1973 Cleveland Indians - 71-91 - 6th Pl AL East - 26 GB

By mid June the Tribe found themselves out of first by double digits and it just got worse from there.  With a pitching staff that ranked 11th (out of 12) and an offense that was middle of the pack Cleveland had about 48 hours worth of pennant fever before reality set in.  The positives:  They had an up and coming young starting lineup of players mostly under 25.  The bad news, which they didn't know then was that most of them would wind up being traded to other teams where they became stars.

Here is a list of the players, their ages and where they went:
Chris Chambliss (24) - NYY
Jack Brohamer (23) - BOS
Buddy Bell (21) - TEX
George Hendrick (23) - STL
Oscar Gamble (23) - NYY
John Lowenstein (26) - BAL
Alan Ashby (21) - HOU

If only the Tribe didn't trade their core, especially to the Yankees thing might really have been different in the AL East in the latter part of the decade.  It just seemed like the Tribe had the reverse Midas Touch.  Some blamed it on the "Curse of Rocky Colavito".  Others blamed it on just poor management.  Other than Gaylord Perry (19-19, 3.38, 344IP) this team had absolutely no starting pitching.  To illustrate this Dick Tidrow (14-16, 4.42, 274.2IP) was the next reliable starter.  Tom Hilgendorf (5-3, 3.14, 6sv) was decent out of the pen.  The rest of the relief core was horrible at best.  It might be considered a miracle that Ken Aspromonte's squad didn't lose 100 games.

To complete the team set I created 23 new Cards.

Ashby made his major league debut with the Indians on July 3, 1973. In his first game, Ashby was a defensive replacement in the ninth inning, as he caught Jerry Johnson for a scoreless inning as the Indians lost 5-4 against the Detroit Tigers. The next day, on July 4, Ashby was in the starting lineup, going 1 for 4 with an RBI in Cleveland's 5-2 win over the Tigers. Ashby collected his first career hit off of Tigers pitcher Mike Strahler in his first career at-bat. On September 29, Ashby hit his first career home run, hitting a two-run home run off of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Mike Cuellar. Ashby finished the 1973 season appearing in 11 games with Cleveland, batting .172 with 1 HR and 2 RBI.  He would pretty much replicate that the following year.  After getting extensive playing time during the following two seasons he didn't overly impress anyone and was traded to the expansion Blue Jays wherer he played 2 seasons before being traded to Houston where he found a home.  In his 11 seasons in Houston Ashby was either the regular catcher or part of a platoon.  He played on two division winners (1980 & 1986).  He retired after the '89 season. 

On November 27, 1972, Strom was traded by the Mets, with fellow pitcher Bob Rauch, to the Indians for pitcher Phil Hennigan. He played only one season with the Indians, 1973, going 2–10 with a 4.61 ERA in 27 games (18 starts).  After sitting out the 1974 season due to injury he resumed his career in San Diego with 2 promising seasons.  Then in 1977 he bottomed out (0-2, 12.42) due to injury.  After once again sitting out a season (1978) he returned to baseball in the Astros chain.  After two sub par seasons he caught on with the Dodgers AAA team in Albuquerque where his performance and healthy didn't allow the 32 year old to keep playing.

Spikes was drafted in the first round of the 1969 Major League Baseball Draft by the Yankees. He made his major league debut with the Yankees in 1972. Following the 1972 season, he was traded by the Yankees with John Ellis, Jerry Kenney and Rusty Torres to the Indians for Graig Nettles and Jerry Moses. He played for the Indians through the 1977 season, when he was traded to the Tigers for Tom Veryzer.  The "Bogalusa Bomber" slammed 23 homers for the Tribe in '73 and followed it up with 22 the following year.  After that the power numbers and average numbers began to tail off thanks to an eye injury hat he sustained in Winter Ball following the '74 season.  By the time he was dealt to Detroit in 1978 he was barely a part time player.  1978 saw him play just 10 games on the major league level with the Tigers and 16 on the minor league level with Evansville (AAA).  As a 4th outfielder with the Braves in '79 and '80 he posted respectable numbers.  In '81 he decided to play in Japan with Chunichi, where he hit just .122.  That was his final stop.

