On May 15th, 1981 Len Barker threw the second perfect game in Indians history (Addie Joss, 1908) and the tenth in all Major League Baseball. The game was in Cleveland against the Toronto Blue Jays and slugger George Bell. Barker struck out four hitters twice each (including Bell) for eleven total. The game ended when pinch hitter Ernie Whitt flew out to centerfielder Rick Manning who completed the play by jumping in the air. Just 7,290 people saw the game, but ten times that amount now claim to have seen the game in person.

Barker was the Indians ace from 1980-1982, heading a very poor rotation compared to the rest of Indians history. Especially after the successful rotations of the late 1960's and early 1970's, the 1980's were a real downturn. Barker was the high point of those teams, averaging over 30 starts during those three seasons and maintaining an ERA under four in two of the three years.

The trade that brought Barker to the Indians was a great one, with the Tribe obtaining Barker and Bobby Bonds for Larvell Blanks and closer Jim Kern. The trade sending him away was even better with the Indians gaining two starting position players for a single aging starter. Brook Jacoby and Brett Butler came to Cleveland and were a huge part of the Indians offense for most of the next decade while Barker only pitched in another 58 total games and never won more than seven games in a season again.

Spring Training tickets are now on sale so Indians fans can start planning their vacations to sunny Goodyear, Arizona to see their beloved Tribe play. Of course, deciding where to sit can be a challange, so Burning River Baseball is here to help with a visual aid. Here are views from all the major sections in the Ballpark along with the pricing for those sections:

1. & 2. The outfield berm is the cheapest "seat" in the house, basically the equivalent of a standing room only ticket. The view is pretty good from left especially and there is plenty of room to stretch out. One added bonus of this section is it over looks both bullpens, so if you get a spot near the bottom you can watch the pitchers warm-up up close. It's also a great way to get into the park if you just want to walk around and check things out.

3. The Right Field Pavilion has a similar view to the right field berm, but comes with All-You-Can-Eat food and soft drinks, hence the increased price tag. Food includes your normal hot dogs and chips along with pulled pork and chicken if the menu is the same as previous seasons. 

4. The Outfield Reserve holds the cheapest physical seats you can buy during Spring Training. Unless you are against sitting on grass, the views from the berm aren't much further away and have a better angle to the game. There isn't a bad seat or obstructed view in the Ballpark, but these are about the worst available.

10. The Outfield Box seats are a great deal as they offer a much closer look to the game without the price tag of the infield boxes. Goodyear Ballpark has an intimate feel to it anyway, so these seats should be close enough for the average fan.

5., 6. & 7. These are the premium seats at Goodyear Ballpark, from the end of one dugout to the end of the other. At just $23 a piece, these seats are among the cheapest in the entire Cactus League for their quality. Of course if you want to sit in this large section, make sure to get your tickets early so you can get as close to the action as possible. For reference, picture 5 was taken from the last row in that section and picture 7 is from the very first row.

8. Another front row view, this one is from the Premium Field Box seats down the third base line. One benefit of this section is that there is no risk of paying a premium price and getting seats 20 rows from the field. All the seats are padded and as close as you can get to the field.

9. The club seating is differentiated for one reason only, it is the only intentionally shaded section in the ballpark. Even though the games take place in late February and March, the Arizona heat is still a little too much for some snow birds so this section offers these cold loving people some respite from the desert sun. This section (as well as the Field Boxes) has waiter service so fans don't need to leave their seats to order food.

Terrace/Suites. The only elevated seats in the ballpark are located behind home plate. Going up one level are the suites. These need to be rented by a group and can come with food, but don't necessarily. The top level is called the Terrace. The terrace can also be rented by large groups and can be catered, but if it isn't being used as such, tickets are sold for $15 each. This is a pretty great price for seats with a birds-eye-view directly behind home plate. These seats don't go on sale until the day of the game, so it has to be a spur-of-the-moment decision.

