1978 Cleveland Indians season

1978 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)	Ted Bonda, Steve O'Neill
General manager(s)	Phil Seghi
Manager(s)	Jeff Torborg
Local television	WJKW
Local radio	WWWE
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Offseason

• December 5, 1977: Bruce Compton (minors) and Norm Churchill (minors) were traded by the Indians to the Chicago Cubs for Dave Rosello.
• February 28, 1978: Tom Buskey and John Lowenstein were traded by the Indians to the Texas Rangers for Willie Horton and David Clyde.
• March 15, 1978: Rico Carty was traded by the Indians to the Toronto Blue Jays for Dennis DeBarr.
• March 30, 1978: Dennis Eckersley and Fred Kendall were traded by the Indians to the Boston Red Sox for Rick Wise, Mike Paxton, Ted Cox, and Bo Díaz.

Regular season

On May 12, pitcher Nolan Ryan of the California Angels struck out Buddy Bell for the 2500th strikeout of his career.

Season standings

AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	100	63	0.613	—	55–26	45–37
Boston Red Sox	99	64	0.607	1	59–23	40–41
Milwaukee Brewers	93	69	0.574	6½	54–27	39–42
Baltimore Orioles	90	71	0.559	9	51–30	39–41
Detroit Tigers	86	76	0.531	13½	47–34	39–42
Cleveland Indians	69	90	0.434	29	42–36	27–54
Toronto Blue Jays	59	102	0.366	40	37–44	22–58

Record vs. opponents

1978 American League Records Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	7–8	4–6	8–1	9–6	7–8	2–8	7–8	5–5	6–9	11–0	9–1	7–4	8–7
Boston	8–7	—	9–2	7–3	7–8	12–3	4–6	10–5	9–2	7–9	5–5	7–3	3–7	11–4
California	6–4	2–9	—	8–7	6–4	4–7	9–6	5–5	12–3	5–5	9–6	9–6	5–10	7–3
Chicago	1–8	3–7	7–8	—	8–2	2–9	8–7	4–7	8–7	1–9	7–8	7–8	11–4	4–6
Cleveland	6–9	8–7	4–6	2–8	—	5–10	5–6	5–10	5–5	6–9	4–6	8–1	1–9	10–4
Detroit	8–7	3–12	7–4	9–2	10–5	—	4–6	7–8	4–6	4–11	6–4	8–2	7–3	9–6
Kansas City	8–2	6–4	6–9	7–8	6–5	6–4	—	6–4	7–8	6–5	10–5	12–3	7–8	5–5
Milwaukee	8–7	5–10	5–5	7–4	10–5	8–7	4–6	—	4–7	10–5	9–1	5–5	6–4	12–3
Minnesota	5–5	2–9	3–12	7–8	5–5	6–4	8–7	7–4	—	3–7	9–6	6–9	6–9	6–4
New York	9–6	9–7	5–5	9–1	9–6	11–4	5–6	5–10	7–3	—	8–2	6–5	6–4	11–4
Oakland	0–11	5–5	6–9	8–7	6–4	4–6	5–10	1–9	6–9	2–8	—	13–2	6–9	7–4
Seattle	1–9	3–7	6–9	8–7	1–8	2–8	3–12	5–5	9–6	5–6	2–13	—	3–12	8–2
Texas	4–7	7–3	10–5	4–11	9–1	3–7	8–7	4–6	9–6	4–6	9–6	12–3	—	4–7
Toronto	7–8	4–11	3–7	6–4	4–10	6–9	5–5	3–12	4–6	4–11	4–7	2–8	7–4	—

Notable transactions

• June 14, 1978: Dennis Kinney was traded by the Indians to the San Diego Padres for Dan Spillner.
• June 15, 1978: Mike Vail was traded by the Indians to the Chicago Cubs for Joe Wallis.
• June 15, 1978: Joe Wallis was traded by the Indians to the Oakland Athletics for Gary Alexander.
• June 22, 1978: Bill Laxton was traded by the Indians to the San Diego Padres for Dave Freisleben.
• June 26, 1978: Dennis DeBarr was traded by the Indians to the Chicago Cubs for Paul Reuschel.
• July 3, 1978: Willie Horton was released by the Indians.

Roster

1978 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers 32 David Clyde 39 Al Fitzmorris 38 Dave Freisleben 17 Wayne Garland 44 Don Hood 34 Jim Kern 51 Dennis Kinney 46 Rick Kreuger 43 Sid Monge 48 Mike Paxton 41 Paul Reuschel 37 Dan Spillner 36 Rick Waits 40 Rick Wise		Catchers 35 Gary Alexander 16 Bo Díaz  9 Ron Hassey 7,13 Ron Pruitt Infielders 25 Buddy Bell 14 Larvell Blanks 31 Wayne Cage  8 Alfredo Griffin 18 Duane Kuiper 29 Andre Thornton 21 Tom Veryzer		Outfielders 23 Dan Briggs  7 Bernie Carbo 22 Ted Cox 00 Paul Dade  1 Johnny Grubb 28 Rick Manning 27 Jim Norris 20 Horace Speed 35 Mike Vail Other batters 23 Willie Horton 30 Larry Lintz		Manager 10 Jeff Torborg Coaches  6 Rocky Colavito (Hitting)    Dave Duncan  2 Harvey Haddix (Pitching)  7 Joe Moeller (Bullpen)  4 Joe Nossek (Third Base)

Player stats

Batting

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
C	Gary Alexander	90	324	76	.235	17	62
1B	Andre Thornton	145	508	133	.262	33	105
2B	Duane Kuiper	149	547	155	.283	0	43
3B	Buddy Bell	142	556	157	.282	6	62
SS	Tom Veryzer	130	421	114	.271	1	32
LF	Johnny Grubb	113	378	100	.265	14	61
CF	Rick Manning	148	566	149	.263	3	50
RF	Paul Dade	93	307	78	.254	3	20
DH	Bernie Carbo	60	174	50	.287	4	16

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
Jim Norris	113	315	89	.283	2	27
Ted Cox	82	227	53	.233	1	19
Willie Horton	50	169	42	.249	5	22
Bo Díaz	44	127	30	.236	2	11
Horace Speed	70	106	24	.226	0	4
Dan Briggs	15	49	8	.163	1	1
Larry Lintz	3	0	0	----	0	0

Pitching

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
Rick Wise	33	211.2	9	19	4.34	106
Mike Paxton	33	191	12	11	3.86	96
David Clyde	28	153.1	8	11	4.28	83
Dave Freisleben	12	44.1	1	4	7.11	19
Wayne Garland	6	29	2	3	7.89	13

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
Don Hood	36	154.2	5	6	4.48	73
Paul Reuschel	18	89.2	2	4	3.11	24

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
Jim Kern	58	10	10	13	3.08	95
Dan Spillner	36	3	1	3	3.67	48
Dennis Kinney	18	0	2	5	4.42	19
Al Fitzmorris	7	0	1	0	6.28	5

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Portland Beavers	Pacific Coast League	Gene Dusan
AA	Chattanooga Lookouts	Southern League	John Orsino and Jim Bragan
A	Waterloo Indians	Midwest League	Woody Smith
A-Short Season	Batavia Trojans	New York–Penn League	Luis Isaac

References

• 1978 Cleveland Indians team page at Baseball Reference
• 1978 Cleveland Indians team page at www.baseball-almanac.com