Introducing the Cleveland Indians’ Franchise Four candidates

Earl Averill

Goudey baseball card, 1933 — Goudey Gum Company

Earl Averill burst onto the big league scene in 1929 with an incredible rookie season. He hit .332/.398/.538 in his first season, clubbing 74 extra-base hits — 18 home runs, 13 triples and 43 doubles — and a 4.2 WAR. 

Averill was the only American League outfielder to be named to each of the first six All-Star games from 1933-38 and posted his best all-around season in 1936. At 5-feet-9-inches and 172 pounds, Averill was a hitting machine whose 232 hits in ’36 were a career-high for the Hall of Fame outfielder. He batted .378/.438/.627 that season with a ridiculous OPS of 1.065. Averill finished the season third in AL MVP voting, behind Lou Gehrig and Luke Appling. despite tallying 82 extra-base knocks and 126 RBIs.

He spent 11 seasons with Cleveland, hitting .322 and tallying 1,903 hits and 1,084 RBIs over that stretch. His career total of 226 home runs was a Cleveland Indians’ record for 55 years.

Averill retired after spending part of the 1941 season with the Boston Braves and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1975.

Next: Lou Boudreau

Lou Boudreau

credit: BaseballHall.org

Lou Boudreau literally did everything there was to do in Major League Baseball. 

Betsided

Boudreau played, managed and broadcasted the game at various stages in his career — sometimes taking on two of those tasks at the same time. He was one of the best defensive shortstops in the game, leading the AL in fielding percentage for ten consecutive seasons, after becoming the Tribe’s regular shortstop in the 1940 season.

The Indians shocked the baseball world in 1942 when they hired their 24-year-old shortstop as the team’s player-manager, a role he would fulfill through 1950. During his 13 seasons with the Indians, Boudreau hit .295/.380/.415 in 1,646 games played. He collected 1,779 hits and drove home 789 RBIs.

His best season, perhaps, came in 1948 when Boudreau hit .355 with 106 RBIs, a career-best 18 home runs and struck out just nine times in 560 at-bats. He led the Tribe to a 97-58 record, leading Hall of Fame coach Bill McKechnie to say, “That year, Lou Boudreau was the greatest shortstop and leader I have ever seen.” 

He had terrific instincts and was a great competitor. As a player-manager, he became so good that he went as far as calling pitches from shortstop. He was always thinking, always in the game. –Bob Feller

The Indians and Red Sox finished the season tied and played a one-game playoff to decide which team moved on to the postseason. Boudreau took his team into Fenway Park, homered twice while going 4-for-4 in an Indians’ victory. Cleveland went on to beat the Braves in the World Series and Boudreau earned the AL MVP Award. Tribe legend Bob Feller had this to say about the shortstop:

“He had terrific instincts and was a great competitor. As a player-manager, he became so good that he went as far as calling pitches from shortstop. He was always thinking, always in the game.”

Boudreau was also a great basketball player, leading the University of Illinois to the Big Ten title in 1937 and earning All-American honors the following season.

Boudreau was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1970.

Next: Larry Doby

Larry Doby

credit: Associated Press

Very rarely are athletes remembered for being the second to accomplish something, but that’s not the case with Larry Doby. 

The second African American to play Major League Baseball, Doby was the first to break the color barrier in the American League with the Cleveland Indians. He later became the second African American manager in the big leagues, following Frank Robinson in 1978.

But he was the first. He, along with Satchel Paige, were the first African American players to win a World Series when the Indians won in 1948.

All of that is no surprise, as Doby had success wherever he went. He was a seven-time All-Star, a World Series champion and a Negro Leagues champion (1946). He was a two-time AL home run champion (1952, 1954) and an AL RBI champion (1954). Doby helped the Indians win a franchise-record 111 games and the AL pennant in 1954, finished second in the AL MVP voting in a time where black players were still not completely accepted.

In 10 years with the Indians, Doby hit .286/.389/.500 and clubbed a total of 215 home runs. He drove home 776 RBIs as part of 1,234 base hits in 1,235 games played. Across 14 big league seasons, Doby posted five 100-RBI seasons and eight 20-home run seasons. Nineteen years after his retirement from playing, Doby was hired by Bill Veek, the same man who signed Doby to his first contract, to manage the Chicago White Sox.

Like Boudreau, Doby was incredibly athletic. He was a star infielder for the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League and was the first African American player to play professional professional basketball in the ABL.

