# 1938 Cleveland Indians season

The 1938 Cleveland Indians season was a season in American baseball. The team finished third in the American League with a record of 86–66, 13 games behind the New York Yankees.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 99 | 53 | .651 | — | 55‍–‍22 | 44‍–‍31 |
| Boston Red Sox | 88 | 61 | .591 | 9½ | 52‍–‍23 | 36‍–‍38 |
| Cleveland Indians | 86 | 66 | .566 | 13 | 46‍–‍30 | 40‍–‍36 |
| Detroit Tigers | 84 | 70 | .545 | 16 | 48‍–‍31 | 36‍–‍39 |
| Washington Senators | 75 | 76 | .497 | 23½ | 44‍–‍33 | 31‍–‍43 |
| Chicago White Sox | 65 | 83 | .439 | 32 | 33‍–‍39 | 32‍–‍44 |
| St. Louis Browns | 55 | 97 | .362 | 44 | 31‍–‍43 | 24‍–‍54 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 53 | 99 | .349 | 46 | 28‍–‍47 | 25‍–‍52 |

### Record vs. opponents

1938 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 12–6 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 11–11–1 | 14–8 | 17–5 | 12–9 |
| Chicago | 6–12 | — | 9–13 | 7–15 | 8–14 | 12–10 | 13–8–1 | 10–11 |
| Cleveland | 10–12 | 13–9 | — | 12–10 | 8–13 | 18–4 | 13–9–1 | 12–9 |
| Detroit | 12–10 | 15–7 | 10–12 | — | 8–14 | 14–8 | 12–10–1 | 13–9 |
| New York | 11–11–1 | 14–8 | 13–8 | 14–8 | — | 16–5–2 | 15–7–1 | 16–6–1 |
| Philadelphia | 8–14 | 10–12 | 4–18 | 8–14 | 5–16–2 | — | 12–9 | 6–16 |
| St. Louis | 5–17 | 8–13–1 | 9–13–1 | 10–12–1 | 7–15–1 | 9–12 | — | 7–15 |
| Washington | 9–12 | 11–10 | 9–12 | 9–13 | 6–16–1 | 16–6 | 15–7 | — |

### 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 | Frankie Pytlak | 113 | 364 | 112 | .308 | 1 | 43 |
| 1B | Hal Trosky | 150 | 554 | 185 | .334 | 19 | 110 |
| 2B | Odell Hale | 130 | 496 | 138 | .278 | 8 | 69 |
| SS | Lyn Lary | 141 | 568 | 152 | .268 | 3 | 51 |
| 3B | Ken Keltner | 149 | 576 | 159 | .276 | 26 | 113 |
| OF | Bruce Campbell | 133 | 511 | 148 | .290 | 12 | 72 |
| OF | Earl Averill | 134 | 482 | 159 | .330 | 14 | 93 |
| OF | Jeff Heath | 126 | 502 | 172 | .343 | 21 | 112 |

#### 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 |
| Roy Weatherly | 83 | 210 | 55 | .262 | 2 | 18 |
| Rollie Hemsley | 66 | 203 | 60 | .296 | 2 | 28 |
| Moose Solters | 67 | 199 | 40 | .201 | 2 | 22 |
| John Kroner | 51 | 117 | 29 | .248 | 1 | 17 |
| Skeeter Webb | 20 | 58 | 16 | .276 | 0 | 2 |
| Hank Helf | 6 | 13 | 1 | .077 | 0 | 1 |
| Oscar Grimes | 4 | 10 | 2 | .200 | 0 | 2 |
| Tommy Irwin | 3 | 9 | 1 | .111 | 0 | 0 |
| Ray Mack | 2 | 6 | 2 | .333 | 0 | 2 |
| Chuck Workman | 2 | 5 | 2 | .400 | 0 | 0 |
| Lou Boudreau | 1 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Lloyd Russell | 2 | 0 | 0 | .--- | 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 |
| Bob Feller | 39 | 277.2 | 17 | 11 | 4.08 | 240 |
| Mel Harder | 38 | 240.0 | 17 | 10 | 3.83 | 102 |
| Johnny Allen | 30 | 200.0 | 14 | 8 | 4.19 | 112 |
| Earl Whitehill | 26 | 160.1 | 9 | 8 | 5.56 | 60 |
| Willis Hudlin | 29 | 127.0 | 8 | 8 | 4.89 | 27 |

#### 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 |
| Clay Smith | 4 | 11.0 | 0 | 0 | 6.55 | 3 |
| Joe Heving | 3 | 6.0 | 1 | 1 | 9.00 | 0 |
| Charley Suche | 1 | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 27.00 | 1 |

#### 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 Humphries | 45 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 5.23 | 56 |
| Denny Galehouse | 36 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 4.34 | 66 |
| Al Milnar | 23 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5.00 | 29 |
| Bill Zuber | 15 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5.02 | 14 |
| Ken Jungels | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8.80 | 7 |

## Awards and honors

All Star Game
Johnny Allen, pitcher
Earl Averill, outfielder (starter)
Bob Feller, pitcher

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AA | Milwaukee Brewers | American Association | Allen Sothoron |
| A1 | New Orleans Pelicans | Southern Association | Larry Gilbert |
| B | Spartanburg Spartans | Sally League | Eddie Moore and Chick Galloway |
| C | Oswego Netherlands | Canadian–American League | Riley Parker |
| C | Springfield Indians | Middle Atlantic League | Earl Wolgamot |
| D | Troy Trojans | Alabama–Florida League | Charley Hilcher, Tilden Campbell and Gene Babbitt |
| D | Gainesville G-Men | Florida State League | Don McShane |
| D | Hopkinsville Hoppers | KITTY League | Red Smith |
| D | Owensboro Oilers | KITTY League | Hughie Wise |
| D | Logan Indians | Mountain State League | Eddie Hock |
| D | Fargo-Moorhead Twins | Northern League | Jack Knight |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Troy, Gainesville