The 1971 AL ROY had a great season in 1973 (.273-11-53) while playing near gold glove 1st base.  Inexplicably he was traded to the Yankees on April 26th 1974 with Tidrow and Cecil Upshaw for Beene, Buskey, Kline and Peterson (a quartet of broken down pitchers).  In his 5 1/2 seasons in the Bronx he flourished into an All-Star on 3 consecutive pennant winning squads.  After leaving New York he spent 7 seasons in Atlanta where he found his long ball stroke.  In 17 big league seasons Chambliss would hit .279 with 185 homers and 2,109 hit.  No hit was more important than his walk off homer in game 5 of the 1976 ALCS to win the pennant for the Yankees for the first time in 12 years.

In March 1973 after a contract squabble with A's owner Charlie Finley, Duncan was traded along with George Hendrick to the Cleveland Indians for Ray Fosse and Jack Heidemann.  Duncan became the Indians' starting catcher in 1973 however, he broke his wrist on June 28 and missed two months of the season.  He finished the season hitting for a .233 average with 17 home runs and 43 runs batted in while leading American League catchers in range factor. He played in a career-high 136 games in the 1974 season but, the heavy workload caused his batting average to fall to .200. In February 1975, Duncan was traded with Al McGraw to the Baltimore Orioles for Don Hood and Boog Powell. With the Orioles, Duncan shared catching duties with Elrod Hendricks during the 1975 season before Rick Dempsey took over as the Orioles starting catcher in 1976. Duncan would be traded to the Chicago White Sox in November of that year. When the White Sox released him in March 1977, he retired as a player at the age of 32 and embarked on a career that arguably made him the greatest pitching coach in the history of major league baseball.

Early in the 1973 season, Bosman was traded by the Rangers, along with outfielder Ted Ford, to the Indians for pitcher Steve Dunning. On July 19, 1974, Bosman no-hit the defending World Series Champion Oakland Athletics.  He missed a rare perfect game due only to his own throwing error in the fourth inning, which gave the A's their lone baserunner in a 4-0 Indians victory.  The following season, Bosman would be traded to the very team he no-hit, as he was traded by the Indians along with Jim Perry to the A's in exchange for Blue Moon Odom. During the 1975 season, Bosman won 11 games to help Oakland to a division title. He remained with Oakland in 1976, but was released by the A's in spring training of 1977, bringing his baseball career to an end.  His '73 season on Lake Erie was completely forgettable (1-8, 6.22 22G).

Silent George was "Skinny George" back in 1973.  In a breakout season he let his bat do all the talking for him (.268-21-61).  For the next 3 seasons he posted similar numbers, and was an All-Star in '74 & '75.  Somehow both he and the Indians soured on each other and after the '76 season he was shipped to San Diego for some spare parts.  Once again Cleveland got rooked in a deal.  Hendrick then found his way to St. Louis where he became the team's one true long ball threat.  His reward?  A shiny championship ring in 1982.  After a pit stop in Pittsburgh and 3 seasons in Anaheim he retired from baseball with a lifetime .278 average with 267 homers and 1,980 hits.  One can only imagine how many homers he would have hit if he actually played in hitters park.

Johnson was converted to a pitcher for good by the New York–Penn League's Auburn Mets. He pitched in the Mets' minor league system through 1967. Following the season, he was obtained by the Philadelphia Phillies from the Mets in the 1967 minor league draft.  During Spring training 1973, Johnson was selected off waivers by the Cleveland Indians. After one season in the American League, he was traded to the Houston Astros for Cecil Upshaw. He was released by the Astros at the end of the 1974 season, and signed with the San Diego Padres in 1975. After two seasons in San Diego, he was traded to the newly created Toronto Blue Jays for Dave Roberts, who had just been purchased by the Jays from the Padres. Johnson was the winning pitcher (as a reliever) in the Blue Jays first ever regular season game on April 7, 1977. Johnson went 2-4 with a 4.60 ERA in the Blue Jays' inaugural season, at the end of which, he retired.  Following his majors career, Johnson played for the St. Lucie Legends of the Senior Professional Baseball Association.

If you read "When the Yankees Were on the Fritz" by Fritz Peterson, you already know a lot about Johnny Ellis.  John didn't have a spot in the Yankee lineup because this "Munson guy" was starting ahead of him.  Ellis arrived in Cleveland in an off-season trade with the Yankees along with 3 other players for Jerry Moses and Graig Nettles.  In his first year in Cleveland he hit .270 with 14 homers.  After 3 solid seasons in Cleveland he moved over to Texas for 6 more years.  Ellis put together an underrated 13 year career where he hit .262.