Tips:

• Get your tickets in advance. There are only two ticket offices (one by home plate, one by center) and they acquire very long lines right before game time. Don't expect to show up ten minutes before game time and get to see first pitch.
• Avoid will call. You may feel that using will call is a way to avoid these lines, but that is a misconception. There is just a single will call window (by home plate entrance) and the lines get backed up very quickly. Print your tickets from home or get them mailed to you if at all possible. If not, come to the game early (box office opens at 9 am game days) to make sure you get the seats you want.
• There is no Daylight Savings Time in Arizona! They also don't use eastern time. Figure out what local time is when you get to the airport and set your watch/phone. 
• Kids tickets in the Outfield Box, Outfield Reserve and Berm are half price, so make sure to take advantage of these discounts if you're bringing kids.
• Days when the Indians play the Reds in Goodyear, berm seats are buy one full price, get one for a dollar. This is an especially great deal for Indians fans who want to see Shin-Soo Choo play for his new team. By sitting in the right field berm you will have the closest seat in the house to Cincinnati's new center fielder.

Despite the team's struggles at the position in recent years, second base has been the place for many of the greatest Indians in team history, including the only one that the team was directly named after. Since 1996, the Indians have not had a single second baseman who started more than three seasons, but even so, one of those players still made a place high on the list.

10. Tony Bernazard - Years Starting 2B - 1984-1987

Bernazard holds a precarious position at the end of this list with just 500 games played and poor rate stats. After being without a steady second baseman since Alomar left in 2001, the Indians finally look to have found a new star who should be able to take over this spot with just a few more quality seasons.

9. Ray Mack - 1940-1944

Mack's five seasons as a starter were enough to place him at number 9, despite fairly poor stats across the board. While the top eight players are all upstanding members in Indians history, the final two spots on this countdown were hard to fill with legitimate players.

8. Bill Wambsganss - 1915-1923

Wamby is famous for one thing, his unassisted triple play in the World Series, but he was also a solid second baseman for the Indians for most of a decade. He was part of the first Indians championship team with his great double play partner, Joe Sewell. His 1,170 games are among the most ever at his position and his 122 steals are the second most. He also has the second worst batting average of those listed at a position famous for high batting averages. 

7. Johnny Hodapp - 1929-1931

Hodapp didn't play very long for the Tribe, but his high batting average and proficiency at hitting doubles earned him a spot in the top ten. His .318 average is third out of all second basemen to play a significant time for the Tribe and he hit 134 doubles in just over 600 games, better than any other second baseman with less than 900 games played.

6. Joe Gordon - 1947-1950

Gordon played most of his Hall of Fame career away from the Tribe, but spent enough time manning second for the Indians to warrant a spot on this list. Despite his very short time with the Indians, he was one of two Indians second basemen to break 100 home runs. He was also a large part of the last Indians championship team in 1948 playing beside player/manager Lou Boudreau.

5. Bobby Avila - 1951-1958

Avila ended a long string of very talented second basemen for the Indians that started in the 1930's. He ended up playing more games at second base than any other Indian besides Lajoie. Over that time he accrued some high numbers in high value stats like home runs and stolen bases, although he never knocked in a whole lot of runs. Avila was a prototypical second baseman, with more than 200 more runs than RBI and more than twice as many doubles as home runs.

4. Odell Hale - 1933-1934,1938-1939

Hale played a long time for the Tribe (from 1933-1940, part of which was at third base) and was still able to keep an average near .300. He managed to build up some impressive counting stats over those years, playing in over 1,000 games while scoring and driving in more than 500 runs.

3. Roberto Alomar - 1999-2001

Alomar was one of the few big free agent signings in the past 20 years for the Tribe and he played amazingly. His three years with the team were arguably the best three years of any baseball player in Indians history. His 106 steals are third among second baseman and his 63 home runs are fifth. He was also one of the strongest defensive second basemen in team history, combining with Omar Vizquel for an absolutely amazing double play combination.

2. Carlos Baerga - 1992-1996

Baerga was part of powerful offenses of the mid 1990s and fit in well, hitting more home runs in his career than any other second baseman. He also ranks second in RBI and third in hits. Baerga was the closest to a power hitter on this list as his base hit numbers are skewed towards home runs and doubles and away from triples. He also had less steals than some players who played less seasons than he did.

1. Napoleon Lajoie - 1902-1914

The indisputable greatest Indians second baseman ever is also one of the greatest offensive players in team history and the history of all Major League Baseball. There are only two other Hall of Famers on the whole list (Alomar and Gordon) and both of them went in for their efforts with another team. Lajoie leads all Indians second basemen in almost every statistical category (except home runs and walks) and leads all Indians ever in at bats and hits. Not only was he the greatest Indians second baseman ever, it is possible there will never be another one half as good as he was.

