9 | 7–11 | 4–14 | 9–9 |
| Los Angeles | 10–8 | 7–11–1 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 4–14 | 9–9 | — | 8–9 | 6–12 | 10–8 |
| Minnesota | 7–11 | 7–11 | 9–9–1 | 8–10 | 7–11 | 11–7 | 9–8 | — | 4–14 | 8–9 |
| New York | 9–9–1 | 13–5 | 12–6 | 14–4 | 10–8 | 14–4 | 12–6 | 14–4 | — | 11–7 |
| Washington | 4–14 | 8–10 | 5–13 | 6–12 | 5–13 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 9–8 | 7–11 | — |

### 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

Opening Day Starters :
| # | Name | Position |
| 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
## 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 | 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 | Jimmy Piersall | 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 |
| Bob Nieman | 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 |
| Joe Morgan | 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 |
| Johnny Antonelli | 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 |
| Bob Allen | 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 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Salt Lake City Bees | Pacific Coast League | Herman Franks and Fred Fitzsimmons |
| A | Reading Indians | Eastern League | Ray Mueller |
| B | Burlington Indians | Carolina League | Bill Herring and Walt Novick |
| D | Selma Cloverleafs | Alabama–Florida League | Walt Novick and Joe Morlan |
| D | Dubuque Packers | Midwest League | Pinky May |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Selma