If it wasn't for a certain Feller named Robert, Sam McDowell would be the greatest power pitcher in Indians history. His strikeouts per nine innings are higher than any pitcher with more than 1,000 innings pitched (only behind Herb Score and Paul Shuey when considering pitchers with more than 300 IP) and his control stats were actually better than almost every pitcher as well. He ranks tenth all time in innings pitched as an Indian and is third among those players in WHIP, following only Addie Joss and Stan Coveleski, both whom played in the dead ball era. His career strike out total ranks only behind Feller and is almost 900 higher than the next best pitcher. Not only is he one of two pitchers with more than 2,000 strikeouts, but there have only been eight Indians pitchers with more than 1,000.

One of the most impressive things about Sudden Sam's career is that he shined so strongly on such an absolutely terrible team. The 1960's were an awful decade for the Indians (only two seasons above .500 during his career with the team and none with more than 86 wins), but McDowell still managed to garner votes for the Cy Young and MVP in separate seasons. In 1970 when he received votes for both awards, he lead the league in strikeouts, innings pitched and had a better ERA than both players who earned more votes than he did. Over his entire career he ranks 9th in all of baseball history in both strike outs per nine innings and hits per nine innings. 1969 is a great example of what he accomplished while surrounded by mediocrity as even the great Luis Tiant struggled with a 20 loss season, but McDowell won 18 games, more than the rest of the regular starting rotation combined. He almost repeated this the next season, winning 20 of the teams 50 wins by the rotation.

Although his stats would seem to make him a border-line Hall of Famer, he did not receive any votes in his single year of eligibility. He may have been harmed by the outstanding talent on the ballot that year (it featured eleven future Hall of Famers, including Bob Gibson, who was the only player to be inducted that year), but the voters obviously did not feel he deserved a second chance. He did make it into the Indians Hall of Fame (class of 2006), however and will get one more chance at the Hall when his name appears on the Veteran's Committee ballot. McDowell currently lives in a retirement community that he created for former baseball players called the City of Legends in Florida.

At 10:00 this morning, in Goodyear, Arizona, the team shop at Goodyear Ballpark opened, full of new 2012 merchandise for the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians. Living in Goodyear and being an Indians fan, this was a big deal to me. I could not wait to go there and check out the new items. Spring Training is just around the corner, and before we know it, players will be starting their workouts and the pre-season will begin. Just the team shop opening gets me excited and in the mood for baseball. The new shirts, the hats, the mugs, the Ziz figurines, everything, are just another sign that baseball is almost here.

The ticket office at Goodyear Ballpark has been open for over a month now. If you are interested in buying tickets and attending games, you can click here for more information.

Stay tuned to Burning River Baseball for updates and reports throughout Spring Training.

In 1953 Al Rosen won the American League MVP. It was the second time the award went to a Cleveland Indian in five years (Lou Boudreau, 1948) and the third all-time (George Burns, 1926). Since then, no Indian has won an MVP. He certainly deserved the award that year as well. Al lead the league in runs scored, home runs, RBI as well as slugging percent. He took all the first place votes and beat out runner-up Yogi Berra 336 to 167. His 145 RBI that season remain third in the annuls of Indians history behind only Manny Ramirez (165 in 1999) and Hal Trosky (162 in 1936).

Although his numbers weren't quite Hall of Fame worthy (he played his entire career with the Indians, so his Indians numbers are the same as his career numbers), he is a member of the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame and an important part of team history. Aside from the MVP, Rosen still ranks ninth in career home runs as an Indian and he was one of only five players to play in both the 1948 and 1954 World Series. Al Rosen, along with Larry Doby, powered the 1954 team to the best record in team history, only to falter when it really mattered as he went 3 for 12 in the three games he played. Luckily for Al, he had already received his World Series ring in 1948. 

After his career as a player, Rosen came back to baseball in 1978 when he became president of the New York Yankees. He also ran the Astros and Giants later in his life. Al Rosen ranks high on the list of greatest Indians third basemen of all time.

Early Wynn was inducted into Baseball's Hall of Fame in 1972 as a Cleveland Indian, even though he played 13 seasons for the Washington Senators and Chicago White Sox. His ten years with the Tribe were the most spent with any team, but he did not make it to the Hall on his effort with the Indians alone. In 1959, two years after he left the Tribe, Wynn won the fourth ever Major League Cy Young Award (the award did not split into American and National versions until 1967). While with the Indians he received votes for the MVP of the American League in five separate seasons. He was also one of the many players who played for the Indians in the 1950's and left the team, only to return before their career ended. This list includes Al Smith, Jim Perry, Larry Doby and of course, Rocky Colavito. 

