Cleveland Indians

Cleveland Indians

▪ American baseball team
 American professional baseball team based in Cleveland that plays in the American League (AL). The Indians have won five AL pennants and two World Series titles, the first in 1920 and the second in 1948.

 The Indians began as a minor league club based in Grand Rapids, Mich., and moved to Cleveland in 1900. The team was elevated to major league status in 1901 and was called the Cleveland Bluebirds, or Blues. They became the Cleveland Bronchos in 1902 before taking on the name “Naps” the following year in honour of their new star player, Nap Lajoie (Lajoie, Nap). In 1915 owner Charles Somers requested that local newspapers pick a new name for the franchise, and “Indians” was chosen. In 1916 the team traded for Tris Speaker (Speaker, Tris), who led the Indians to their first World Series championship in 1920.

 The Indians did not reach the postseason again for 28 years, but their return was memorable. The 1948 Indians were led by shortstop-manager Lou Boudreau (Boudreau, Lou), the AL's Most Valuable Player that year, one of five future Hall of Fame members on the team. The others were outfielder Larry Doby (Doby, Larry), the first African American to play in the AL, and three pitchers: Bob Feller (Feller, Bob), Bob Lemon, and 42-year-old rookie and former Negro league star Satchel Paige (Paige, Satchel). (In 1975 the Indians made Frank Robinson (Robinson, Frank) the major league's first African American manager.) The Indians finished the 1948 regular season tied with the Boston Red Sox, whom they defeated in the first one-game play-off in major league history. Cleveland then bested the Boston Braves in six games to capture their second World Series title.

      The Indians won 111 games in 1954 but were swept by the New York Giants in a World Series that produced one of baseball's most enduring images—Willie Mays (Mays, Willie)'s over-the-shoulder catch of Indian Vic Wertz's towering drive to deep centre field in the first game. Thereafter the Indians entered a long period of mediocrity, finishing with a losing record in 27 of the 34 seasons between 1960 and 1993. A popular legend attributes this period to the “curse of Rocky Colavito,” visited on the Indians in 1960 when the team traded Colavito, the AL's leading home-run hitter, in 1959 to the Detroit Tigers for Harvey Kuenn, who had led the league in batting averages. Under manager Mike Hargrove, the Indians reemerged and won five straight AL Central Division titles (1995–99), advancing to the World Series twice during their run. The success of these teams—which featured Manny Ramírez, Omar Vizquel, and Jim Thome, among others—in addition to the popularity of Cleveland's new ballpark, Jacobs Field, led to the Indians setting a record for consecutive sold-out home games, with 455 between 1995 and 2001. Over the years the Indians have been the subject of several motion pictures—including The Kid from Cleveland (1949) and Major League (1989)—and for a period entertainer Bob Hope (Hope, Bob) was a part-owner of the team.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Cleveland Indians — Indians de Cleveland Cleveland Indians Fondation 1900 (en ligue majeure depuis 1901) …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Cleveland Indians — gegründet 1894 Abkürzung CLE …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Cleveland Indians — For other uses, see Cleveland Indians (disambiguation). Cleveland Indians 2012 Cleveland Indians season Established 1894 …   Wikipedia

  • Cleveland Indians — Este artículo o sección sobre deporte necesita ser wikificado con un formato acorde a las convenciones de estilo. Por favor, edítalo para que las cumpla. Mientras tanto, no elimines este aviso puesto el 15 de noviembre de 2007. También puedes… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Cleveland Indians (NFL) — Cleveland Indians était une franchise de la NFL (National Football League) basée à Cleveland. Attention à ne pas confondre cette formation de football américain avec la franchise de baseball également nommée Cleveland Indians. Une autre franchise …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Cleveland Indians minor league players — Below is a partial list of minor league baseball players in the Cleveland Indians system. Contents 1 Scott Barnes 2 Eric Berger 3 Chun Hsiu Chen 4 Juan Díaz …   Wikipedia

  • Cleveland Indians (NFL 1931) — This article is about the third Cleveland Indians National Football League football team. For the first Cleveland Indians NFL team (1921), see Cleveland Tigers (NFL). For the second Cleveland Indians NFL team (1923), see Cleveland Bulldogs.… …   Wikipedia

  • Cleveland Indians award winners and league leaders — This is a list of award winners and league leaders for the Cleveland Indians professional baseball team. Contents 1 Awards 1.1 Most Valuable Player 1.2 …   Wikipedia

  • Cleveland Indians all-time roster — The following is a list of players, both past and current, who appeared at least in one game for the Cleveland American League franchise known as the Blues (1901), Bronchos (1902), Naps (1903–14) and Indians (1915–present). Players in Bold are… …   Wikipedia

  • Cleveland Indians managers and ownership — Managers, general managers, and owners of the Cleveland Indians baseball team: TOC Managersee also*Cleveland Indians all time roster *Cleveland Indians award winners and league leaders *Cleveland Indians team records *Cleveland Indians… …   Wikipedia

  • Cleveland Indians team records — Team records of the Cleveland Indians baseball team: Contents 1 Single season records 1.1 Batting 1.2 Pitching 2 Career records …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”