# 1954 Cleveland Indians season

The 1954 Cleveland Indians advanced to the World Series for the first time in six years. It was the team's third American League championship in franchise history. The Indians' 111–43 record is the all-time record for winning percentage by an American League team (.721), as this was before 162 games were played in a season.
For more than 60 years, Cleveland had been the only team in Major League Baseball to have compiled two different 11-game winning streaks within the same season, until the Toronto Blue Jays were able to accomplish the rare feat during the 2015 regular season.
However, their great regular-season record would not be enough to win the World Series, as the Indians got swept in four games by the New York Giants, after which the Indians would not return to the Fall Classic or any postseason play of any kind until 1995.

## Offseason

* February 19, 1954: Bill Upton and Lee Wheat were traded by the Indians to the Philadelphia Athletics for Dave Philley.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Cleveland Indians | 111 | 43 | .721 | — | 59‍–‍18 | 52‍–‍25 |
| New York Yankees | 103 | 51 | .669 | 8 | 54‍–‍23 | 49‍–‍28 |
| Chicago White Sox | 94 | 60 | .610 | 17 | 45‍–‍32 | 49‍–‍28 |
| Boston Red Sox | 69 | 85 | .448 | 42 | 38‍–‍39 | 31‍–‍46 |
| Detroit Tigers | 68 | 86 | .442 | 43 | 35‍–‍42 | 33‍–‍44 |
| Washington Senators | 66 | 88 | .429 | 45 | 37‍–‍41 | 29‍–‍47 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 54 | 100 | .351 | 57 | 32‍–‍45 | 22‍–‍55 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 51 | 103 | .331 | 60 | 29‍–‍47 | 22‍–‍56 |

### Record vs. opponents

1954 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CHW | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 11–11 | 7–15 | 3–19 | 8–14 | 5–17 | 10–12 | 10–12 |
| Boston | 11–11 | — | 5–17 | 2–20–2 | 14–8 | 9–13 | 15–7 | 13–9 |
| Chicago | 15–7 | 17–5 | — | 11–11 | 12–10–1 | 7–15 | 17–5 | 15–7 |
| Cleveland | 19–3 | 20–2–2 | 11–11 | — | 14–8 | 11–11 | 18–4 | 18–4 |
| Detroit | 14–8 | 8–14 | 10–12–1 | 8–14 | — | 6–16 | 13–9 | 9–13 |
| New York | 17–5 | 13–9 | 15–7 | 11–11 | 16–6 | — | 18–4–1 | 13–9 |
| Philadelphia | 12–10 | 7–15 | 5–17 | 4–18 | 9–13 | 4–18–1 | — | 10–12–1 |
| Washington | 12–10 | 9–13 | 7–15 | 4–18 | 13–9 | 9–13 | 12–10–1 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 12, 1954: Hal Newhouser was signed as a free agent by the Indians.
* June 1, 1954: Bob Chakales was traded by the Indians to the Baltimore Orioles for Vic Wertz.

### Roster
## Player stats

* = Indicates team leader

### 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 | Jim Hegan | 139 | 423 | 99 | .234 | 11 | 40 |
| 1B | Vic Wertz | 94 | 295 | 81 | .275 | 14 | 48 |
| 2B | Bobby Ávila | 143 | 555 | 189 | .341 | 15 | 67 |
| 3B | Al Rosen | 137 | 466 | 140 | .300 | 24 | 102 |
| SS | George Strickland | 112 | 361 | 77 | .213 | 6 | 37 |
| LF | Al Smith | 131 | 481 | 135 | .281 | 11 | 50 |
| CF | Larry Doby | 153 | 577 | 157 | .272 | 32 | 126 |
| RF | Dave Philley | 133 | 452 | 102 | .226 | 12 | 60 |