Early Wynn was extremely successful during his time with the Tribe, and only the extreme loyalty and longevity of a few star pitchers that came before his time keep him from being considered one of the great Indians pitchers. As it stands, he is still seventh all time in innings pitched while wearing an Indians uniform and remains in the top five in wins and strikeouts (tied for second with Bob Lemon). When it comes down to it, there are only six pitchers who could be considered better than Wynn when considering both talent and time spent with the team. Placing him in this list along side Bob Feller, Mel Harder, Bob Lemon, Stan Coveleski, Addie Joss and Sam McDowell puts him next to some of the greatest pitchers in the history of all professional baseball, not just the Cleveland Indians organization. Early Wynn died in 1999.

If you want to know about Shoeless Joe, watch "Field of Dreams" or "Eight Men Out". Joe Jackson got a bad rap when he was banned for life from Major League baseball for throwing the World Series as a member of the 1919 Chicago Black Sox. Whether he was paid off or not should not tarnish his time with the Indians, where he played at an extremely high level for five of his six seasons with the team. He should also have been enshrined in the Hall of Fame, but has been kept out because of the lifetime ban, even though he died over 60 years ago.

During his time with the Tribe, Shoeless Joe set quite a few records that would never be broken. In 1911 he became the first Indian to hit .400 during a season and remains the only player to do so. He also set the current team record for hits that season with 233. The next season Joe hit 26 triples, another Indians record, and had the second best batting average ever as well along with his 226 hits, good for fourth best all time. He also holds two career records, even though he played less than 700 total games for the Indians. He owns sole possession of the career batting title and is also tops in On-Base Percentage. He even ranks in the top five in triples though he played about 800 less games than the leader, Earl Averill.

Joe Jackson received his famous moniker when he decided rather than play an exhibition game with extremely tight cleats, he would play second base barefoot. As a result of that game, the nickname stuck and more people know him now as Shoeless Joe than as Joe Jackson. His ban from Major League Baseball has not kept him out of the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame, where his memorial can be seen in center field at Progressive Field. 

Stan Coveleski was the ace on the first World Champion Cleveland Indians team. In 1920 the Indians won the best of 9 series 5-2 against the Brooklyn Robins (who became the Dodgers in 1932) and Coveleski won three of the games. His three wins, three complete games and 27 innings pitched are all team records for a single post-season series. Over the three games he allowed a total of 2 runs, giving him a career post-season ERA of 0.67, second all time among Indians pitchers with more than 11 IP. The only pitcher who bested him was Duster Mails, the number two starter on the 1920 team.

From 1918 to 1921, Stan won 22 games or more ever single season and his 172 wins all time rank fourth in team history. He is also among the top five in losses, starts, complete games, shut outs and innings pitched. His career ERA of 2.80 is better than any other Indians pitcher with more than 1,500 innings pitched except for Addie Joss. Coveleski did a lot for the Tribe during a relatively short (nine years) tenure. For comparison, 14 Indians pitchers played more seasons than he did and Bob Feller played over twice as long. This makes his ranking in the top five of so many cumulative stats even more impressive. Without a doubt, he is one of the best pitchers in Indians history.

Stan Coveleski missed his first chance to get into the Hall of Fame, but this oversight was corrected when the Veteran's Committee inducted him as a member of the Cleveland Indians in 1969. Coveleski is also a member of the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame (class of 1966). Stan Coveleski died in 1984.

Elmer Flick joined the Blues as a free agent in 1902 and was one of the top two offensive players on the team from then until 1907. In 1906 he not only lead the Naps, but the entire American League in at bats, runs, triples and steals. His 22 triples that season were sandwiched between two years of 18 triples, which were also enough to lead the league. Each of these seasons are in the Indians top ten all time for triples. He is also in the top five in career triples as an Indian and top ten in career steals.

Along with being in the Indians Hall of Fame (class of 1963) and being voted into the Major League Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee, Flick has one more claim to fame. Early in Ty Cobb's career, the Tigers offered him straight up for Elmer Flick, but the Indians said no. While Flick did have a moderately successful career, it was nothing compared to Cobb, who played until 1928, amassing over 4,000 hits.

Cy Young was one of baseball's greatest pitchers ever. His longevity and talent allowed him to take the all-time baseball records in batters faced, complete games, starts, innings pitched and his most famous stat, wins. He also stayed around long enough to lose more games, allow more hits and give up more runs than any other pitcher ever. He is honored today, not just with a place in the Hall of Fame, but as the namesake of the most prestigious pitching award in baseball. It is the only one of the big four awards (MVP, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year are the other three) that is named after a player and it is well deserved. 

