# 1962 Cleveland Indians season

The 1962 Cleveland Indians season was a season in American baseball. The team finished sixth in the American League with a record of 80–82, 16 games behind the World Champion New York Yankees. Once again, the Indians got off to another fast start (48–36 at the All Star break), however they would lose their next nine games, 19 of their next 24, and 28 of their next 38 games to fall into the lower half of the standings. After the slump, the Indians would rebound slightly to win 22 of their final 40 games, but it was way too little far too late, and manager Mel McGaha would be finished by the end of the season. The Indians were one of only two American League teams to win the season series (Baltimore being the other one) against the Yankees (who would win the pennant, and later the World Series in 7 games over the San Francisco Giants), taking 11 of the 18 contests. However, they would go 9–9 against the 60–102 Senators.

## Offseason

* October 5, 1961: Jimmy Piersall was traded by the Indians to the Washington Senators for Dick Donovan, Gene Green, and Jim Mahoney
* November 16, 1961: Johnny Temple was traded by the Indians to the Baltimore Orioles for Harry Chiti, Ray Barker and Art Kay (minors).
* March 1962: Duke Carmel was purchased by the Indians from the St. Louis Cardinals.
* Prior to 1962 season: Rubén Gómez was acquired by the Indians from the Philadelphia Phillies.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 96 | 66 | .593 | — | 50‍–‍30 | 46‍–‍36 |
| Minnesota Twins | 91 | 71 | .562 | 5 | 45‍–‍36 | 46‍–‍35 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 86 | 76 | .531 | 10 | 40‍–‍41 | 46‍–‍35 |
| Detroit Tigers | 85 | 76 | .528 | 10½ | 49‍–‍33 | 36‍–‍43 |
| Chicago White Sox | 85 | 77 | .525 | 11 | 43‍–‍38 | 42‍–‍39 |
| Cleveland Indians | 80 | 82 | .494 | 16 | 43‍–‍38 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 77 | 85 | .475 | 19 | 44‍–‍38 | 33‍–‍47 |
| Boston Red Sox | 76 | 84 | .475 | 19 | 39‍–‍40 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 72 | 90 | .444 | 24 | 39‍–‍42 | 33‍–‍48 |
| Washington Senators | 60 | 101 | .373 | 35½ | 27‍–‍53 | 33‍–‍48 |

### Record vs. opponents

1962 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CHW | CLE | DET | KCA | LAA | MIN | NYY | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 8–10 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 2–16 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 6–12 | 11–7 | 12–6 |
| Boston | 10–8 | — | 8–10 | 7–11 | 11–6 | 10–8 | 6–12 | 10–8 | 6–12 | 8–9 |
| Chicago | 9–9 | 10–8 | — | 12–6 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 10–8 |
| Cleveland | 7–11 | 11–7 | 6–12 | — | 10–8 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 11–7 | 9–9 |
| Detroit | 16–2 | 6–11 | 9–9 | 8–10 | — | 12–6 | 11–7 | 5–13 | 7–11 | 11–7 |
| Kansas City | 8–10 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 6–12 | — | 6–12 | 8–10 | 5–13 | 15–3 |
| Los Angeles | 10–8 | 12–6 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 12–6 | — | 9–9 | 8–10 | 11–7 |
| Minnesota | 12–6 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 13–5 | 10–8 | 9–9 | — | 7–11 | 10–8–1 |
| New York | 7–11 | 12–6 | 10–8 | 7–11 | 11–7 | 13–5 | 10–8 | 11–7 | — | 15–3 |
| Washington | 6–12 | 9–8 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 3–15 | 7–11 | 8–10–1 | 3–15 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 2, 1962: Vic Power and Dick Stigman were traded by the Indians to the Minnesota Twins for Pedro Ramos.
* April 26, 1962: Harry Chiti was purchased from the Indians by the New York Mets.
* April 29, 1962: Bob Nieman was purchased from the Indians by the San Francisco Giants.
* June 9, 1962: Lou Piniella was signed as an amateur free agent by the Indians.
* June 15, 1962: Harry Chiti was returned to the Indians by the New York Mets.
* August 20, 1962: Rubén Gómez was traded by the Indians to the Minnesota Twins for Jackie Collum, a player to be named later and cash. The Twins completed the deal by sending Georges Maranda to the Indians on October 9.