After his playing career ended he started managing in the Indians farm system starting in 1968.  After two years guiding their AAA team in Wichita he was promoted to the big club where he inherited a 100 loss team.  The team improved to 12 games under .500 in '72, but slumped a bit over the next two seasons, so his contract wasn't renewed.

After bottoming out in MIN (2-4, 6.09) Sanders arrived in Cleveland on August 8th and was 5-1, 1.65 over the final 2 months of the season.  Sanders' stay in Cleveland didn't last long as he bounced to the Angels, Mets and Royals before hanging it up after spending the '77 season in AAA Spokane (MIL).  His best season was 1971 in Milwaukee where he led the league with 31 saves and 83 appearance.

As a former 5 time All-Star SS it was a tough pill to swallow when Cárdenas was dealt to Cleveland and asked to be a utility player.  In just 72 games with the Tribe in his only season in Cleveland he hit just .215 and was dealt to Texas in February of '74.  Cárdenas played 2 seasons in Texas in the same role in a utility role as well before being released after hitting .235 in 1975.  His best seasons were in Cincy where he was a 4x All-Star and a gold glover in 1965.  Interestingly the Cuban native played on the 1960 Havana AAA team that had to be relocated to Jersey City when Castro nationalized everything.  The year before he was accidentally shot during a revolutionary celebration.

27 year old southpaw Michael Warren Jackson played all of 1 game for the Tribe in 1973 after pitching in 9 games for the Royals earlier in the season.  The pitching starved Indians were willing to take a flyer on anyone who could throw.  His AAA number in OKC were horrible (4-5, 6.18), so he was demoted to AA Thetford Mines in the Pittsburgh chain for his final season in 1974.

Kekich was 1-4, 7.02 for the Tribe in '73 after being traded by the Yanks on June 12th for Lowell Palmer.  That wasn't the biggest trade that he was involved in that year.  The trade he's most known for is the wife swap he made with Fritz Peterson.  Peterson found a wife for life, but not Kekich, who broke up with his new trade partner and was shipped off to the mistake by the lake.  In his 9 year career Kekich was no more than a lefty arm with a high ERA.  Even in the years that he won double digits in NY his ERA was well above league average.  After his horrible 16 games in Cleveland during the '73 season he wound up spending the '74 season split between AAA Spokane and Nippon Ham in Japan.  Neither performances were anything to write home about.  After 23 sub par games in Texas in '75 he was farmed out to Spokane again.  After being cut by the Rangers he sat out the whole '76 season, but returned to baseball with the expansion Mariners in '77 where he posted a winning record (5-4, 5.60) with an extremely high ERA.  '78 was split between San Jose (AAA-SEA) and Spokane (AAA-MIL).  He gave it one final go in Santo Domingo (DR) in '79 where he won 1 and lost 4.

Oscar Gamble was discovered by the beloved Buck O'Neil back in the mid-60's and then drafted by the Cubs.  Known for his patented 'fro, Gamble spent 3 fantastic (by 1970's Cleveland standards) seasons along Lake Erie.  In his first season with the Tribe (1973) he hit .267 with 20 homer and curiously just 44 RBI.  After the '75 season he moved to New York in exchange for Pat Dobson and helped the Bombers win their first pennant in 12 years.  In 17 years Gamble hit an even 200 homers with his best season being in 1977 with the Chisox where he hit 31.

Cousin of the portly 1968 World Series hero Mickey Lolich, Ron was quite the opposite of his more acclaimed relative.  Built tall and lanky Ron hit just .229 with 2 homers in his 2nd and final season in Cleveland.  He was quite the slugger in the minors where he hit 20 or more homers 3 times.  Midway through his AAA season in '74 he went to japan and had two 20+ homer seasons.  After faltering in his 3rd season in Japan he headed back to North America and played for Chihuahua in the Mexican league before hanging up the spikes.

