1974 Cleveland Indians season

The 1974 Cleveland Indians season was the team's 74th season in Major League Baseball. It involved the Indians competing in the American League East, where they finished fourth with a record of 77–85.

1974 Cleveland Indians
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Nick Mileti
General manager(s)Phil Seghi
Manager(s)Ken Aspromonte
Local televisionWJW-TV
Local radioWERE (1300)
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Offseason

Regular season

During the season, Gaylord Perry became the last pitcher to win at least 20 games in one season for the Indians in the 20th century.[4]

Dick Bosman pitched a no-walk no-hitter against Oakland on July 19, winning 4-0. Only a throwing error kept Bosman from a perfect game.[5]

Ten Cent Beer Night

Ten Cent Beer Night was an ill-fated promotion held by the American League's Cleveland Indians during a game against the Texas Rangers at Cleveland Municipal Stadium on June 4, 1974.

The idea behind the promotion was to offer as many eight-ounce (237 mL) cups of Stroh's beer as the fans could drink for just 10¢ apiece, thus increasing ticket sales. However, the stunt also had the effect of slowly turning the calm and orderly baseball fans into a rowdy and raucous crowd devoid of inhibition.

The game had a special significance for both clubs, as there had been a bench-clearing brawl in a Rangers/Indians game one week earlier at Arlington Stadium in Texas, during a "cheap beer night" there.[6] In Texas, the trouble had started in the bottom of the fourth inning with a walk to the Rangers' Tom Grieve, followed by a Lenny Randle single.

The next batter hit a double play ball to Indians third baseman John Lowenstein; he stepped on the third base bag to retire Grieve and threw the ball to second base, but Randle disrupted the play with a hard slide into second baseman Jack Brohamer. The Indians retaliated in the bottom of the eighth when pitcher Milt Wilcox threw behind Randle's head. Randle eventually laid down a bunt. When Wilcox attempted to field it and tag Randle out, Randle hit him with a forearm.

Indians first baseman John Ellis responded by punching Randle, and both benches emptied for a brawl. During the melee, the intoxicated crowd became rowdy and threw beer on the Indians' players.

Six days later, the Ten Cent Beer Night promotion induced over 25,000 fans to come to Municipal Stadium for the Rangers/Indians game. Early in the game, the Rangers took a 5–1 lead. Meanwhile, throughout the contest, the crowd in attendance continually misbehaved. A woman ran out to the Indians' on-deck circle and lifted her shirt and a naked man sprinted to second base as Grieve hit his second home run of the game. A father and son pair ran onto the outfield and mooned the fans in the bleachers one inning later.[7]

The ugliness escalated when Cleveland's Leron Lee hit a line drive into the stomach of Rangers pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, after which Jenkins dropped to the ground. The fans in the upper deck of Municipal Stadium cheered, then chanted "Hit 'em again! Hit 'em again! Harder! Harder!"

The Rangers later argued a call in which Lee was called safe in a close play at third base, spiking Jenkins with his cleats in the process and forcing him to leave the game. The Rangers angry response to this call enraged Cleveland fans, who again began throwing objects onto the field. In the bottom of the ninth, the Indians managed to rally and tie the game at five runs apiece, but with a crowd that had been consuming as much alcohol as it could for nine innings, the situation finally boiled over.

After Texas outfielder Jeff Burroughs violently reacted to a fan stealing his glove and cap, the Texas players, led by manager Billy Martin, charged onto the field with bats. A huge number of intoxicated fans, some armed with knives, chains, and portions of stadium seats that they had torn apart, surged onto the field; others hurled bottles from the stands. Realizing the Rangers might be in danger of their lives, Ken Aspromonte, the Indians' manager, ordered his players to grab bats and help the Rangers.

As a result, umpire crew chief Nestor Chylak, realizing that order would not be restored in a timely fashion, forfeited the game to Texas. He too was a victim of the rioters as one struck him with part of a stadium seat, cutting his head.[8] His hand was also cut by a thrown rock.

As Joe Tait and Herb Score called the riot live on radio, Score mentioned the lack of police protection; a riot squad from the Cleveland police department finally arrived to restore order.

Season standings
AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Baltimore Orioles 9171 0.562 — 46–35 45–36
New York Yankees 8973 0.549 2 47–34 42–39
Boston Red Sox 8478 0.519 7 46–35 38–43
Cleveland Indians 7785 0.475 14 40–41 37–44
Milwaukee Brewers 7686 0.469 15 40–41 36–45
Detroit Tigers 7290 0.444 19 36–45 36–45

Record vs. opponents
1974 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK TEX
Baltimore —10–87–55–712–614–48–48–106–611–76–64–8
Boston 8–10—4–88–49–911–74–810–86–611–78–45–7
California 5–78–4—10–8–13–95–78–103–98–103–96–129–9
Chicago 7–54–88–10–1—8–47–511–78–47–11–14–87–119–7–1
Cleveland 6–129–99–34–8—9–98–410–86–67–115–74–8
Detroit 4–147–117–55–79–9—7–59–93–911–75–75–7
Kansas City 4–88–410–87–114–85–7—11–18–104–88–108–10
Milwaukee 10–88–109–34–88–109–91–11—6–69–95–77–5
Minnesota 6–66–610–811–7–16–69–310–86–6—4–85–139–9
New York 7–117–119–38–411–77–118–49–98–4—7–58–4
Oakland 6–64–812–611–77–57–510–87–513–55–7—8–10
Texas 8–47–59–97–9–18–47–510–85–79–94–810–8—

Notable transactions

Roster
1974 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
1BJohn Ellis128477136.2851064
2BJack Brohamer10131585.270230
LFJohn Lowenstein140508123.242848

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Leron Lee7923254.233525
Joe Lis5710922.202616
Chris Chambliss176722.32807
Tommy Smith23313.09700

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Gaylord Perry37322.121132.51216
Jim Perry3625217122.9671
Fritz Peterson29152.29144.3652
Dick Bosman25127.1754.1056
Steve Arlin1143.1256.6020
Dick Tidrow419137.118

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Tom Buskey5126173.1940
Milt Wilcox412244.6733
Fred Beene324424.9335
Bruce Ellingsen161103.2116

Awards and honors

All-Stars

All-Star Game

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Oklahoma City 89ers American Association Red Davis
AA San Antonio Brewers Texas League Woody Smith
A Reno Silver Sox California League Joe Azcue and Del Youngblood
Rookie GCL Indians Gulf Coast League Wilfredo Calvino

[14]

Notes
  1. Roger Freed page at Baseball Reference
  2. Walt Williams page at Baseball Reference
  3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kekicmi01.shtml
  4. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 99, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  5. "Oakland Athletics at Cleveland Indians Box Score, July 19, 1974". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
  6. Smiley, Bobby (July 30, 2004). "Another Mistake By The Lake". Archived from the original on July 13, 2006. Retrieved August 11, 2006.
  7. Robinson, James G. "10-Cent Beer Night". Archived from the original on August 13, 2006. Retrieved August 11, 2006.
  8. Johnson, Scot (June 6, 2006). "This Week in Baseball History: Ten Cent Beer Night". Retrieved August 11, 2006.
  9. Rich Hinton page at Baseball Reference
  10. Chris Chambliss page at Baseball Reference
  11. Joe Lis page at Baseball Reference
  12. Rico Carty page at Baseball Reference
  13. Frank Robinson page at Baseball Reference
  14. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References
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