1970 Cleveland Indians season

The 1970 Cleveland Indians season was the 70th season for the franchise. The club finished in fifth place in the American League East with a record of 76 wins and 86 losses.

1970 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)	Vernon Stouffer
General manager(s)	Alvin Dark
Manager(s)	Alvin Dark
Local television	WJW-TV
Local radio	WERE (1300)
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Offseason

• December 5, 1969: Horacio Piña, Ron Law and Dave Nelson were traded by the Indians to the Washington Senators for Dennis Higgins and Barry Moore.[1]
• December 10, 1969: Luis Tiant and Stan Williams were traded by the Indians to the Minnesota Twins for Dean Chance, Bob Miller, Ted Uhlaender, and Graig Nettles.[2]
• January 17, 1970: Chris Chambliss was drafted by the Indians in the 1st round (1st pick) of the 1970 Major League Baseball Draft.[3]

Regular season

Season standings

AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Baltimore Orioles	108	54	0.667	—	59–22	49–32
New York Yankees	93	69	0.574	15	53–28	40–41
Boston Red Sox	87	75	0.537	21	52–29	35–46
Detroit Tigers	79	83	0.488	29	42–39	37–44
Cleveland Indians	76	86	0.469	32	43–38	33–48
Washington Senators	70	92	0.432	38	40–41	30–51

Record vs. opponents

1970 American League Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	WSH
Baltimore	—	13–5	7–5	9–3	14–4	11–7	12–0	7–5	5–7	11–7	7–5	12–6
Boston	5–13	—	5–7	8–4	12–6	9–9	7–5	5–7	7–5	10–8	7–5	12–6
California	5–7	7–5	—	12–6	6–6	6–6	10–8	12–6	8–10	5–7	8–10	7–5
Chicago	3–9	4–8	6–12	—	6–6	6–6	7–11	7–11	6–12	5–7	2–16	4–8
Cleveland	4–14	6–12	6–6	6–6	—	7–11	8–4	7–5	6–6	8–10	7–5	11–7
Detroit	7–11	9–9	6–6	6–6	11–7	—	6–6	8–4	4–8	7–11	6–6	9–9
Kansas City	0–12	5–7	8–10	11–7	4–8	6–6	—	12–6	5–13	1–11	7–11	6–6
Milwaukee	5–7	7–5	6–12	11–7	5–7	4–8	6–12	—	5–13	3–9–1	8–10	5–7
Minnesota	7–5	5–7	10–8	12–6	6–6	8–4	13–5	13–5	—	5–7	13–5	6–6
New York	7–11	8–10	7–5	7–5	10–8	11–7	11–1	9–3–1	7–5	—	6–6	10–8
Oakland	5–7	5–7	10–8	16–2	5–7	6–6	11–7	10–8	5–13	6–6	—	10–2
Washington	6–12	6–12	5–7	8–4	7–11	9–9	6–6	7–5	6–6	8–10	2–10	—

Notable transactions

• June 4, 1970: 1970 Major League Baseball Draft
  • Tommy Smith was drafted by the Indians in the 5th round.[4]
  • Dennis Kinney was drafted by the Indians in the 10th round.[5]
• August 11, 1970: Lou Klimchock was released by the Indians.[6]

Roster

1970 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers 33 Rick Austin 32 Dean Chance 44 Vince Colbert 46 Steve Dunning 42 Dick Ellsworth 45 Rich Hand 34 Steve Hargan 38 Phil Hennigan 35 Dennis Higgins 36 Fred Lasher 48 Sam McDowell 33 Bob Miller 31 Steve Mingori 31 Barry Moore 39 Mike Paul 42 Jim Rittwage		Catchers  8 Ray Fosse  9 Duke Sims Infielders 16 Larry Brown 17 Lou Camilli 13 Vern Fuller 40 Ken Harrelson 18 Jack Heidemann 23 Chuck Hinton 11 Tony Horton 29 Lou Klimchock 24 Eddie Leon 29 John Lowenstein 12 Graig Nettles 10 Rich Rollins		Outfielders 25 Buddy Bradford 22 Ted Ford 27 Roy Foster 25 Russ Nagelson 28 Vada Pinson 26 Ted Uhlaender		Manager 5,1 Alvin Dark Coaches -- Clay Bryant  2 Cot Deal 14 Hoot Evers  3 Kerby Farrell  4 Johnny Lipon

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	Ray Fosse	120	450	138	.307	18	61
1B	Tony Horton	115	413	111	.269	17	59
2B	Eddie Leon	152	549	136	.248	10	56
3B	Graig Nettles	157	549	129	.235	26	62
SS	Jack Heidemann	133	445	94	.211	6	37
LF	Roy Foster	139	477	128	.268	23	60
CF	Ted Uhlaender	141	473	127	.268	11	46
RF	Vada Pinson	148	574	164	.286	24	82

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
Duke Sims	110	345	91	.264	23	56
Chuck Hinton	107	195	62	.318	9	29
Buddy Bradford	75	163	32	.196	7	23
Larry Brown	72	155	40	.258	0	15
Lou Klimchock	41	56	9	.161	1	2
Ted Ford	26	46	8	.174	1	1
John Lowenstein	17	43	11	.256	1	6
Rich Rollins	42	43	10	.233	2	4
Ken Harrelson	17	39	11	.282	1	1
Vern Fuller	29	33	6	.182	1	2
Russ Nagelson	17	24	3	.125	1	2
Lou Camilli	16	15	0	.000	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
Sam McDowell	39	305	20	12	2.92	304
Rich Hand	35	159.2	6	13	3.83	110
Steve Hargan	23	142.2	11	3	2.90	72
Steve Dunning	19	94.1	4	9	4.96	77
Barry Moore	13	70.1	3	5	4.22	35

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
Dean Chance	45	155	9	8	4.24
Mike Paul	30	88	2	8	4.81
Rick Austin	31	67.2	2	5	4.79
Jim Rittwage	8	26	1	1	4.15

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
Dennis Higgins	58	4	6	11	3.99	82
Fred Lasher	55	2	10	8	4.19	52
Phil Hennigan	42	6	3	3	4.02	43
Dick Ellsworth	29	3	3	2	4.53	13
Vince Colbert	23	1	1	2	7.26	17
Steve Mingori	21	1	0	1	2.66	16
Bob Miller	15	2	2	1	4.18

Award winners

• Ray Fosse, Gold Glove Award
• All-Star Game

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Wichita Aeros	American Association	Ken Aspromonte
AA	Savannah Indians	Southern League	Ray Hathaway
A	Reno Silver Sox	California League	Pinky May
A	Sumter Indians	Western Carolinas League	Len Johnston
Rookie	GCL Indians	Gulf Coast League	Joe Lutz

[7]

Notes

1. Horacio Piña page at Baseball Reference
2. Luis Tiant page at Baseball Reference
3. Chris Chambliss page at Baseball Reference
4. Tommy Smith page at Baseball Reference
5. Dennis Kinney page at Baseball Reference
6. Lou Klimchock page at Baseball-Reference
7. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References

• 1970 Cleveland Indians team page at Baseball Reference
• 1970 Cleveland Indians team page at www.baseball-almanac.com