Earl Moore ushered in the new era of Cleveland baseball as the Indians first ace and the only pitcher to stay on the team from the first to the second season. Moore didn't stay the ace very long as Addie Joss and Bill Bernhard both arrived in 1902, however he retained the role through 1903. He won the ERA title that season, giving the Indians three of the first eight American League ERA champions (Joss won the other two). That ERA remains in the top ten best single season ERAs in Indians history. Of course this is slightly overshadowed as nine of the top ten occurred within the first eleven years of team history (congrats to Luis Tiant in 1968 breaking the top five).

1904 saw one of the greatest rotations in Indians history as the team used just seven total pitchers for the entire year. Six pitchers started 16 or more games and each held an ERA under 3.00 (the best being the league leader Joss). The main rotation included Bernhard as the ace, followed by Red Donahue, Moore and Joss with Otto Hess and Bob Rhoads pitching in the extra starts. Hess was especially great, pulling a 1.67 ERA in his first full professional season. Most impressively, there were only 14 relief appearances during the entire season all made up by the rest of the starting staff. Moore himself completed 22 of his 24 starts and came in for relief twice as well. While his win-loss record was not what it should have been (12-11), that had a lot more to due with the lack of offense rather than his pitching.

After poor seasons in 1906 and 1907, Moore was traded to the New York Highlanders for Walter Clarkson and Frank Delahanty. He then spent the next eight seasons bouncing around between four teams, reclaiming some of his glory in 1909 and 1910 for the Phillies before losing a career high 19 games in 1911. He never held an ERA under 3.00 again for the rest of his career. Earl Moore died in 1961

The designated hitter was the most recent significant rule change in baseball, occuring in 1973. Because of this there are only 39 seasons of designated hitters to evaluate. Over those years, the Indians have only had two long term DHs, making this the least impressive of every top ten positional list. The rankings from 3-10 are players who have played between one and three years as starting DH. This includes every player who had even a single decent season at that position for the Indians. This list is the easiest for any future player to grab a place on as it could take as little as a single season. Including the five borderline players listed below the stats, every single player who has played a single season at DH (and did not make a top ten list at another position) for the Indians is on this page somewhere except Dave Clark (and now he is too).

10. Cliff Johnson - Years Starting DH, 1979

Johnson is on this list because the Indians didn't have any full time starting designated hitters that aren't listed. As soon as another Indians DH plays at least two seasons, Johnson is likely to be removed from the top ten.

9. Chris James - 1990-1991

James is basically the same as Johnson, although he had a slightly longer career. James does have one unique distinction, however. In 1991 he set the Indian record for most RBI in a single game with 9 on May 4th against Oakland. He only knocked in 41 total runs that season, making it even an even more impressive feat.

8. Oscar Gamble - 1973-1974

Gamble was the Indians first DH, when the new rule was instated in the AL in 1973. He held the job for two of his three years with the Tribe. This was his first chance to play an entire season in the pros after coming to Cleveland from Philadelphia and he played fairly well. Gamble hit more than 15 home runs with more than 50 runs and 40 RBI each season he spent with the team.

7. Richie Sexson - 1999

Although Sexson only spent a single season as a starter, he was around for a few years, filling in for Jim Thome at first base and alternating with Justice at DH. Despite his height, he was a below average defender at first, making him another great candidate for DH. While he played parts of three seasons, 1999 was by far his best and only starting year. That season he hit 31 home runs while knocking in 116. That year was enough on it's own for him to make the top ten, while his other two partial seasons move him up to number seven.

6. Eddie Murray - 1994-1996

While Murray was a good defensive firstbaseman during most of his career, winning 3 straight Gold Gloves in the 1980's, he was unavailable for anything but hitting duties when he joined the Tribe during the twilight of his career. Murray helped the Indians to the 1995 World Series and knocked in more than 200 runs in three years of limited service.

5. Ellis Burks - 2001-2002

Burks was another player who was unable to perform in the field by the time he joined the Indians, but still put in three good seasons at the tail end of his career. His 2002 season was the second best in his 20 year career even though he only had two years (and 66 total games) left in his playing career. Like seven other players out of the top ten, Burks made his career elsewhere, with just a minor note in Cleveland.

4. Rico Carty - 1975-1977

Carty transitioned to DH when he came to Cleveland after a lengthy career in left field with the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves. He was more successful than most of the short term DH's for the Indians and is the only Indians DH to ever bat over .300 for the entirety of his time with the team.

