Luis Tiant was the first great Cuban born Major League pitcher and has won more games than any other player from his home country (229). In 1962, the Cleveland Indians signed the Cuban refugee out of the Mexican league and he went on to become a borderline Hall of Famer (garnered 30% of the votes in his first year of eligibility), playing for the Indians, Red Sox and others. Although he did not spend the majority of his career with the Tribe, he certainly left his mark. His 1968 season was especially spectacular as he set the Indians record for best opponents batting average during a single season and left marks in the top five in WHIP and ERA. He lead the American League in ERA and shut outs that season as well. That effort earned him fifth place in the MVP voting that year, but he didn't get Cy Young consideration until he went to Boston. In 1968 he lost the award to Denny McLain who took home 100% of the votes.

In 1969 Tiant had the biggest drop off in Indians history. No other pitcher in team history has went from being a 20 game winner one season to being a 20 game loser the next. His ERA for that season still looks good by today's standards (3.72), but is more than two runs higher than it had been the year before. The biggest difference between the seasons seems to be his control as he walked 50 more batters in ten less innings. The real reason for the change in win/loss record had a lot to do with luck as 1968 was an outlier for Tiant as far as being great goes and his 1969 numbers were certainly below his talent level. The change in luck along with a poor offense helped Tiant to this unique distinction.

As far as his Indians career goes, Tiant still holds a spot in the top five career BAA of all time and in the top ten in strikeouts, shutouts, K/9 and WHIP. Luis Tiant was eligible for induction to the baseball Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee in 2012, but was not chosen.

Note: Jesse Burkett is included in this "All-Time Indians" series because I consider all the teams to play in Cleveland to be important to the city and the Indians history. This includes the Forest Citys, the Naps, the Blues, the Infants, the Buckeyes and of course the Spiders.

Jesse Burkett had a short, but hot, career with the Spiders that ended with the dismantling of the team in 1899. For his efforts, Burkett became the only member of the Cleveland Spiders to be inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame with the team. In his best season, 1896, he lead the National League in hits, batting average, runs scored, games played and total bases. He lead the league in hits and average the year before as well.

His Spider records are even more impressive as over a three year span (1896-1898) he set the records for at bats (624), runs (160), hits (240), batting average (.410) and slugging percentage (.541). Even compared to players in the modern age, Burkett still maintains the top three best seasons as far as runs scored, has the most hits in a season as a Cleveland player and holds the top two spots in both batting average and slugging percentage over a single year. If you get to know one player from the Cleveland Spiders teams of the 1890's, know Cy Young. If you get to know two players, make the second one Jesse Burkett. He died in 1953.

Gaylord Perry was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991 as a member of the San Francisco Giants, but his short time with the Indians was enough to place him among the greatest Tribe pitchers of all time. In 1971 the Indians acquired Perry from the Giants for another all-time Indian, Sam McDowell. Gaylord went on to immediately win the American League Cy Young in his first season as an Indian (1972). He later became the first pitcher to win the Cy Young in both leagues when he won the award again with the San Diego Padres in 1978.

Perry's 1972 season has him ranked among the top five best single season records in both starts and and innings pitched and the top ten in WHIP. The next also ranks among the top five all time in starts and innings. In fact he pitched over 320 innings in each of his first three seasons with the Tribe. In his career, Perry has thrown more innings per game than any Indian pitcher ever and ranks in the top five all-time in WHIP. His career numbers are strangely similar to his brother Jim Perry, who also played for the Indians. Each pitcher had exactly 70 wins, but Gaylord had ten less losses. Gaylord also had exactly 20 less starts, but threw just one less inning. The rate stats are where they really differ with Gaylord's ERA being 1.05 runs per nine innings lower than Jim's. Gaylord's batting average against is also better, in fact his .213 is among the top ten Indians pitchers of all time. His four years of service were enough to get him recognition by the Indians as he was inducted into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame in 2012.

Andre Thornton was the first full time designated hitter for the Cleveland Indians. The Tribe spent the first few years after the implementation of the DH in 1973 plugging in various players, but didn't really have anyone who fit the role until Thornton. From 1977 until 1979 he played first and lead the team as the top offensive player. He then missed all of the 1980 season and was replaced at first by a youngster by the name of Mike Hargrove. Upon his return to the team in 1981 he was changed to DH to allow Grover to stay at first. By the next season Thornton was back to the top of his game, turning in the best season of his career with 32 home runs and 116 RBI. His 109 walks and 161 games from that year remain in the top 10 single season totals for the Indians all time.