#### 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 |
| Wally Westlake | 85 | 240 | 63 | .263 | 11 | 42 |
| Rudy Regalado | 65 | 180 | 45 | .250 | 2 | 24 |
| Bill Glynn | 111 | 171 | 43 | .251 | 5 | 18 |
| Sam Dente | 68 | 169 | 45 | .266 | 1 | 19 |
| Hank Majeski | 57 | 121 | 34 | .281 | 3 | 17 |
| Dave Pope | 60 | 102 | 30 | .294 | 4 | 13 |
| Hal Naragon | 46 | 101 | 24 | .238 | 0 | 12 |
| Dale Mitchell | 53 | 60 | 17 | .283 | 1 | 6 |
| Mickey Grasso | 4 | 6 | 2 | .333 | 1 | 1 |
| Luke Easter | 6 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| Rocky Nelson | 4 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Joe Ginsberg | 3 | 2 | 1 | .500 | 0 | 1 |
| Jim Dyck | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | 1 |
| Bob Kennedy | 1 | 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 |
| Early Wynn | 40 | 270.2 | 23 | 11 | 2.73 | 155 |
| Mike Garcia | 45 | 258.2 | 19 | 8 | 2.64 | 129 |
| Bob Lemon | 36 | 258.1 | 23 | 7 | 2.72 | 110 |
| Art Houtteman | 32 | 188.0 | 15 | 7 | 3.35 | 68 |
| Bob Feller | 19 | 140.0 | 13 | 3 | 3.09 | 59 |

#### 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 |
| Ray Narleski | 42 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 2.22 | 52 |
| Don Mossi | 40 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 1.94 | 55 |
| Hal Newhouser | 26 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 2.51 | 25 |
| Bob Hooper | 17 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2.72 | 12 |
| Dave Hoskins | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.04 | 9 |
| Bob Chakales | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.87 | 3 |
| José Santiago | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |
| Dick Tomanek | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.40 | 0 |

## 1954 World Series

This was the first time (and only to date) that the Cleveland Indians were swept in a World Series. The only highlight for the Indians was that they kept the Yankees from winning their sixth straight series. The last time the Yankees had not won the series or pennant beforehand was 1948, when, again, the Indians kept them out (although that year, they won the Series). It was also the only World Series from 1949 to 1958 which did not feature the Yankees.

### Game 1

September 29, 1954, at the Polo Grounds in New York
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E |
| Cleveland (A) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 |
| New York (N) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 3 |
| W: Marv Grissom (1–0) L: Bob Lemon (0–1) ||||||||||||||
| HR: NYG – Dusty Rhodes (1) ||||||||||||||

### Game 2

September 30, 1954, at the Polo Grounds in New York
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Cleveland (A) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| New York (N) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | x | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| W: Johnny Antonelli (1–0) L: Early Wynn (0–1) |||||||||||||
| HR: CLE – Al Smith (1) NYG – Dusty Rhodes (2) |||||||||||||

### Game 3

October 1, 1954, at Cleveland Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| New York (N) | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 1 |
| Cleveland (A) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| W: Rubén Gómez (1–0) L: Mike Garcia (0–1) S: Hoyt Wilhelm (1) |||||||||||||
| HR: CLE – Vic Wertz (1) |||||||||||||

### Game 4

October 2, 1954, at Cleveland Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| New York (N) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 3 |
| Cleveland (A) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 2 |
| W: Don Liddle (1–0) L: Bob Lemon (0–2) S: Johnny Antonelli (1) |||||||||||||
| HR: CLE – Hank Majeski (1) |||||||||||||

## Composite Box

1954 World Series (4–0): New York Giants (N.L.) over Cleveland Indians (A.L.)
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E |
| New York Giants | 1 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 21 | 33 | 7 |
| Cleveland Indians | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 26 | 4 |
| Total Attendance: 251,507 Average Attendance: 62,877 ||||||||||||||
| Winning Player's Share: – $11,118 Losing Player's Share – $6,713 ||||||||||||||

## Award winners

All-Star Game
* Al Rosen, first baseman, starter
* Bobby Ávila, second baseman, starter
* Larry Doby, reserve
* Mike Garcia, reserve
* Bob Lemon, reserve

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Indianapolis Indians | American Association | Kerby Farrell |
| A | Reading Indians | Eastern League | Pinky May |
| B | Keokuk Kernels | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Jo-Jo White |
| B | Spartanburg Peaches | Tri-State League | Jimmy Bloodworth |
| C | Fargo-Moorhead Twins | Northern League | Phil Seghi |
| C | Sherbrooke Indians | Provincial League | Mark Wylie |
| D | Jacksonville Beach Sea Birds | Florida State League | Spud Chandler |
| D | Tifton Indians | Georgia–Florida League | Ed Hartness |
| D | Pauls Valley Raiders | Sooner State League | Lloyd Pearson and Bennie Warren |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Fargo-Moorhead
The 1954 Indianapolis Indians featured Herb Score and Rocky Colavito. Colavito hit 38 home runs and accumulated 116 RBIs.