1978 Cleveland Indians season

The 1978 Cleveland Indians season was the 78th season for the franchise, the 64th as the Indians and the 47th season at Cleveland Stadium. They failed to improve upon their 71–90 campaign from the previous season, and missed the playoffs for the 24th consecutive season, finishing the season at 69–90.

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

v
t
e
AL East
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	100	63	.613	—	55‍–‍26	45‍–‍37
Boston Red Sox	99	64	.607	1	59‍–‍23	40‍–‍41
Milwaukee Brewers	93	69	.574	6½	54‍–‍27	39‍–‍42
Baltimore Orioles	90	71	.559	9	51‍–‍30	39‍–‍41
Detroit Tigers	86	76	.531	13½	47‍–‍34	39‍–‍42
Cleveland Indians	69	90	.434	29	42‍–‍36	27‍–‍54
Toronto Blue Jays	59	102	.366	40	37‍–‍44	22‍–‍58

Record vs. opponents

1978 American League record v t e Sources:
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.

Opening Day Lineup


Opening Day Starters
#	Name	Position
00	Paul Dade	RF
18	Duane Kuiper	2B
1	Johnny Grubb	LF
29	Andre Thornton	1B
23	Willie Horton	DH
14	Larvell Blanks	SS
25	Buddy Bell	3B
28	Rick Manning	CF
13	Ron Pruitt	C
17	Wayne Garland	P

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 (Bullpen) 2 Harvey Haddix (Pitching) 7 Joe Moeller (Bullpen) 4 Joe Nossek (Third Base)

1978 Cleveland Indians

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

23 Willie Horton
30 Larry Lintz

Manager

10 Jeff Torborg

Coaches

6 Rocky Colavito (Hitting)
-- Dave Duncan (Bullpen)
2 Harvey Haddix (Pitching)
7 Joe Moeller (Bullpen)
4 Joe Nossek (Third Base)

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; AVG = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	SB
Gary Alexander	90	324	39	76	14	3	17	62	.235	0
Buddy Bell	142	556	71	157	27	8	6	62	.282	1
Larvell Blanks	70	193	19	49	10	0	2	20	.254	0
Dan Briggs	15	49	4	8	0	1	1	1	.163	0
Wayne Cage	36	98	11	24	6	1	4	13	.245	1
Bernie Carbo	60	174	21	50	8	0	4	16	.287	1
Ted Cox	82	227	14	53	7	0	1	19	.233	0
Paul Dade	93	307	37	78	12	1	3	20	.254	12
Bo Diaz	44	127	12	30	4	0	2	11	.236	0
Alfredo Griffin	5	4	1	2	1	0	0	0	.500	0
Johnny Grubb	113	378	54	100	16	6	14	61	.265	5
Ron Hassey	25	74	5	15	0	0	2	9	.203	2
Willie Horton	50	169	15	42	7	0	5	22	.249	3
Jim Kern	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
Duane Kuiper	149	547	52	155	18	6	0	43	.283	4
Larry Lintz	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	—	0
Rick Manning	148	566	65	149	27	3	3	50	.263	12
Jim Norris	113	315	41	89	14	5	2	27	.283	12
Ron Pruitt	71	187	17	44	6	1	6	17	.235	2
Horace Speed	70	106	13	24	4	1	0	4	.226	2
Andre Thornton	145	508	97	133	22	4	33	105	.262	4
Mike Vail	14	34	2	8	2	1	0	2	.235	1
Tom Veryzer	130	421	48	114	18	4	1	32	.271	1
Team Totals	159	5365	639	1400	223	45	106	596	.261	64

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
David Clyde	8	11	4.28	28	25	0	153.1	166	80	73	60	83
Al Fitzmorris	0	1	6.28	7	0	0	14.1	19	10	10	7	5
Dave Freisleben	1	4	7.11	12	10	0	44.1	52	37	35	31	19
Wayne Garland	2	3	7.89	6	6	0	29.2	43	27	26	16	13
Don Hood	5	6	4.48	36	19	0	154.2	166	82	77	77	73
Jim Kern	10	10	3.08	58	0	13	99.1	77	36	34	58	95
Dennis Kinney	0	2	4.42	18	0	5	38.2	37	21	19	14	19
Rick Kreuger	0	0	3.86	6	0	0	9.1	6	4	4	3	7
Sid Monge	4	3	2.76	48	2	6	84.2	71	36	26	51	54
Mike Paxton	12	11	3.86	33	27	1	191.0	179	89	82	63	96
Paul Reuschel	2	4	3.11	18	6	0	89.2	95	33	31	22	24
Dan Spillner	3	1	3.67	36	0	3	56.1	54	26	23	21	48
Rick Waits	13	15	3.20	34	33	0	230.1	206	97	82	86	97
Rick Wise	9	19	4.34	33	31	0	211.2	226	116	102	59	106
Team Totals	69	90	3.97	159	159	28	1407.1	1397	694	621	568	739

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Farm system

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

Notes

Dave Rosello page at Baseball Reference
David Clyde page at Baseball Reference
Rico Carty page at Baseball Reference
Dennis Eckersley page at Baseball Reference
"The Nolan Ryan Express | The Strikeout King". smackbomb.com/nolanryan. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved July 28, 2008.
Dan Spillner page at Baseball Reference
^ Joe Wallis page at Baseball Reference
Bill Laxton page at Baseball Reference
Paul Reuschel page at Baseball Reference
Willie Horton page at Baseball Reference
1978 Opening Day Lineup at Baseball-Reference
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References

1978 MLB season by team

AL East	Baltimore Boston Cleveland Detroit Milwaukee New York Toronto
AL West	California Chicago Kansas City Minnesota Oakland Seattle Texas

NL East	Chicago Montréal New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis
NL West	Atlanta Cincinnati Houston Los Angeles San Diego San Francisco

Cleveland Guardians

Established in 1894
Former names (all in Cleveland unless noted) - Grand Rapids Rustlers, Lake Shores, Bluebirds, Bronchos, Naps, Indians
Based in Cleveland, Ohio

Franchise

Ballparks

Culture and lore

Rivalries

Ohio Cup
- Cincinnati Reds

Key personnel

Owner: Larry Dolan
Chairman/CEO: Paul Dolan
President: Chris Antonetti
General manager: Mike Chernoff
Manager: Stephen Vogt

Postseason appearances (17)

Division championships (12)

American League pennants (6)

World Series championships (2)

1920
1948

Hall of Famers

Minors

Triple-A: Columbus Clippers
Double-A: Akron RubberDucks
High-A: Lake County Captains
Single-A: Lynchburg Hillcats
Rookie: Arizona Complex League Guardians
Dominican Summer League Guardians Goryl
Dominican Summer League Guardians Mendoza

Seasons (131)
1890s	1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899
1900s	1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910s	1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920s	1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930s	1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940s	1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s	2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

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