3. David Justice - 1997-1998

Justice only played a couple of seasons as an Indian, but won a silver slugger at LF in 1997 and is third in almost every cumulative stat among Indians DHs. While his tenure with the team was short, it came during the prime of his career and he was very productive. In his career, he ranks in the top 10 among every Indians hitter in history in slugging percent and OPS.

2. Andre Thornton - 1981-1986

Thornton was the Indians first long term DH and the only one between 1973 and 2003. He missed all of 1980 due to injury and was replaced at first base by Mike Hargrove. From 1982-1984, without the stress of playing defense, Thornton became the crux of the Indians offense, leading all hitters in home runs, RBI and runs scored. 

1. Travis Hafner - 2003-2012

It took the Indians over thirty years to find a player who truly fit the DH position so perfectly he spent more than a decade there. Hafner was physically unable to play any defensive position and was an amazing pure power hitter during his first few years with the Tribe. In his career he had more home runs than any player on this list except for Thornton and Thornton played half his career at first base. His slugging percent (the best measure of a successful DH) was higher than all but two of the shorter tenured players, despite playing in Cleveland through his whole career, including his decline over his last couple of seasons.

Borderline: David Segui, Joe Charboneau, Johnny Grubb, Ron Kittle, Reggie Jefferson

Jeff Heath was one of the greatest left fielders in Indians history, playing a decade for the Tribe before being traded to Washington. Heath was a multiple all-star for the Indians, dominating American League pitching from 1938 to 1943. Heath missed most of the year in 1944 and was traded shortly after, at the end of 1945.

Heath was a triples machine, leading the league twice (1938 and 1941), both of which are also among the top ten in Indians history. His 83 career triples are fifth all time among Indians as well. While he was a little unlucky to play a decade for one team and not make the playoffs a single time, he got to play on some great offensive teams and was a huge part of those offenses. In 1938 he was in one of the best outfields in Indians history, along with Earl Averill and Bruce Campbell. This year was also another great year by Hal Trosky and saw Ken Keltner come in to his own for the first time. Keltner, Trosky and Heath were the major forces in the offense continually until 1942. Heath died in 1975.

Bob Rhoads came to the Blues in 1903 after a couple seasons with the Orphans and Cardinals and helped form one of the best starting rotations in Cleveland history. In his first season in 1904, Rhoads was the worst pitcher of the six pitchers who started at least 15 games, posting an ERA of 2.88. In 1905 the rotation came into it's own with Addie Joss at the lead, followed by Earl Moore, Rhoads and Otto Hess bringing up the back. A few starters fell out of the rotation from year to year, but they were always replaced by an equal or greater talent with Bill Bernhard coming up in 1906 and Glenn Liebhardt in 1907. Every rotation that Rhoads was part of until his retirement in 1909 was exemplary and they continue to hold many single season marks. Rhoads himself holds top ten marks in single season ERA for his 1906 and 1908 seasons.

Despite a short career by Indians pitching standards, Rhoads still ranks among the best Indians starters ever. His 2.39 career ERA ranks third all time among Indians pitchers and he also ranks in the top ten in shut outs and innings per game. His 15 home runs allowed during his 185 games are the least allowed by any Indians pitcher with more than 1,200 innings pitched. Of pitchers with more than 900 innings pitched, only fellow dead-ball era pitchers Bill Bernhard and Willie Mitchell allowed less career home runs.

While the Indians/Blues/Naps weren't able to garner much success during their formative years, these teams set the stage for the Indians first World Series in 1920. Bob Rhoads died in 1967.

The Indians began with Louis Sockalexis. Although he didn't have an remarkable career, Sockalexis will be cemented in Indians history for the entire future of the franchise. When he came up through college, Sockalexis was considered a top prospect. His future looked so good that the Cleveland Spiders were able to look past their 1800's style racism and sign the first full blood American Indian in the history of professional baseball. Once he made the pro team, he was installed as the starting centerfielder, playing 66 games in his only full season. 

Falling into the stereotype, the combination of money, fame and injuries lead Sockalexis to alcohol and his demise. Over his last two years with the Spiders (also the last two years of the franchise), he only played in 28 more games. His alcoholism only got worse after his career ended and he died in 1913 at the age of 42.

Where he truly left his mark is far away from the record books, but actually in the name of the franchise. In Spring Training in 1898, the Spiders called their intra squad teams the Indians (the veteran team) and the Papooses (a team made of rookies) in "honor" of the man they called Chief. In 1899 the majority of the Spiders players were shipped to the St. Louis Perfectos and the Spiders had the worst season in the history of baseball to this day. Louis stayed around for the destruction of the team as he wasn't good enough to move to St. Louis as the two teams were combined to make one super team.