### Opening Day Lineup

Opening Day Starters :
| # | Name | Position |
| 9 | Ty Cline | CF |
| 14 | Tito Francona | 1B |
| 30 | Chuck Essegian | LF |
| 8 | Willie Kirkland | RF |
| 11 | Johnny Romano | C |
| 3 | Woodie Held | SS |
| 5 | Bubba Phillips | 3B |
| 1 | Jerry Kindall | 2B |
| 20 | Dick Donovan | 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 | 135 | 459 | 120 | .261 | 25 | 81 |
| 1B | Tito Francona | 158 | 621 | 169 | .272 | 14 | 70 |
| 2B | Jerry Kindall | 154 | 530 | 123 | .232 | 13 | 55 |
| SS | Woodie Held | 139 | 466 | 116 | .249 | 19 | 58 |
| 3B | Bubba Phillips | 148 | 562 | 145 | .258 | 10 | 54 |
| LF | Chuck Essegian | 106 | 336 | 92 | .274 | 21 | 50 |
| CF | Ty Cline | 118 | 375 | 93 | .248 | 2 | 28 |
| RF | Willie Kirkland | 137 | 419 | 84 | .200 | 21 | 72 |

#### 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 |
| Al Luplow | 97 | 318 | 88 | .277 | 14 | 45 |
| Willie Tasby | 75 | 199 | 48 | .241 | 4 | 17 |
| Don Dillard | 95 | 174 | 40 | .230 | 5 | 14 |
| Doc Edwards | 53 | 143 | 39 | .273 | 3 | 9 |
| Gene Green | 66 | 143 | 40 | .280 | 11 | 28 |
| Jim Mahoney | 41 | 74 | 18 | .243 | 3 | 5 |
| Jack Kubiszyn | 25 | 59 | 10 | .169 | 1 | 2 |
| Max Alvis | 12 | 51 | 11 | .216 | 0 | 3 |
| Walt Bond | 12 | 50 | 19 | .380 | 6 | 17 |
| Ken Aspromonte | 20 | 28 | 4 | .143 | 0 | 1 |
| Hal Jones | 5 | 16 | 5 | .313 | 0 | 1 |
| Tommie Agee | 5 | 14 | 3 | .214 | 0 | 2 |
| Mike de la Hoz | 12 | 12 | 1 | .083 | 0 | 0 |
| Marlan Coughtry | 3 | 2 | 1 | .500 | 0 | 1 |
| Bob Nieman | 2 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 1 |

### 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 |
| Dick Donovan | 34 | 250.2 | 20 | 10 | 3.59 | 94 |
| Pedro Ramos | 37 | 201.1 | 10 | 12 | 3.71 | 96 |
| Jim Perry | 35 | 193.2 | 12 | 12 | 4.14 | 74 |
| Mudcat Grant | 26 | 149.2 | 7 | 10 | 4.27 | 90 |
| Floyd Weaver | 1 | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 1.80 | 8 |

#### 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 | 179.1 | 8 | 13 | 4.17 | 117 |
| Sam McDowell | 25 | 87.2 | 3 | 7 | 6.06 | 70 |
| Rubén Gómez | 15 | 45.1 | 1 | 2 | 4.37 | 21 |
| Ron Taylor | 8 | 33.1 | 2 | 2 | 5.94 | 15 |
| Bob Hartman | 8 | 17.1 | 0 | 1 | 3.12 | 11 |

#### 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 |
| Gary Bell | 57 | 10 | 9 | 12 | 4.26 | 80 |
| Frank Funk | 47 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 3.24 | 49 |
| Bob Allen | 30 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5.87 | 23 |
| Bill Dailey | 27 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3.59 | 24 |
| Dave Tyriver | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.22 | 7 |
| Wynn Hawkins | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7.36 | 0 |
| Jackie Collum | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 1 |
| Don Rudolph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Jacksonville Suns | International League | Ben Geraghty |
| AAA | Salt Lake City Bees | Pacific Coast League | Bob Kennedy |
| A | Charleston Indians | Eastern League | Johnny Lipon |
| B | Burlington Indians | Carolina League | Gene Verble |
| D | Selma Cloverleafs | Alabama–Florida League | Pinky May |
| D | Dubuque Packers | Midwest League | Walt Novick |