Doby was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1998, long after he should have gotten the nod to Cooperstown. His number was retired by the Indians on July 3, 1994.

Next: Bob Feller

Bob Feller

credit: Cleveland.com

There is no one more synonymous with Cleveland Indians baseball than Bob Feller.

Feller was a young prodigy who bypassed the minor leagues and made his first appearance with the Tribe at the age of 17. His first start came on Aug. 25, 1936, and he struck out 16 batters in a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Browns. Feller was the first pitcher to win 24 games in a season before he reach 21 years old. He threw no-hitters in 1940, 1946 and 1951 and recorded 12 one-hitters throughout his career.

His career was interrupted by four years of military service during World War II, as Feller became the first Major League Baseball player to enlist for the war. Although he estimated the four-year hiatus from the game cost him 100-plus wins, he later said, “I’m proud of that decision to enlist. It was important to serve your country. I didn’t worry about losing my baseball career. We needed to win the war. I wanted to do my part.”

I’m proud of that decision to enlist. It was important to serve your country. I didn’t worry about losing my baseball career. We needed to win the war. I wanted to do my part. -Bob Feller

As a member of the 1948 team with Boudreau and Doby, Feller helped the Indians win a World Series in 1948 while the Tribe posted an American League record 111 wins. Feller led the league in wins on six different occasions and in strikeouts seven times. An eight-time All-Star, Feller was named “the greatest pitcher of his time” by Sporting News and ranked 36th on the list of 100 Greatest Baseball Players.

Nicknamed “Rapid Robert” or “Bullet Bob”, Feller spent all 18 seasons of his career with the Indians. He posted a 266-162 career record (.621 winning percentage) with a 3.25 ERA. He pitched 3,827 innings for the Indians and recorded 2,581 career strikeouts.

Not surprisingly, Feller was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1962, earning 93.8 percent of the votes in his first time on the ballot. His No. 19 uniform was retired by the Indians in 1957.

Next: Nap Lajoie

Nap Lajoie

credit: BaseballHall.org

Nap Lajoie was one of baseball’s most famous faces from the moment he broke into the league as a 21-year-old in 1896.

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He was so feared offensively that, prior to joining Cleveland, Lajoie became the first player to be intentionally walked with the bases loaded in 1901. Nicknamed “The Franchman”, Lajoie helped the Cleveland Bronchos draw 10,000 fans in his first game at League Park on June 4, 1902. He joined the team at 11-24 and led the Bronchos to a 69-67 season, good for fifth in the American League, for the franchise’s first winning record in the AL. Lajoie led all players with a .378 record and led all AL players after just one season in the league.

Lajoie continued to hit throughout his time in Cleveland,

He has been described as the first superstar in AL history and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1937. batting .339/.389/.452 over 13 seasons. He quite literally became the face of the franchise, as the team renamed itself after him — becoming the “Naps.” He hit over .300 in ten of his 13 seasons and led the league in hits, doubles and batting average on three separate occasions. Lajoie was a player-manager for the Naps from 1905-09 but resigned following the 1909 season to concentrate more on playing. 

“Lajoie glides toward the ball and gathers it in nonchalantly, as if picking fruit.” -New York newspaper

His career batting average and RBI totals still rank third all-time in Indians history, but Lajoie was as special defensively as he was at the plate. One New York newspaper once wrote, “Lajoie glides toward the ball and gathers it in nonchalantly, as if picking fruit.”

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1937.

Next: Tris Speaker

Tris Speaker

credit: baseball-fever.com

By the time the Indians acquired the 28-year-old Tris Speaker from the Red Sox before the 1916 season, Speaker had already played nine seasons in Boston and become one of the best outfielders in baseball.

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An exceptional contact hitter, Speaker tallied 211 hits in his first season with the Indians, hitting .386/.470/.502 with 41 doubles. He led the league in average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage, edging out Ty Cobb — who had won five consecutive batting titles — by 15 points to earn the crown.

Speaker took over as a player-manager in 1919, a position he held until his final season in Cleveland in 1926, and led the Tribe to the 1920 World Series, where Cleveland captured the championship in seven games over Brooklyn. In 11 seasons with the Tribe, Speaker his a combined .354/.444/.520 with 1,965 hits, good for second-most in Indians’ history. His 486 doubles are the most in franchise history.

As good as he was offensively, Speaker was excellent defensively. He was known for playing a shallow center field and led the league in outfield assists on three separate occasions.

