1987 Cleveland Indians season

1987 Cleveland Indians
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Eastern Division (since 1969)
Location
Cleveland Municipal Stadium (since 1932)
Cleveland, Ohio (since 1901)
Other information
Owner(s)	Richard Jacobs
General manager(s)	Joe Klein
Manager(s)	Pat Corrales, Doc Edwards
Local television	WUAB
Local radio	WWWE
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The Cleveland Indians finished in seventh place in the American League East. Sports Illustrated magazine predicted that the Indians would finish in first. Club president Peter Bavasi would resign before the regular season began. Bavasi had joined the Indians in November 1984. As president of the Cleveland Indians, he served on Major League Baseball's Executive Council.^[1] During the 1986 season, the team had an 84-78 record, its best since 1968, and attendance of 1.47 million, its highest since 1959.^[2] There was a lot of optimism that the team would reach its full potential in 1987.

Sluggers Joe Carter and Cory Snyder were featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated on April 6, 1987, with the headline "Indian Uprising". The Indians were being predicted as the best team in baseball on the back of their two 30+ home run hitters. What sports writers overlooked was that Cleveland had the worst performing pitching staff in the majors, despite the presence of 300 game winners Phil Niekro and Steve Carlton, as well as Tom Candiotti (with Niekro and Candiotti, Cleveland had two starters whose main pitch was the Knuckleball). The 1987 Indians season would go on to be associated with the Sports Illustrated cover jinx.

Offseason

• November 7, 1986: Fran Mullins was released by the Indians.^[3]
• November 28, 1986: Casey Parsons was signed as a free agent by the Indians.^[4]
• December 23, 1986: John Butcher was released by the Indians.^[5]
• January 19, 1987: Doug Frobel was signed as a Free Agent with the Cleveland Indians.^[6]
• February 23, 1987: Curt Wardle was traded by the Indians to the Oakland Athletics for Jeff Kaiser.^[7]

Regular season

In 1987, the Cleveland Indians achieved a baseball first. The Indians had veteran pitchers Steve Carlton and Phil Niekro on their roster to add experience. Their most notable accomplishment was appearing in a game together against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Carlton and Niekro became the first teammates and 300-game winners to appear in the same game. Both were ineffective in a 10-6 Yankee victory. It would be Carlton's first and only pitching appearance at the legendary stadium. Neither pitcher would finish the season with the Indians. Carlton would end up with the Minnesota Twins and win a World Series championship. Niekro would be picked up by the Toronto Blue Jays and come within two games of winning the American League East Championship.

Season standings

AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Detroit Tigers	98	64	0.605	—	54–27	44–37
Toronto Blue Jays	96	66	0.593	2	52–29	44–37
Milwaukee Brewers	91	71	0.562	7	48–33	43–38
New York Yankees	89	73	0.549	9	51–30	38–43
Boston Red Sox	78	84	0.481	20	50–30	28–54
Baltimore Orioles	67	95	0.414	31	31–51	36–44
Cleveland Indians	61	101	0.377	37	35–46	26–55

Record vs. opponents

1987 American League Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	1–12	9–3	8–4	7–6	4–9	9–3	2–11	5–7	3–10	7–5	4–8	7–5	1–12
Boston	12–1	—	4–8	3–9	7–6	2–11	6–6	6–7	7–5	7–6	4–8	7–5	7–5	6–7
California	3–9	8–4	—	8–5	7–5	3–9	5–8	7–5	8–5	3–9	6–7	7–6	5–8	5–7
Chicago	4–8	9–3	5–8	—	7–5	3–9	6–7	6–6	6–7	5–7	9–4	6–7	7–6	4–8
Cleveland	6–7	6–7	5–7	5–7	—	4–9	6–6	4–9	3–9	6–7	4–8	5–7	2–10	5–8
Detroit	9–4	11–2	9–3	9–3	9–4	—	5–7	6–7	8–4	5–8	5–7	7–5	8–4	7–6
Kansas City	3–9	6–6	8–5	7–6	6–6	7–5	—	4–8	8–5	5–7	5–8	9–4	7–6	8–4
Milwaukee	11–2	7–6	5–7	6–6	9–4	7–6	8–4	—	3–9	7–6	6–6	4–8	9–3	9–4
Minnesota	7–5	5–7	5–8	7–6	9–3	4–8	5–8	9–3	—	6–6	10–3	9–4	6–7	3–9
New York	10–3	6–7	9–3	7–5	7–6	8–5	7–5	6–7	6–6	—	5–7	7–5	5–7	6–7
Oakland	5–7	8–4	7–6	4–9	8–4	7–5	8–5	6–6	3–10	7–5	—	5–8	6–7	7–5
Seattle	8–4	5–7	6–7	7–6	7–5	5–7	4–9	8–4	4–9	5–7	8–5	—	9–4	2–10
Texas	5–7	5–7	8–5	6–7	10–2	4–8	6–7	3–9	7–6	7–5	7–6	4–9	—	3–9
Toronto	12–1	7–6	7–5	8–4	8–5	6–7	4–8	4–9	9–3	7–6	5–7	10–2	9–3	—