Borderline: Ronnie Belliard, Riggs Stephenson, Duane Kuiper, Jerry Browne, Roy Hughes

Ed Morgan was one of the greatest first basemen in Indians history, despite playing just six seasons with Cleveland. He started in 1928, taking the place of former MVP George Burns. In 1929 the rest of the offense came together as Morgan joined with Joe Sewell, Earl Averill and Charlie Jamieson to form the best offense to this point in Indians history. The next year, Morgan put together one of the top ten offensive seasons in Indians history, knocking in a then record 136 RBI. The next season that record went away as Averill knocked in 143, then again in 1936 when Morgan's replacement, Hal Trosky, knocked in 162, a record that would stand for 33 years. 

After a poor showing in 39 games in 1933 the Indians gave up on Morgan and the Red Sox picked him up in the rule five draft. The next year saw a slight resurgance by Morgan, knocking in 79 runs for Boston, but for the second year in a row he batted below .270 after hitting above .310 for his first four seasons. He retired after just seven total seasons at the age of 30.

Morgan never received any accolades during his time in baseball and didn't play long enough to be involved in Hall of Fame talks, but he certainly left his mark on the Indians ranking among the top ten Indians in both career OBP and batting average. Ed Morgan died in 1980.

The dominoes in the Indians, Diamondbacks, Rangers and Reds love triangle (square) finally fell tonight with everybody getting a little something they wanted. First, the deal itself:

To Cleveland:

From Arizona: Trevor Bauer, Matt Albers and Bryan Shaw

From Cincinnati: Drew Stubbs

To Arizona:

From Cleveland: Tony Sipp and Lars Anderson

From Cincinnati: Didi Gregorious

To Cincinnati:

From Cleveland: Shin-Soo Choo and Jason Donald (plus cash)

The Fallout: The Indians essentially traded Choo for Bauer and Stubbs, with the other players involved just to even things out a bit. The Indians really wanted Bauer and the Diamondbacks really wanted a short stop, that much was obvious from the Winter Meetings, despite the teams inability to work out a deal. For the Indians, trading Choo makes a lot more sense than trading Asdrubal Cabrera (who was in the original deal) as Cabrera is signed for an extra season and does not have Scott Boras as his agent. Cabrera is also younger and plays a higher demand position. So, for part one the Indians won by trading Choo and not Cabrera.

Stubbs is a player the Reds have been very high on for years now and has stolen 30 bases in three straight seasons. He also has a little power, hitting 14 or more home runs in each of his three full seasons (something Choo cannot say about his last three seasons). If the Reds truly want to use Choo in centerfield, the Indians definitely got the better of this part of the deal. Defensively, Choo has fallen off a ton in the past two seasons and will suffer strongly with a move to a more strenuous position. Stubbs will look to fit in as the Indians new starting center fielder (and possible lead-off hitter) with Michael Brantley moving back into left field. This leaves the Indians with a hole in the outfield, but it is a different one than before today.

The addition of Mike Aviles early in the offseason made Donald expendable and losing him almost makes the whole deal worthwhile in itself. Anderson is also a throwaway player who was recently acquired from the Red Sox during the tail end of the 2012 season. He was unlikely to ever play for the Indians, making the originaly trade seem pointless, but his addition to this trade inconsequential.

After the removal of Rafael Perez from the roster a week ago, Sipp became the most unpredictable part of the bullpen. To replace him, the Indians acquired two right handed relievers in Albers and Shaw. Both have seen recent success with Arizona and are still relatively young (arbitration eligible) pitchers. Of the two, Shaw looks to have the highest ceiling, though they will both likely be immediately added to the mix in the bullpen.

The real purpose of this trade from the Indians point of view was to shore up a very shaky looking starting rotation with the addition of Trevor Bauer. Bauer was a first round draft pick in 2011 and made his debut last season, pitching in four games. Last season he dominated the Pacific Coast League with a 2.85 ERA in 14 games before being promoted to the big league team. Bauer looks to be immediately added to the rotation, eliminating the doubt as to who the fifth starter will be. All-in-all, the Indians added four major league ready players at the cost of just three, one of whom is a glorified AAA utility man. 

One thing that could be lost in the shuffle is that with Choo gone, the Indians have now lost their top five tenured players already this offseason adding up to a total of 39 years with the team. This makes Cabrera the longest tenured Indian at six seasons. While this may not be an official rebuilding, the team that almost made it to the World Series in 2007 has been officially demolished.

