# 1957 Cleveland Indians season

The 1957 Cleveland Indians season was a season in American baseball. The team finished sixth in the American League with a record of 76–77, 21+1⁄2 games behind the New York Yankees

## Regular season

The Indians season was marked by change. Longtime Indians manager Al López took over as manager of the Chicago White Sox, and was replaced by Kerby Farrell, who had led the Indianapolis Indians to the 1956 Junior World Series crown. Eddie Stanky also became the Indians new infield coach.
Rookie Roger Maris, who was part of Farrell's Indianapolis team, joined the Indians as the team's starting center fielder. He made his major league debut against the Chicago White Sox on April 16. In 5 at bats, Maris had 3 hits. Two days later, Maris hit the first home run of his career, a grand slam off Tigers pitcher Jack Crimian at Briggs Stadium in Detroit.
In grimmer news, on May 7 Gil McDougald of the Yankees hit a pitch off Indians pitcher Herb Score in the first inning. The pitch would strike Score in the face.

### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 98 | 56 | .636 | — | 48‍–‍29 | 50‍–‍27 |
| Chicago White Sox | 90 | 64 | .584 | 8 | 45‍–‍32 | 45‍–‍32 |
| Boston Red Sox | 82 | 72 | .532 | 16 | 44‍–‍33 | 38‍–‍39 |
| Detroit Tigers | 78 | 76 | .506 | 20 | 45‍–‍32 | 33‍–‍44 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 76 | 76 | .500 | 21 | 42‍–‍33 | 34‍–‍43 |
| Cleveland Indians | 76 | 77 | .497 | 21½ | 40‍–‍37 | 36‍–‍40 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 59 | 94 | .386 | 38½ | 37‍–‍40 | 22‍–‍54 |
| Washington Senators | 55 | 99 | .357 | 43 | 28‍–‍49 | 27‍–‍50 |

### Record vs. opponents

1957 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KCA | NYY | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 8–14 | 10–12–1 | 9–12 | 9–13 | 16–5–1 | 9–13 | 15–7 |
| Boston | 14–8 | — | 8–14 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 16–6 | 8–14 | 14–8 |
| Chicago | 12–10–1 | 14–8 | — | 14–8 | 11–11 | 14–8 | 8–14 | 17–5 |
| Cleveland | 12–9 | 10–12 | 8–14 | — | 11–11 | 11–11 | 9–13 | 15–7 |
| Detroit | 13–9 | 12–10 | 11–11 | 11–11 | — | 8–14 | 10–12 | 13–9 |
| Kansas City | 5–16–1 | 6–16 | 8–14 | 11–11 | 14–8 | — | 3–19 | 12–10 |
| New York | 13–9 | 14–8 | 14–8 | 13–9 | 12–10 | 19–3 | — | 13–9 |
| Washington | 7–15 | 8–14 | 5–17 | 7–15 | 9–13 | 10–12 | 9–13 | — |

### Notable transactions

* August 24, 1957: Vito Valentinetti was purchased by the Indians from the Brooklyn Dodgers.
* September 21, 1957: Hoyt Wilhelm was selected off waivers by the Indians from the St. Louis Cardinals.

### 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 | Jim Hegan | 58 | 148 | 32 | .216 | 4 | 15 |
| 1B | Vic Wertz | 144 | 515 | 145 | .282 | 28 | 105 |
| 2B | Bobby Ávila | 129 | 463 | 124 | .268 | 5 | 48 |
| SS | Chico Carrasquel | 125 | 392 | 108 | .276 | 8 | 57 |
| 3B | Al Smith | 135 | 507 | 125 | .247 | 11 | 49 |
| LF | Gene Woodling | 133 | 430 | 138 | .321 | 19 | 78 |
| CF | Roger Maris | 116 | 358 | 84 | .235 | 14 | 51 |
| RF | Rocky Colavito | 134 | 461 | 116 | .252 | 25 | 84 |

#### 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 |
| Larry Raines | 96 | 244 | 64 | .262 | 2 | 16 |
| Dick Williams | 67 | 205 | 58 | .283 | 6 | 17 |
| George Strickland | 89 | 201 | 47 | .234 | 1 | 19 |
| Russ Nixon | 62 | 185 | 52 | .281 | 2 | 18 |
| Hal Naragon | 57 | 121 | 31 | .256 | 0 | 8 |
| Dick Brown | 34 | 114 | 30 | .263 | 4 | 22 |
| Joe Caffie | 32 | 89 | 24 | .270 | 3 | 10 |
| Joe Altobelli | 83 | 87 | 18 | .207 | 0 | 9 |
| Jim Busby | 30 | 74 | 14 | .189 | 2 | 4 |
| Billy Harrell | 22 | 57 | 15 | .263 | 1 | 5 |
| Kenny Kuhn | 40 | 53 | 9 | .170 | 0 | 5 |
| Eddie Robinson | 19 | 27 | 6 | .222 | 1 | 3 |
| Preston Ward | 10 | 11 | 2 | .182 | 0 | 0 |
| Bob Usher | 10 | 8 | 1 | .125 | 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 | 263.0 | 14 | 17 | 4.31 | 184 |
| Mike Garcia | 38 | 211.1 | 12 | 8 | 3.75 | 110 |
| Bob Lemon | 21 | 117.1 | 6 | 11 | 4.60 | 45 |
| Herb Score | 5 | 36.0 | 2 | 1 | 2.00 | 39 |

#### 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 |
| Don Mossi | 36 | 159.0 | 11 | 10 | 4.13 | 97 |
| Ray Narleski | 46 | 154.1 | 11 | 5 | 3.09 | 93 |
| Cal McLish | 42 | 144.1 | 9 | 7 | 2.74 | 88 |
| Bud Daley | 34 | 87.1 | 2 | 8 | 4.43 | 54 |
| Stan Pitula | 23 | 59.2 | 2 | 2 | 4.98 | 17 |
| Vito Valentinetti | 11 | 23.2 | 2 | 2 | 4.94 | 9 |
| Johnny Gray | 7 | 20.0 | 1 | 3 | 5.85 | 3 |

#### 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 |
| Dick Tomanek | 34 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5.68 | 55 |
| Hank Aguirre | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5.75 | 9 |
| Bob Alexander | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9.00 | 1 |
| Art Houtteman | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.75 | 3 |
| Hoyt Wilhelm | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2.45 | 0 |

## Awards and honors

All-Star Game

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| Open | San Diego Padres | Pacific Coast League | Bob Elliott and Catfish Metkovich |
| AA | Mobile Bears | Southern Association | Don Heffner |
| A | Reading Indians | Eastern League | Jo-Jo White |
| B | Keokuk Kernels | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Pinky May |
| C | Fargo-Moorhead Twins | Northern League | Frank Tornay and Ken Blackman |
| D | Cocoa Indians | Florida State League | Hank Majeski and Jim Gruzdis |
| D | North Platte Indians | Nebraska State League | Rudy York |
| D | Batavia Indians | New York–Penn League | Don Richmond |
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