Speaker was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937, earning 82.1 percent of the votes to get in on his second ballot. He was elected to the Indians Hall of Fame in 1951.

Next: Jim Thome

Jim Thome

Aug 2, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; The newly unveiled

statue before the game between the Cleveland Indians and the Texas Rangers at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Jim Thome was one of the most prolific power-hitters in Cleveland Indians’ history and became a beloved member of those dynamic teams in the 1990s.

After seven consecutive seasons with a losing record, the Tribe finally gave Thome a full-time job in 1994. His presence was felt immediately, as David Kazzie of The Cavalier Daily wrote:

A new ballpark and a few offseason acqusitions coupled with rising young stars have made the Indians legitimate contenders in the brand-new American League Central.

Thome was a cog in the Tribe’s core of offensive players, including Carlos Baerga, Kenny Lofton, Sandy Alomar Jr., and Eddie Murray. The Indians held the wild card spot in the AL and were one game behind the Chicago White Sox in the division before the players’ strike forced a cancellation of the season’s remaining games. Thome hit .268 during the first season, clubbing 20 home runs with 52 RBIs in just 98 games.

Then the 1995 season came and the Tribe’s newfound success finally led them to a playoff berth. Thome was among the team leaders in seemingly every offensive category, hitting .314/.438/.558 with 25 home runs and 73 RBIs. Cleveland won 100 games that season, but eventually lost in the World Series to the Atlanta Braves.

During the 1996 season, Thome hit 38 home runs, including a 511-foot monster shot at Jacob’s Field, the longest home run ever at the ballpark. That shot was memorialized in 2014 with a bronzed statue of the beloved Tribe legend, joining Feller as the only Indians honored with their own statue.

Over 13 seasons with the Indians, including his return in 2011, Thome hit .287 with 337 home runs and 937 RBIs. He is the Tribe’s all-time leader in home runs and walks (1,008) and ranks second behind Averill in RBIs.

Thome officially retired a Cleveland Indian in Aug. 2014 and will undoubtedly find himself in the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame and the Baseball Hall of Fame soon.

Next: Omar Vizquel

Omar Vizquel

credit: LAOpinion.com

Omar Vizquel was one of the most exciting shortstops to watch from the mid-1990s through the early 2000s.

Widely considered one of baseball’s premier fielding shortstops, Vizquel won eight Gold Gloves in his 11 seasons with the Indians — 11 overall. He tied Cal Ripken Jr.’s American League record for most consecutive games at shortstop without an error, going 95 games between Sept. 1999 and July 2000 without committing an error. His .985 career fielding percentage is the best among all shortstops in Major League Baseball history and he is the all-time leader in double plays made while playing shortstop. He, along with second baseman Roberto Alomar, combined to form one of the best all-time defensive duos in the history of the league.

Offensively, Vizquel ranks third in all-time hits for the position, behind only Derek Jeter and Honus Wagner, and has tallied the most sacrifice hits in the live-ball era.

During his time with the Indians, Vizquel helped the Tribe to two World Series appearances, losing to the Atlanta Braves in 1995 and the Florida Marlins in 1997. He hit .283/.352/.379 across 11 years in Cleveland, talying 1,616 hits in 1,478 games. He stole 279 bases, good for second-best in Tribe history behind only Kenny Lofton.

He is one of only 29 players in baseball history to have notched service time in four decades and, in May 2012, Vizquel became the oldest player to play shortstop in Major League history. He should get his nod to Cooperstown soon after becoming eligible, and was inducted into Heritage Park in the Cleveland Indians Hallf of Fame in 2014.

Next: Franchise Four

Anybody who has read my take on Albert Belle before should have been forewarned that I could potentially write in the Tribe’s ferocious slugger as one of the Franchise Four. 

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But I didn’t. Belle is deserving of an induction into Cooperstown and he certainly belongs in Heritage Park. The Mount Rushmore of the Cleveland Indians, though? Not quite.

The previous eight slides showed the incredible group of players that should be considered for the award. Statistically, guys like Belle, Manny Ramirez and Al Rosen could have made the cut. But there’s not a name on the current list that isn’t deserving.

My votes for the Cleveland Indians’ Franchise Four went to Bob Feller, Larry Doby, Jim Thome and Nap Lajoie. The first three were no-brainers, but choosing between Omar Vizquel and Lajoie was difficult.

For his historical impact on the Tribe, however, Lajoie got the final nod.

Vote now at MLB.com and use the comments section below to let us know who you voted for.

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