Overall this trade looks good for the Indians, but only time will tell. If Choo continues to have injury problems, it will look like the Indians broke the bank. Bauer is the one that holds the results of this trade in his hands the way Matt LaPorta did with the C.C. Sabathia trade. If Bauer can play at a median starter level for the next three or four years, the deal will have been a moderate success. If he can become the ace the Indians need or even a number two, this could be one of the best trades in years. Unlike most trades the Indians make, no prospects came to Cleveland in the deal, so we will know within the next two years whether this was a good move or not.

Sonny Siebert was a throw back, putting up numbers in the 1960's that look like they should fit in the 1910's. His 2.76 ERA remains second all time of Cleveland pitchers who played their careers after 1920 (behind Gaylord Perry). He holds a few top ten single season marks as well, even when included with the early dead ball era pitchers. In 1965 he placed in the top ten in ERA and K/9, then set a mark in the top ten for BAA in 1968. In his career he ranks among the top five in both batting average against and WHIP.

Siebert started his career with the Tribe in 1964 after signing six years earlier as an amateur free agent. He was already in his prime during his rookie season at the age of 27 when he threw 156 innings and held an ERA of 3.23. He didn't allow his ERA to go above three again in any season until he was traded after just two starts in 1969. The trade was extremely lopsided with the Indians losing Joe Azcue along with Siebert to the Red Sox for three players who never amounted to anything with the team. Siebert wasn't the same pitcher after the trade, however, and he only finished a season with an ERA lower than three one more time. After five pretty good seasons with Boston, Siebert bounced around between four other teams before calling it a career in 1975.

The Cleveland Indians filled one of their three gaping offensive holes today by signing former Oriole and Diamondback Mark Reynolds. Reynolds is known for two things, striking out and hitting home runs (in that order). Four of the past five seasons he has lead his league in strike outs while hitting 23 or more home runs each season. Most importantly for the Indians, Reynolds has had no significant injury problems over his career, playing in 135 games or more each season since his rookie year when he played 111. He will make $6M for 2013 with another $1.5M in incentives, a significant decrease from what the Indians would have had to pay Travis Hafner had they accepted his option. Reynolds looks to be about the same quality of player as Hafner, but more durable, younger and able to play in the field.

Reynolds ability to play first base brings to mind a few more questions. Will the Indians use him primarily at first or DH? If they are going to use hit as designated hitter, will they still pursue Kevin Youkilis who has already been offered a reported deal worth $18M over two years? Defensively as a first baseman, Reynolds is at least serviceable and the Indians currently have no other Major League options available. Without another signing, there would be little reason to regularly DH Reynolds unless Yan Gomes turns out to be more than a back-up catcher. If this is the case, Carlos Santana could be used at first or DH while Reynolds played the opposite. Of course all experiments undertaken by the Indians in this direction in recent years have been disastrous (Kelly Shoppach, Einar Diaz and Lou Marson).

If the Indians don't believe they can compete in 2013 the offensive signings should probably end here with internal options like Thomas Neal, Russ Canzler and newcomer Chris McGuiness given shots at the rest of the openings. However, if they would like to try to win the division or at least have more than 10,000 people show up per game, they need to make at least one more move. This could be a trade for someone like Alfonso Soriano or Justin Upton or stealing Youkilis away from the Yankees. A single extra offensive player would still allow the Indians to develop young talent like Lonnie Chisenhall at the Major League level while attempting to compete. Even with the $6M added for Reynolds, the Indians are still below last years salary after dumping Hafner, Roberto Hernandez, Grady Sizemore and Rafael Perez, so there should be some room to take on more salary.

Overall this move was a solid, financially sound move by the Indians, picking up a player who has been underrated for years due to his propensity to strike out, while still saving enough money to improve the team some more. If nothing else, there is now a player on the Indians roster who hit more than 20 home runs in 2012.

The 2012 rule five draft took place yesterday with the Indians taking one new player and losing two. Long-time prospect Hector Rondon went to the Cubs after missing most of the last three seasons with injuries (Rondon pitched just 41 innings over those three years). The Indians had been very high on Rondon with thoughts of him being a top of the rotation starter, but after injuries derailed his career he is now looked to be more of a short inning reliever. Since this is an area of depth for the team, they decided not to protect Rondon, despite the money and time spent on him the last few years during his rehab and treatment.