As far as his career goes, he was two home runs short of making the top five Indians all time. When he hit his 214th home run it was good for fourth all time as an Indian, but he has been passed since by a trio of 1990's power hitters in Jim Thome, Albert Belle and Manny Ramirez. He remains in the top ten in career walks (and strikeouts) as well. His Silver Slugger in 1984 was the first awarded to a member of the Cleveland Indians. The power hitting first baseman with the big glasses didn't get to enjoy much success while playing with the team, entering and exiting during the down portion of the last century for the Tribe (from 1957-1993), but he will be remembered forever in Indians history as a member of the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame (class of 2007). 

Chuck Nagy was 12 innings pitched as a Padre from being one of the best players to play his entire career as a Cleveland Indian. Nagy came on strong in 1991, getting a vote for rookie of the year, moving on to a seventh place Cy Young Award finish in 1992. Nagy was the base of the Indians rotation though the greatest decade of their history and the only constant starter over that entire decade. Even though he wasn't always the best pitcher on the team, he was remarkably consistent with ERAs between 3.50 and 4.00 and at least ten wins every season. His durability was also to be admired, as he pitched in at least 33 games every full length season from 1991 to 1999. In the two strike-shortened seasons he still pitched in over 20 games.

His long career allowed him to accumulate a lot of positive statistics placing him among the top ten in wins, starts and strike outs for the Cleveland Indians. That has also allowed him to give up the second most home runs in Indians history. Nagy briefly rejoined the Indians in 2009 when he became the pitching coach for the Columbus Clippers. After a single season back he left to join the Arizona Diamondbacks as their pitching coach where he remains for the present (2013). Nagy was inducted into the Indians Hall of Fame in 2007 due to both his regular season contributions as well as his impressive post season numbers. Nagy played in the playoffs more years than any other Indian pitcher ever (five). He has also pitched more innings and struck out more batters than any other Indians pitcher in the postseason. His thirteen strikeouts in eleven innings the 1996 ALDS lead him to the best K/9 ratio of any pitcher in a single series. Charles Nagy, the Cleveland Indians pitcher of the 1990's.

Ray Chapman's story is another tale of what could have been. Chapman grabbed control of the shortstop position in 1913 and was one of the Indians top offensive performers every year he was on the team after that. In 1920 Ray Chapman was replaced by another amazing short stop, Joe Sewell, but it was not because of his talent. August 16th, 1920 was Ray Chapman's last day on the Indians and on Earth as he was struck in the head and killed by a baseball thrown by New York Yankee pitcher, Carl Mays. Ray Chapman remains the only player to have died on a professional baseball field. The Indians went on to win their first World Series that season and Sewell went on to a splendid career and entry into baseball's Hall of Fame. Chapman is still remembered with a large plaque in centerfield at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

As little as he played, Chapman still left his mark on the Indians record books and was inducted into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame. He remains in the top ten in career triples and single season steals as well as the top five in career steals. 

Rocky Colavito is the most storied player in Indians history. In fact, one of the best books about Cleveland Indians history has his name in the title, "The Curse of Rocky Colavito," by Terry Pluto. Statistically, he holds the Major League record for most home runs in a single game with four and is in the top ten in career home runs for the team, but he means so much more for this franchise.

I would recommend reading the book, but in a nutshell, Rocky Colavito came up as a strong rookie in 1956, coming in second in the AL Rookie of the Year voting behind Luis Aparicio. From 1956 to 1959 Colavito was the best hitter on the team, culminating in a what was, at the time, the third and fourth best total home runs hit in a single season. Then Frank Lane took over as Indians' general manager 1958 with one goal in mind, to get his name in the newspaper. Lane didn't like that the team he inherited wasn't him and went on to trade almost every player on the team. By 1961, not a single player was left on the roster that was on the team before 1958. How Rocky Colavito fits into this whole thing is that he was traded in 1960 for the previous season's batting champion, Harvey Kuenn. Kuenn stayed with the Indians for one whole season with a line of .348/.379/.416. The same year for Detroit, Rocky Colavito hit 35 home runs and knocked in 87. During his time with Detroit, Colavito hit 139 home runs that should have been hit for the Tribe.

In 1965, under new management, the Indians brought back the Rock in another bad trade. This time the Indians sent catcher Johnny Romano and pitcher Tommy John in a three team trade to Chicago. Tommy John went on to win 288 games and have the first elbow ligament replacement surgery, which is now named after him. Colavito played well over his first two seasons after the trade, playing every game in 1965 and hitting 30 home runs in 1966. In 1967 the Indians made one final pointless trade sending an aging Colavito to the White Sox for a player who went 3 for 21 during his Indians career.

The Rocky Colavito story is one of disloyalty, greed and obsession. It should be a warning to future teams of what not to do, but that lesson is rarely heeded. Colavito is a member of the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame (class of 2006). 