Young's time in Cleveland is atypical. If you look at his numbers as an Indian (and Nap) he comes up as the 84th most winning pitcher of all time. This places him right along with other irrelevant Indians like Chuck Finley and Paul Byrd. His real greatness in Cleveland came before the Naps were a team, back in the day of the Cleveland Spiders. The Spiders are a defunct National League franchise that existed from 1889 to 1899. Most people don't know a whole lot about the Spiders due to the time that has passed and the fact that they went out as the worst team in baseball history. While they did go 20-134 in their final season, they were a successful team over many of the seasons prior to that. Before the 1899 season, the Spiders owner, also the owner of the St. Louis Perfectos, decided to use the Spiders as a minor league team and sent, among other players, one Denton True Young to St. Louis for nothing. During Cy's time on the Spiders, they were an above average team, winning more than 60% of their games in three of his nine seasons there. In fact, during his tenure, they only went under .500 twice.

Cy Young joined the Spiders in 1890, his first Major League team and ended up with more wins and games played for the Spiders than any other team he played with. During his time, he actually won 38% of the Spiders total wins. In his best season (1892), he pitched more than half the innings that were thrown during that season. He also lead the National League in wins, ERA, shut outs and WHIP that season. If someday, the Cleveland Indians decided to include the Spiders in the Indians history, Young's cumulative wins would be more than anyone else in team history. Now, he only ranks high in rate stats, where he is top ten in both ERA and WHIP and top five in innings pitched per game (8). Cy Young is a member of the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame (class of 1951) in addition to his place as a member of the first class inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He died in 1955.

Other than playing for the Tribe for a decade at an extremely above average level of play, Joe Sewell has another claim to fame. He almost never struck out. While many players who played before his time seem like they didn't swing and miss much, it is because strike outs weren't always recorded as an official stat. Sewell played his entire career after the point when they were, so his numbers are accurate. He really only struck out 99 times in over 1,500 games. His career average of more than 62 at bats per strike out is second ever in all of Major League Baseball history behind only Willie Keeler. From 1925 until he retired (1933), he lead the American League in this stat every single season. Sewell was also a doubles machine, leading the league in 1924 with 45 and hitting more than 40 five times during his career.

While playing for the Indians he did manage to accrue quite a lot of stats and now ranks among the top ten Indians of all time in career games played, at bats, runs, hits, doubles, runs batted in, total bases and walks. Joe Sewell was the back-up short-stop when Ray Chapman was killed by a pitch in 1920. He took over for Ray, finishing the season as starting short-stop and playing in all 7 games of the 1920 World Series, going 4 for 23. He was lucky to earn a championship ring in his rookie year, because he never got the chance to return to the playoffs with the Tribe. Joe also had the honor of playing alongside his brother, Indians catcher Luke Sewell from 1921 until 1930. Joe Sewell was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977 as an Indian by the Veteran's Committee. He is also a member of the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame (class of 1951). Joe Sewell died in 1990.

This morning the Indians signed Andy LaRoche to a minor league contract, adding him to the list of Spring Training invitees that includes Felix Pie, Jose Lopez and Aaron Cunningham. Those other additions may have been exciting, but this one is the jackpot. LaRoche is a career .267 hitter, averaging over 20 home runs per season. Oops, nevermind, that's his brother Adam LaRoche. Andy LaRoche is a career .226 hitter and has hit just over 20 home runs in his entire 5 year career. He makes Matt LaPorta look like a chump with his .238/.304/.397 line.

There is no question that the Indians would be planning to play LaRoche at first, even though his primary position has been third over the past few seasons. Lonnie Chinsenhall and Jason Kipnis played well enough last year and have enough upside that the Indians shouldn't be looking to give them any more compition. Last year, Andy played games at every infield spot, so he could also technically take Jack Hannahan's tenative spot on the 2012 roster. This seems like a great move to me because LaRoche's numbers far outshine LaPorta's. Since LaPorta's debut in 2009, LaRoche has lower numbers (cumulative and average) in every single statistical catergory when compared to LaPorta. Since, like in golf, the better player always has the lower on base percentage, this is a very good thing for Andy.

The one place LaRoche outshines LaPorta is hitting against left handed pitching (LaRoche vs LHP: .275/.355/.439), a trouble spot (LaPorta vs LHP: .211/.303/.326) for Matt since the beginning of his career. This opens up a situation where the two La's could platoon at first, with LaPorta taking the majority of the at bats against righties and LaRoche hitting against left-handers. It probably wouldn't really increase production at first and may send LaPorta into a depression that makes him unfit to play at all, but it would give the Tribe a chance to increase payroll and would give fans a chance to start calling them LaLeft and LaRight. Either way, hopefully this move will lead to us cheering for a LaHero next October.