The other pitcher that was taken from the Indians was T.J. McFarland who was taken by the Orioles. Leaving McFarland to get taken makes less sense than Rondon, especially since the Indians currently have an opening on the 40 man roster. Even if they didn't have that opening, there are other players on the 40 man that are more expendable right now than McFarland.

The draft wasn't a total loss, however, as the Indians did pick up one of the top hitting prospects available in the draft. Chris McGuiness is a power hitting first baseman the Indians drafted away from the Rangers. Last season McGuiness hit 23 home runs with 77 RBI for the Frisco Rough Riders AA team. He also won the MVP for the Arizona Fall League this past season. McGuiness will be directly placed into the competition for the first baseman's role on the 2013 major league team. With openings at left field, first base and DH, there is plenty of room on the 25 man roster for him right now.  

As always with the Rule 5 draft, the players need to be kept on the 25 man roster for the entire 2013 season of be relinquished to their old team for $25,000. This may fare well for the Indians as McFarland is probably not ready to break the starting rotation for the Orioles and may end up back with the Indians before too long (or he could be the next Jeremy Guthrie, another top Indians prospect that became an ace for Baltimore). It does put pressure on McGuiness, however, as he would probably have seen another year in the minors (at AAA) before being thrown into the major leagues. Now he will have to produce enough to at least earn a reserve position behind whoever the starting first baseman/DH ends up being.

Overall, the situation isn't too bad as the Indians probably would have been willing to trade one of the two pitchers for McGuiness, although losing both was a little much.  

Carlos Baerga was the All-Star second baseman that sat on top of the Indians lineup and helped raise the team to glory in the mid 1990s. In 1989, Baerga came over to the Tribe alongside Sandy Alomar, Jr in the trade that sent Joe Carter to San Diego. Carlos immediately started producing for the Tribe, knocking in 47 runs in his rookie year (1990) in a reserve role and becoming the second most productive offensive player on the team the next season when he knocked in 67 with a .288 batting average. In 1992, he placed himself on the all-time Indians leaderboards, breaking the top five in single season at bats and top ten in games played. He remains one of the top second basemen ever to put on an Indians uniform.

This was also his first of two 200 hit seasons. While this isn't the most miraculous of feats, it has been something hard to come by in recent years for the Tribe, with the last coming in 1996 when Kenny Lofton had 210. Baerga's two 200 hit seasons give him two of the last three in team history. Overall there have been 27 200 hit seasons in Indians history, but only the three mentioned already and one by Carter in 1986 occurred after 1950.

Baerga peaked slightly before the rest of the Indians team as he started his decline when the the Indians were finally seeing some success in 1994 and 1995. He did play well in his only postseason, hitting .292 in 1995, including four RBI in both the ALCS and World Series. His ten hits in the ALCS that year remains in the top five all time for more hits in a postseason series.

In 1996 Baerga was reaching the end of his usefulness as a player and was traded to the Mets for his replacement, Jeff Kent. Kent was the first of many attempts to find a new great second baseman, a quest that continued until 1999 when Roberto Alomar joined the team. Since the departure of Baerga, the Indians have not had a single starting second baseman last more than three years (both Alomar and Ronnie Belliard lasted three years).

In 1999 Baerga came back to the Tribe after struggling with the Mets and Padres for three years, but he was unable to solve his hitting woes and there was no room for him on the roster with Alomar at second and Fryman at third. Baerga bounced around with a few more teams until 2005 (including some time in Korea) and had one more resurgent season in 2003 with the Diamondbacks, but never really found the success he had with the Tribe in the early 1990s.

In 2013, Baerga returned to the Indians as a special instructer in Spring Training. He will be inducted into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame in August of 2013.

The 2013 Hall of Fame Ballot is jam packed this year with players that were once considered automatic first ballot players that have now been thrown into question whether they will ever be allowed in the Hall at all. Included are two players with 3,000 hits (Rafael Palmeiro and Craig Biggio), four with 500 home runs (Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and the all time leader in baseball history, Barry Bonds) and one with 300 wins (Roger Clemens). These all used to be milestones that meant automatic induction, but every single one of these players have had their careers tarnished by playing in the steroid era, whether they actually did them or not. Of those listed, only Palmeiro was actually suspended for illegally doing steroids and while some of the rest have been accused, none have been convicted.