Transactions

• April 4, 1987: Steve Carlton signed as a free agent with the Indians.^[8]
• May 11, 1987: Don Schulze was traded by the Indians to the New York Mets for Ricky Nelson.^[9]
• May 12, 1987: Dave Gallagher was traded by the Indians to the Seattle Mariners for Mark Huismann.^[10]
• July 31, 1987: Steve Carlton was traded by the Indians to the Minnesota Twins for a player to be named later. The Twins completed the deal by sending Jeff Perry (minors) to the Indians on August 18.^[8]

Draft picks

• June 2, 1987: 1987 Major League Baseball Draft
  • Albert Belle was drafted by the Indians in the 2nd round. Belle signed on August 27, 1987.^[11]
  • Beau Allred was drafted by the Indians in the 25th round.^[12]

Roster

1987 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers 47 Darrel Akerfelds 47 Mike Armstrong 43 Scott Bailes 13 Ernie Camacho 49 Tom Candiotti 32 Steve Carlton 36,11 Jamie Easterly 52 John Farrell 39 Don Gordon 37 Mark Huismann 46 Doug Jones 48 Jeff Kaiser 35 Phil Niekro 44 Reggie Ritter 18 Ken Schrom 53 Sammy Stewart 21 Greg Swindell 44,36 Ed Vande Berg 22 Frank Wills 42 Rich Yett		Catchers  6 Andy Allanson 23 Chris Bando 24 Rick Dempsey  4 Brian Dorsett Infielders 16 Jay Bell  4 Tony Bernazard 30 Joe Carter 14 Julio Franco  1 Tommy Hinzo 26 Brook Jacoby 17 Junior Noboa 10 Pat Tabler 34 Eddie Williams		Outfielders  2 Brett Butler  8 Carmen Castillo 12 Dave Clark 31,38 Doug Frobel 15 Dave Gallagher 27 Mel Hall 20 Otis Nixon 15 Casey Parsons 28 Cory Snyder Other batters 29 Andre Thornton		Manager  7 Pat Corrales 32 Doc Edwards Coaches  1 Jack Aker (Pitching) 25 Bobby Bonds (Hitting) -- Steve Comer (Pitching) 32 Doc Edwards (Bullpen) 45 John Goryl (Third Base)  7 Luis Isaac (Bullpen) -- Dave Roberts_(third baseman) (First Base)

Statisics

Batting

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	SB
Allanson, AndyAndy Allanson	50	154	17	41	6	0	3	16	.266	1
Bando, ChrisChris Bando	89	211	20	46	9	0	5	16	.218	0
Bell, JayJay Bell	38	125	14	27	9	1	2	13	.216	2
Bernazard, TonyTony Bernazard	79	293	39	70	12	1	11	30	.239	7
Butler, BrettBrett Butler	137	522	91	154	25	8	9	41	.295	33
Carter, JoeJoe Carter	149	588	83	155	27	2	32	106	.264	31
Castillo, CarmeloCarmelo Castillo	89	220	27	55	17	0	11	31	.250	1
Clark, DaveDave Clark	29	87	11	18	5	0	3	12	.207	1
Dempsey, RickRick Dempsey	60	141	16	25	10	0	1	9	.177	0
Dorsett, BrianBrian Dorsett	5	11	2	3	0	0	1	3	.273	0
Franco, JulioJulio Franco	128	495	86	158	24	3	8	52	.319	32
Frobel, DougDoug Frobel	29	40	5	4	0	0	2	5	.100	0
Gallagher, DaveDave Gallagher	15	36	2	4	1	1	0	1	.111	2
Hall, MelMel Hall	142	485	57	136	21	1	18	76	.280	5
Hinzo, TommyTommy Hinzo	67	257	31	68	9	3	3	21	.265	9
Jacoby, BrookBrook Jacoby	155	540	73	162	26	4	32	69	.300	2
Nixon, OtisOtis Nixon	19	17	2	1	0	0	0	1	.059	2
Noboa, JuniorJunior Noboa	39	80	7	18	2	1	0	7	.225	1
Parsons, CaseyCasey Parsons	18	25	2	4	0	0	1	5	.160	0
Snyder, CoryCory Snyder	157	577	74	136	24	2	33	82	.236	5
Tabler, PatPat Tabler	151	553	66	170	34	3	11	86	.307	5
Thornton, AndreAndre Thornton	36	85	8	10	2	0	0	5	.118	1
Williams, EddieEddie Williams	22	64	9	11	4	0	1	4	.172	0
Totals	162	5606	742	1476	267	30	187	691	.263	140