After a year without baseball, Cleveland brought in a new franchise in the brand new American League. The new Cleveland baseball team that started in 1901 chose to use a name from the past, the Blues, after Cleveland's former National League team (1879-1884). When Cleveland signed superstar Napoleon LaJoie, they changed the team name to match the player/manager and were called the Naps until LaJoie left the team in 1914. In 1915 the Plain Dealer ran a poll to find out what the Cleveland team's new name should be and the fans chose the Indians in remembrance of the first Indian to play professional baseball. The name has lasted through the years despite repeated attempts to change it.  While many may protest and consider the name offensive, those who really know the story understand that the name is meant in reverence to a former player. This actually makes the Indians one of the few teams that actually have a meaningful name and aren't just named after an animal that lives on the other side of the world (this means you Detroit). The Cleveland Indians team name should be kept in mind as a memory of Louis Sockalexis, just one of the many Cleveland stories of what could have been.

The role of the relief pitcher has changed extensively over the history of Major League Baseball and seems to be continuing to increase in importance. Left handed relievers are even more extreme. Since match-up relieving became the norm, the left handed relief pitcher has become the first pitcher to come into a game with the expectation of pitching less than a single inning. This hasn't been a very strong position in Indians history, but there have been a few players in recent times that deserve some credit. Like the positions of closer and DH, this position is heavily slanted towards the present. Here are the top ten Indians left handed relief pitchers of all time:

10. Bob Allen - Years as RP 1961-1963, 1966-1967

Allen pitched the second most seasons as a LHRP for the Indians (behind Rafael Perez), but only threw 274 innings over that time. Allen's first and last seasons were his best, throwing in 81.2 innings, all in relief, in his rookie year and keeping an ERA of 3.75. After three years of mediocrity, Allen finished his career strong with a 2.98 ERA through 54.1 innings in 1967. The three poor seasons in the middle of his career skyrocketed his ERA to 4.11, the second highest of all pitchers on this list.

9. Don Hood - 1976-1977, 1979

Hood played for five teams during a long career, but spent the most time with the Indians. Hood started 19 games for the Tribe in 1975 and 1978, two of his worst three seasons. These bring down his career averages despite pitching fantastically in three of his four relief seasons. His best year as a reliever was in 1977 when he threw 105 innings in 41 games (5 starts) and held a 3.00 ERA.

8. Harry Eisenstat - 1939-1942

Eisenstat was the most old school pitcher on this list, playing in the early 1940's, when the next earliest pitcher started in 1954. Because he pitched in a time of fewer aggressive hitters, he has the lowest K/9 among the listed pitchers and one of the best WHIPs. He only threw 257 innings in his Indians career, but was among the top of those on this list by averaging more than 2 innings per outing.

7. Tom Hilgendorf - 1972-1974

Hilgendorf had a very short, but effective career in Cleveland, pitching three years in relief before being traded to Philadelphia. Although he only threw 190 innings, his 3.46 ERA and .256 BAA are among the most impressive on this list.

6. Paul Assenmacher - 1995-1999

Assenmacher was the preeminent left handed reliever during one of the most successful periods of Indians history. His average of two outs per appearance is the shortest average appearance of any Indians pitcher with more than 50 innings pitched. The combination of him with match-up happy manager Mike Hargrove lead to Assenmacher being the most specialized pitcher in Indians history.

5. Rafael Perez - 2006-2012

Perez was the Raffy Left part of the great Indians bullpen in 2007 along side Rafael Betancourt (Raffy Right). He ranks in the top ten in Indians history in K/9 and winning percent and is second all time in holds (first among lefties). 

4. Don Mossi - 1954-1956, 1958

In 1954 (as part of one of the best bullpens in Indians history) Mossi had the greatest single season as a left handed reliever. He held opponents to an BAA of .167 and held an ERA of 1.94. He threw 93 innings (some during his five starts as well) and was altogether pretty unhittable. He did fall apart a little bit in the late 1950's, bringing his career numbers down enough to keep him in fourth.

3. Jesse Orosco - 1981-1991 

Orosco had a three year stopover in Cleveland right in the middle of a very lengthy career. He was possibly the best overall left handed pitcher ever to relieve for Cleveland and one of the best in the history of baseball, but his short time with the team keeps him as low as third place.

2. Tony Sipp - 2009-2012 (Active)

Sipp leads all LHRP in K/9, WHIP and batting average against, a large function of his use against mostly left handed hitters, but also showing his dominance against that type of hitter. Only a lack of innings pitched keeps him from first place. If he can continue his career numbers for another 100 innings or so he will move into first.