Along with the players listed above, there are six former Indians new to the 2013 ballot and one on the Veteran's Ballot. Here are their cases, starting with the Veteran's Ballot:

Wes Ferrell

Ferrell played a 15 year career that started in Cleveland at the age of 19. During his career he received MVP votes in four seasons, his best chance at the award coming in second in 1935 with Boston. Ferrel made two All-Star games, one with the Red Sox and one while he was still in Cleveland. From 1935-1937 he lead the league in innings pitched and complete games every year and he lead in complete games once before in 1931 as well. His 4.04 career ERA does not look good for a pitcher in his era, but is tarnished by his last few seasons (from 1938-1941) when he struggled with four separate teams. He will probably not get inducted into the Hall of Fame, but if he did, it would be as an Indian.

Roberto Hernandez

This is the O.G. Roberto Hernandez, who played a season for the Indians in 2007, not the new Roberto Hernandez who used to be Fausto Carmona. If this Hernandez makes it in, it will almost certainly be as a member of the Chicago White Sox, where he was a closer for the first seven years of his career. Although he will probably not make it first ballot, he deserves consideration for pitching more than 1,000 innings with an ERA below 3.50. He also saved 326 games, good for 13th on the all-time list.

Jack Morris

Morris played almost his entire career with Detroit, but stopped in Cleveland in his final year, 1994, and made 23 starts. If he makes it in, it should be on the strength of his almost 4,000 innings pitched and five all star appearances, but he probably will not be elected.

Julio Franco

Franco had one of the longest careers in baseball history and holds distinctions for doing a lot of things as the oldest baseball player ever, such as the oldest player to hit a grand slam and steal a base. It was so long ago that many may not remember, but Franco got his start with the Indians, taking second in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1983. During his career he won five Silver Sluggers and a batting title, moving from position to position as needed. In his first stint with the Tribe he played short stop, but was moved to second in 1988, then DH in 1993 with the Rangers. When he returned to the Indians in 1996, he was used primarily as a first baseman. Towards the end of his career he was forced into a pinch hitting role with a couple of National League teams. Franco played until he was 48 and is an example of the amount of numbers a player can add up if he plays long enough. He does not deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, but if he did make it in it would likely be as an Indian.

Jose Mesa

Mesa was one of the best closers in Indians history and continued his success with the Phillies a few years after leaving Cleveland, racking up 321 saves by the time he retired (14th all time, right behind Hernandez). Mesa's career numbers are very similar to Hernandez's, but they achieved them in different ways. When Mesa was good, he was great, by far the best in the league, but when he struggled (like every year before 1994 and 1998-2000) he was terrible. Hernandez was a much more even player, putting up consistent numbers year after year. If one of these two makes it in, they both deserve to, although first glance shows neither should. If Mesa did make it in the Hall of Fame he would go in as an Indian, much to his dismay.

Sandy Alomar, Jr.

Alomar is another case of an above average player playing for an extremely long time. Alomar played catcher for 20 seasons, quitting after he hit 41 years old. Offensively, he ranks behind another catcher on the ballot (Mike Piazza) for his era and defensively he always sat right behind Pudge Rodriguez, but Alomar deserves some credit for his own. During his time with the Indians he went to six All-Star games, won a Gold Glove and Rookie of the Year. When he left the Tribe, Alomar never really started again, but moved into more of a player/coach role, mentoring young catchers with every team he went to. The chances of Sandy making it into the Hall of Fame this year are very low, but he deserves some consideration and would be entered as a member of the Cleveland Indians.

Kenny Lofton

Lofton deserves a real chance at a place in the Hall of Fame, not just for his offensive contributions, but his glove as well. During most of his career he was considered the best defensive player at his position, which is filled with great defensive players. Offensively, only Ken Griffey, Jr. bested Lofton as a centerfielder, and they played a completely different type of game. During the mid 1990's Lofton went to 6 consecutive All-Star games and won four Gold Gloves. Starting in 1995 he played in the postseason every single year except two, all while playing for six different teams (and three different stints with the Indians). His 622 stolen bases rank 15th all time, despite playing in a time when the steal had gone out of style and he lead the league every year from 1992-1996. Lofton absolutely deserves a place in the Hall of Fame and his number "7" retired by the Cleveland Indians. If he makes it in he will be inducted as an Indian as he played ten years in Cleveland and no more than a single season anywhere else.