Pitching

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	R	ER	BB	K
Akerfelds, DarrelDarrel Akerfelds	2	6	6.75	16	13	0	74.2	60	56	38	42
Armstrong, MikeMike Armstrong	1	0	8.68	14	0	1	18.2	18	18	10	9
Bailes, ScottScott Bailes	7	8	4.64	39	17	6	120.1	75	62	47	65
Camacho, ErnieErnie Camacho	0	1	9.22	15	0	1	13.2	14	14	5	9
Candiotti, TomTom Candiotti	7	18	4.78	32	32	0	201.2	132	107	93	111
Carlton, SteveSteve Carlton	5	9	5.37	23	14	1	109.0	76	65	63	71
Easterly, JamieJamie Easterly	1	1	4.55	16	0	0	31.2	17	16	13	22
Farrell, JohnJohn Farrell	5	1	3.39	10	9	0	69.0	29	26	22	28
Gordon, DonDon Gordon	0	3	4.08	21	0	1	39.2	31	18	12	20
Huismann, MarkMark Huismann	2	3	5.09	20	0	2	35.1	22	20	8	23
Jones, DougDoug Jones	6	5	3.15	49	0	8	91.1	45	32	24	87
Kaiser, JeffJeff Kaiser	0	0	16.20	2	0	0	3.1	6	6	3	2
Niekro, PhilPhil Niekro	7	11	5.89	22	22	0	123.2	83	81	53	57
Ritter, ReggieReggie Ritter	1	1	6.08	14	0	0	26.2	21	18	16	11
Schrom, KenKen Schrom	6	13	6.50	32	29	0	153.2	126	111	57	61
Stewart, SammySammy Stewart	4	2	5.67	25	0	3	27.0	22	17	21	25
Swindell, GregGreg Swindell	3	8	5.10	16	15	0	102.1	62	58	37	97
Vande Berg, EdEd Vande Berg	1	0	5.10	55	0	0	72.1	42	41	21	40
Waddell, TomTom Waddell	0	1	14.29	6	0	0	5.2	10	9	7	6
Wills, FrankFrank Wills	0	1	5.06	6	0	1	5.1	3	3	7	4
Yett, RichRich Yett	3	9	5.25	37	11	1	97.2	63	57	49	59
Totals	61	101	5.28	162	162	25	1422.2	957	835	606	849

Award winners

All-Star Game

• Pat Tabler, Designated Hitter, Reserve

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Buffalo Bisons	American Association	Orlando Gómez and Steve Swisher
AA	Williamsport Bills	Eastern League	Steve Swisher and Orlando Gómez
A	Kinston Indians	Carolina League	Mike Hargrove
A	Waterloo Indians	Midwest League	Glenn Adams
Rookie	Burlington Indians	Appalachian League	Tom Chandler

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Burlington^[13]

References

1. Principals
2. New York Times, January 24, 1987
3. Fran Mullins page at Baseball Reference
4. Casey Parsons page at Baseball Reference
5. John Butcher page at Baseball Reference
6. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/frobedo01.shtml
7. Jeff Kaiser page at Baseball Reference
8. Steve Carlton page at Baseball Reference
9. Don Schulze page at Baseball Reference
10. Mark Huismann page at Baseball Reference
11. Albert Belle page at Baseball Reference
12. Beau Allred page at Baseball Reference
13. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

• 1987 Cleveland Indians team page at Baseball Reference
• 1987 Cleveland Indians team page at www.baseball-almanac.com