Torres was the Indians' Opening Day right fielder and leadoff hitter in 1973.  He started 51 games in right field for the Indians that season, more than any other player.  Overall, he appeared in 121 games in his first full major league season, but hit just .205. Still, his defensive skills were enough for him to claim a regular spot in the lineup of the lowly Indians.  They were not, however, enough for him to keep that spot in 1974. John Lowenstein moved into the lineup as the everyday left fielder, with Charlie Spikes moving into Torres' position in right field. With Leron Lee also joining the team, Torres became the Indians' fifth outfielder. Torres' true claim to fame is that he is the only player to play in the Senators final forfeit game vs the Yanks in '71, 10 cent Beer Night in Cleveland (1974) and Disco Demolition Night in Chicago (1979). 

After being drafted by the Indians in 1967, Ted was drafted by a more powerful authority...the United States Army.  After missing the entire '68 and '69 seasons while fighting in Vietnam Ford returned to baseball in 1970 and hit .326 in AAA Wichita.  His callup to the big club saw him hit just .174 in 46 AB's.  In '71 he improved modestly to .194 with just 2 homers in almost 200 AB's.  Ford played a full season in Texas in '72 and showed some pop (14) homers, but his average was sub par (.235).  He returned to Cleveland for 11 games in '73 and hit .225 with no homers.  In 1974 he had a whale of a year (.309-17-70) with the powerhouse Hawaii Islander.  After that he went south of the border and played 8 successful years in the Mexican League.

Tom Hilgendorf was signed by the Cardinals as a free agent in 1960. It took until 1969 for him to make it to the major leagues when the Cardinals brought him up from the minors as a 27-year-old rookie. The left-hander made his debut against Atlanta.  He was traded to the Kansas City Royals, then on to Cleveland (1973), where the fork-baller managed six saves and a 5–3 record for a team that finished dead last in the AL East.  The following year, he was involved in the infamous Ten Cent Beer Night on June 4, 1974, and was hit by a steel folding chair thrown by one of the drunk fans who took part in the riot that ended the Indians game in a forfeit. The next night he came on in relief in the Indians' rout of the Texas Rangers.  His best year was also his last year when he won 7 and lost 3 with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1975.

Ragland played in 67 games for the Tribe in '73 as a part time middle infielder.  He hit a career high .257, but was let go by the Indians after the season.  1974 was his final year in baseball.  In AAA Denver, where the ball flies like rocket ships he hit just .249 with only 3 homers and was given his release.  Ragland played on the 1971 Senators team that moved to Texas the following season, where he played in 25 games.

On June 15, 1973, the Tigers traded Timmermann to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for Ed Farmer.  Timmermann started 15 games for the Indians in 1973 and made 14 relief appearances, finishing with a record of 8-7 with a high ERA (4.92).   Timmermann pitched only four games for the Indians in 1974. He played his final major league game on April 26, 1974.  He concluded his professional baseball career in 1974 playing for the Toledo Mudhens and Oklahoma City 89ers.  His best season was with the 1972 AL East Champion Detroit Tigers where he was 8-10, 2.89.

Smith was drafted by the Tribe in the 3rd round of the 1970 draft out of NC State.  3 years later (1973) he was called up to the majors where he hit .244 in 41 AB's.  The following two seasons he saw limited action with the parent club (31 games total) and spent most of his time in AAA (OKC) where he hit a blistering .342.  Over the next two season he hit north of .300 in AAA and by '76 got 164 AB's in Cleveland.  With too many outfielder on their roster the Indians left him unprotected and the Mariners selected him in the expansion draft.  Seattle didn't give him much of a shot either (21 games), so he wound up back in AAA, this time with Baltimore's Rochester affiliate.  After hitting .284 in 47 games he was released.  He resurfaced with the Independent Miami Marlins team two years later and hit .302, but when no major league teams showed interest he retired at the age of 30.

After 6 solid seasons with the Pale Hose Walt "No Neck" Williams was traded to the Tribe for utility man Eddie Leon.  As the Indians 4th outfielder and part time DH he hit .289 with 8 homers and 38 RBI's in 350 AB's.  After the season he was packaged up in a huge deal with 3 teams and wound up in Bronx for 2 seasons.  After hitting .281 in 1975 the 31 year old was released by the Yankees unceremoniously.  Not to be daunted he headed to Japan for 2 All-Star caliber seasons, then back onto the Mexican League for 2 final campaigns before hanging it until 1989 when he made a brief comeback to play for St. Lucie of the Senior Professional Baseball Association.