Cleveland Indians: Top 5 greatest moments in Cleveland Indians history

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The Larry Doby statue outside of Progressive Field home of the Cleveland Indians (Photo by Ron Schwane/Getty Images) /

Top 5 greatest moments in Cleveland Indians history

The era of the Cleveland Indians will come to a close with the final game of the season against the Texas Rangers. The end of this era will welcome the dawn of the Cleveland Guardians, but the history of the previous moniker won’t be lost. Cleveland baseball will still be a storied and historical member of Major League Baseball, it’ll just be under a new name.

The entrance of the next chapter in the club’s history also brings the opportunity to reflect on the past. It’s no secret that Cleveland has been witness to moment after moment etched in baseball’s history. While it’s hard to narrow down an exact top five moments, there are few special clips from time that stick out among the countless achievements the club has made.

These five moments are up for debate, but it’s hard to argue that the five selected here aren’t at least in the conversation. Each fan creates emotional connections to certain eras, players and moments that define their fandom, but from an organizational standpoint, these five moments have to be up there for the greatest in club history.

5. Larry Doby debuts for the Cleveland Indians

In terms of greatest moments in club history it’s hard to best something that changed the landscape of the sport. After Jackie Robinson debuted on April 15, 1947 in the National League it wasn’t long before Larry Doby accomplished the same in the American League, making his first MLB appearance on July 5 of the same year.

Doby’s debut has stood as a monumental moment in baseball history and the career that followed can be classified in the same fashion. Over 17 seasons, Doby would go on to win two World Series, one being with Cleveland in 1948. He was also selected to nine All-Star Games en route to a Hall of Fame career that ended with his number being retired by the Cleveland Indians.

Francisco Lindor #12 of the Cleveland Indians (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /

4. The Cleveland Indians 22-game winning streak in 2017

During late August into the middle of September during the 2017 season, the Cleveland Indians pieced together one of the greatest winning streaks in the history of baseball. Beginning on August 24, 2017 with a 13-6 win over the Boston Red Sox, the Tribe would go on to win 22 straight games with the streak ending on September 15.

Now, depending on who you ask, this might be the longest win streak in the history of baseball. The 1916 New York Giants had a streak of 26, but that included an “unofficial tie.” Regardless of whether or not that technically counts, a winning streak of 22 games is incredible either way.

Just seven teams have been able to win 20 or more straight games in baseball history and two of them have those “unofficial tie” asterisks. Additionally, just two teams have accomplished the feat in the last 85 years, being the 2017 Cleveland Indians and the 2002 “Moneyball” Oakland Athletics.

While it might not be one specific moment, the ability to put the club’s name in the record book as “one of” to do something historic is always something that should be documented on a list of this nature. It was a rare accomplishment by the organization and one that should absolutely be remembered fondly when reflecting on the history of the Cleveland Indians.

The statue of Cleveland Indians great Bob Feller (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /

3. Bob Feller’s Opening Day No-Hitter for the Cleveland Indians

As I’ve said, accomplishing something done rarely or doing something for the first time has to at least be considered for a list like this. Doing both should all but secure a spot and that’s where Bob Feller‘s Opening Day no-hitter in 1940 settles.

In the history of baseball there has been just one no-hitter on Opening Day and that record belongs to Bob Feller. There’s been times where it has seemed like a possibility, but Feller is still the only one to do it.

On April 16, 1940 a 21-year old Feller took the mound to kickoff the campaign against the Chicago White Sox. Feller was coming off a third place finish in the MVP voting and was entering his fifth season in the big leagues – yes, his fifth season at just 21 years old. What would be an incredibly historical season for Feller started off in the best way imaginable.

Feller struck out just eight batters over the course of the nine innings and walked five, facing a total of 33 batters on his way to a no-hitter. The outing would set up a season in which Feller finished second in the MVP voting while leading the majors in wins (27), complete games (31), games started (37), innings pitched (320.1), strikeouts (261) and batters faced (1,304). He also led the American League in ERA (2.61), total games pitched (43), shutouts (4) and WHIP (1.333).

An aerial photo above Boston shows game one of the 1948 World Series (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images) /

2. Cleveland Indians win 1948 World Series

Championships will always be the greatest moments in any organization’s history. For the Cleveland Indians, the 1948 World Series is unfortunately the most recent that will be paired with the club, but at the time it was the team’s second in less than 30 years. That’s still quite the margin of time, but it’s better than the current 73-year drought.

The 1948 Cleveland squad was highlighted by some of the club’s all-time greats. Names like Larry Doby, Lou Boudreau, Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, Al Rosen and Satchel Paige guided the club to a six-game series win over the Boston Braves.

Boston took the first game in a low-scoring 1-0 final, but Cleveland was able to rally back in game two with a 4-1 win to even the series. The Tribe took games three and four by scores of 2-0 and 2-1, respectively, to take a 3-1 series lead. Boston used an 11-5 final in game five against a 29-year old Bob Feller to extend the series, but Bob Lemon picked up his second win of the series in game six to aid Cleveland’s 4-3 win to capture the title.

While the championship was obviously celebrated, it’s now paired with the beginning of the painful drought that has hovered over Cleveland baseball for more than seven decades. Regardless, it’s still one of the greatest moments in the history of the Cleveland Indians.

A view of the Polo Grounds on September 23, 1921 (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images) /

1. Cleveland Indians win the 1920 World Series for first title

Tom Brady will tell you the most important title is the next one. Most people will say the most important title is the most recent one. Given the history of the Cleveland Indians, the most important one might have been the first.

During the club’s 20th season of existence, they reached the pinnacle of the sport by winning the 1920 World Series. Once again, some of the all-time greats headlined the roster with names like Tris Speaker and Ray Caldwell. What might give this series the edge more than anything else is that it went seven games.

Any championship series that needs seven games gets a bump in excitement, even if the landscape was a bit different from what we typically think of for a game seven. Adding that it was the first title for the Cleveland Indians and the Tribe’s 5-2 series win (yes, 5-2) over the Brooklyn Robins is arguably the best moment in the storied history of the club.

After Cleveland won the first game, Brooklyn came firing back to take the next two games. However, the Tribe roared back with four straight victories to close out the series. Stan Coveleski made a huge difference, picking up three wins in the series. He pitched game one, game four and game seven to do so, granting Cleveland three of their five wins.

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