Mike Garcia came on strong for the Indians in 1949, the year after their last championship, and took fourth place for the AL Rookie of the Year. He kept it going as well, staying in the starting rotation from then until 1957. Most impressively, from 1951 to 1954, he never had less than 18 wins or an ERA worse than 3.25. During those seasons he was part of the Indians big four rotation along with Bob Feller, Early Wynn and Bob Lemon. This rotation was the best in the league at the time and the best in Indians history. In 1949 and 1954 Garcia lead the AL in ERA and received votes for MVP three of four years between 1951 and 1954. In 1951, the best season for this rotation as a unit, the Indians had three starters rank in the MVP voting (Feller, 5; Wynn, 16 and Garcia, 22) earning 158 vote points between them. Indians second baseman Bobby Avila and outfielder Dale Mitchell also ranked in the top 28 that season.

Over his career, he was one of only ten Indians to reach the 2,000 innings pitched mark. He is also in the top ten in career wins, games played, starts and strike outs. His 96 losses are the least among pitchers with at least 125 wins giving him a winning percent of almost 60%. Mike Garcia was entered into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame in 2007.

Ken Keltner was a great player for the Tribe at a position that has not had many greats over the teams history (he is on the list of top 10 Indians third basemen). Keltner owned the hot corner during the Indians most successful season (1948) and the decade prior to that. For his career, he leads all Indians third basemen in games played, at bats, runs, hits, doubles, runs batted in, total bases and walks. He is second in both triples and home runs. He is even in the top ten of everyone in games, at bats, hits, doubles and runs batted in. He is in the top five all time in total bases.

Keltner wasn't just a player who played at a mediocre player for a really long time either. Along with his seven all-star appearances, Ken was a doubles machine, hitting more than 20 in nine separate seasons and more than 30 in six seasons. His career high was 41 in 1944. In 1948, after two down seasons, Keltner came back to have his best year ever and power the Tribe to the World Series while playing next to player/manager Lou Boudreau. Ken Keltner has been enshrined in the Indians Hall of Fame (class of 1951), but was unable to get even one percent of the vote for the baseball Hall of Fame. He died in 1991 in his home state of Wisconsin.

Kenny Lofton has played for a lot of teams, eleven total, including three different stints on the Indians, but everyone knows that he is first and foremost a Cleveland Indian. Most impressively, Kenny has played in the post season in eleven years with six different teams. Starting in 1995, the only years he missed playing in the postseason were in 2000 and 2005, yet he only made two World Series appearances (1995 and 2002) during his career and never earned a ring. During his time with the Indians in the postseason he was especially impressive. He leads all Indians all time with 34 runs scored and 23 steals in the postseason. He is in the top five in every other counting stat except doubles. The steals are the most impressive since Omar Vizquel is the only other Indian to have more than three all time.

In 1991 the Indians acquired Lofton in a trade with the Astros for Willie Blair and Eddie Taubensee, this trade was a steal and was very important in setting up the powerful core of the 1990's Indians offense. Lofton combined with the emergance of Albert Belle, the drafting of Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez and trades for Carlos Baerga, Sandy Alomar and Omar Vizquel to make the most potent offense in Indians history. In 1996, when Lofton thought he was immovable, he was traded to the Braves for Marquis Grissom and David Justice in another great move that helped the Indians get back to the World Series in 1997. Justice stuck around a few years and produced far beyond what was necessary and Lofton resigned with the Tribe in 1998 as a free agent, so nothing was lost. In fact, Justice was traded to the Yankees at the end of his career for a young pitcher named Jake Westbrook, so Lofton trades were basically responsible for ten years of Lofton, four years of Justice and nine years of Westbrook.

In 2007 with the Indians looking at winning the Central Division for the first time since 2001, the Indians decided to bring the old favorite back and traded Maxamiliano Ramirez (a minor league catcher) to Texas for him. With center field and lead off filled by Grady Sizemore, Kenny Lofton got to know a new area of Jacob's Field as he played left field and batted seventh.

Playing for the Indians for a decade, Lofton has certainly left his marks on the record books. He is in the top ten in career at bats and hits and the top five in runs scored. In Cleveland they might as well rename the steal a "Kenny" since he has almost 200 more than the next best speedster. He is also second all time in stolen base percentage behind only Roberto Alomar, who only spent three years with the team. Along with the career records, Lofton holds the single season record as well along with four of the top five best seasons and six of the top ten. Going along with his speedy reputation, Lofton was also an amazing fielder, winning a Gold Glove in each of his first four full seasons with the Tribe. He also once won defensive play of the year for a home run stealing catch.

Kenny Lofton has already been enshrined in the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame and should be considered one of the greatest centerfielders in Indians history.