1.  Sid Monge - 1977-1981

Monge threw more innings than almost any other left handed reliever, despite only starting twice (Mossi threw more innings but started 36 games). During this time he was one of the most dominant season-by-season relievers and he maintained this success over five seasons. Monge was good enough to be used as the closing pitcher in 1979 and 1980 and held an ERA under 3.00 through his first two full years (1978-1979). His position on this list is precarious as there are two active pitchers below him and as baseball moves more towards specialized pitching roles.

Borderline: Fritz Coumbe, Derek Lilliquist, John O'Donoghue, Jamie Easterly, Mike Paul

After more than a year, we have just finished the first batch of 50 All-Time Indians articles. As part of this milestone, all previous articles have been updated to include links to other All-Time Indians articles and pictures have been added of the plaques in Heritage Park at Progressive Field. For the most part the players that are already done are the top 50 Indians of all time and include all players in the Baseball Hall of Fame as an Indian. We have also started posting the top ten positional lists in Indians history. Every player profile created to this point belongs to a top ten player at his position except Willis Hudlin, who made the list due to his extremely long career.

The 50 started with the players who have had their numbers retired by the Tribe, like Bob Feller and Earl Averill, and continued with the Hall of Famers, like Early Wynn and Joe Sewell. Since the first 19 players were posted, every fifth player has been a modern player (from 1990 or later), in order to avoid having players from the same era bunched together. Seven players (and Mike Hargrove) from the 1990's Indians have already been covered and they will continue to be posted every fifth player until every player worthy of a page is done. Players that are currently active are ineligible to be considered as an All-Time Indian so players like Jim Thome and Omar Vizquel will get pages created for them the moment they announce their retirements, much like Manny Ramirez did earlier this year (maybe).

Going into the next 50 players, there will be many more marginal players included who did not have great careers, but were important for the franchise. In fact, the next scheduled profile will be of Louis Sockalexis, the original Indian. There will also be players who had short careers, but either won awards or had an impressive feat (like a perfect game). So far, only two players outside of Indians history (starting in 1901) have been profiled, Jesse Burkett and Cy Young. Expect a lot more in the future including the original Blues team, the Spiders and even the Negro League Buckeyes. Also, to this point there has been just one person profiled more for their time as manager than as a player, but that will change as well with Al Lopez and Frank Robinson scheduled for the next 50.

The Top Ten Indians Positional count downs will also continue and will be linked to each players personal profile. This way you will be able to get more details about any player just by clicking on them. These are being posted with the weakest positions first, so most of the players in the top 10 so far do not have profiles yet, but as they continue, the lists will be more and more complete. There are nine more positional break downs scheduled between now and the start of next season.

All-Time Indians articles will continue to be published at the rate of two a week (every Monday and Thursday) until Spring Training starts when they will drop to one every Monday. Through the regular season they will go down to one a month as it was during 2012. If there are any players that you would like to see in particular, send me a tweet to @BRBBLOG on twitter or e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . If they are already on my list of over 200 Indians, I may bump them up in order and post them sooner then planned and if they are not on the list I can put them on.

Mesa became the Indians first dominant strike out closer for the Cleveland Indians, becoming a relief pitcher in 1994 after being in the starting rotation from 1992 to 1993. Although the Indians could see Mesa's raw talent, it didn't show through when he started and he was the worst pitcher in the rotation each of those two seasons. In 1994, Mesa was replaced in the rotation by free agent starter Dennis Martinez and thrown head first into the bullpen, where he proceeded to have the best season of his career, setting career bests in ERA, WHIP, K/9 and BAA. In 1995 he replaced Jeff Russell as closer, a year after Russell lead the team with eight save opportunities. In 1995 Mesa has 48 save opportunities and set an Indians record with 46 saves. 

1995 was a perfect combination of a lot of things, leading to the Indians first World Series appearance since 1954. Mesa was a huge part of that, throwing what was probably the greatest season in Indians history as a relief pitcher. Mesa allowed 8 runs during the entire season and, although he blew two saves, never took a loss. The Indians had a penchant for comeback wins that year and Mesa was a huge part of their ability to keep a lead. Along with being an Indians record, his 46 saves lead the AL as well and were enough to win him the Rolaids Relief-Man of the Year award for top reliever. He continued his success through the first two rounds of the playoffs, allowing just a single run in 6 innings, but in the World Series it all came apart. Mesa's luck had run out and he would never be as good as he was during the regular season of 1995 again.

Through 1996 and 1997, Mesa remained the closer, but with just 55 total saves across the two years after 46 in a strike shortened season the year prior. In his final season with the Tribe, Mesa was replaced as closer by Mike Jackson (another of the Indians top ten all-time closers), then traded to the Giants for a utility player and a short inning relief pitcher. Like many closers, Mesa was a fire that burned hot and quickly going from a beloved pitcher for the Tribe to a hated villain in just a few short years.

On the first page of Omar Vizquel's autobiography Omar!, Vizquel wrote that Mesa's eyes were dead and basically accused him of blowing the 1997 World Series. Because of this accusation, Mesa threatened to kill Vizquel the next time he saw him and years later was given his chance, after both players were long gone from the Indians. Mesa threw at Vizquel's head with his first pitch, was ejected from the game and suspended. Mesa still pitched through 2007, playing for eight teams, but the he still spent more years in Cleveland than with any other team. Because of his negative personality traits and short career with the Tribe, Mesa is unlikely to be enshrined in the Indians Hall of Fame, but he was still important enogh to be mentioned as an All-Time Indian.

Rick Manning was one of the top ten center-fielders in Indians history both offensively and defensively. He won his Gold Glove with the Indians in just his second year with the team. Manning excelled quickly to the Major League level, playing just three years in the minors before playing 120 games his rookie year. In 1977 Manning broke his back limiting him to 68 games, but he came back strong to play another five full seasons with the Tribe, racking up 142 steals and 500 runs scored. In 1983 Manning was traded along with Rick Waits to the Milwaukee Brewers for closer Ernie Camacho, Jamie Easterly and Gorman Thomas. He then played out the rest of his career (four years) in Milwaukee.

The most famous play of Mannings career had more to due with someone else than with him. On May 15th, 1981, Manning caught the last out of Len Barker's perfect game, jumping in the air after the catch and synchronizing himself forever in history with the event and Barker.

The trade didn't ruin Cleveland for Rick as he came back home in 1990 to be the Indians television color commentator. He has called games each season for the Tribe since then while they switched from station to station, settling for the present with Sports Time Ohio and WKYC (NBC). He already has been commentating on tv for the Tribe for longer than any other announcer in team history. He currently works with Matt Underwood, but spent the majority of his announcing career working with John Sanders on Fox Sports Net Ohio (1998-2006) and Sports Channel Ohio (1991-1997). Some of Mannings main talking points are the importance of baseball players wearing sunglasses and the time he spent in Milwaukee. 

In 1926 George Burns became the first MVP in Cleveland Indians history. Burns originally arrived in Cleveland in 1920 (the Indians first championship season) after being purchased from the Philadelphia Athletics. After one good full season in 1921, Burns was traded to the Red Sox before 1922, only to return through another trade in 1924. During his time in Boston, Burns came into his prime and when he came back to the Tribe had five great offensive seasons before being purchased by the Yankees for the second time in his career. Overall, his career had some interesting symmetry. His career by team looked like this; Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Boston, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia. During this long 15 year career, he spent the most seasons (7) and played the most games (757) for Cleveland.

In 1920 Burns played in just 44 games during the regular season for the Indians with Doc Johnston being the starting first baseman. In the World Series that year, he played as an equal with Johnston, each playing in five of the seven games. Burns knocked in three runs during the Series (tied for second on the team) and was among team leaders with a .300 batting average. In 1921 Burns was back behind Johnston again in the depth chart and played in 84 games, batting .361 with 21 doubles.

It wasn't until his return in 1924 that Burns really blossomed, taking over the starting job at first and knocking in 68 while hitting .310. In 1925 he was even better, knocking in 79 with 41 doubles all while raising his average to .336. For this effort he earned enough MVP votes to rank 21st in the league. George Burns hit his peak in 1926, leading the league in hits and doubles while winning the American League MVP. The race wasn't even close with Burns getting votes on 98% of ballots, destroying the second place Johnny Mostil, a centerfielder from Chicago. Not only were his 64 doubles that year enough to lead the league, they remain the Indians record for most doubles in a single season. That team was incredible when it came to legging out two base hits in general as three players had more than 40 (Tris Speaker, 52; Joe Sewell, 41). 

Burns followed up in 1927 with another 51 doubles, enough to rank in the top ten for the second time in his career. Over his career, he also ranks in the top ten in batting average in Indians history. Burns didn't play enough seasons for the Tribe to rank among the top hitters in Indians history, but is still one of the best firstbasemen. He will always be remembered as the Cleveland Indians first Most Valuable Player. George Burns died in 1978.