The Last Time Cleveland Sent Cy Young Out

The Last Time Cleveland Sent Cy Young Out (1911)

He was 44 and he was done, though nobody says that out loud in July. Three innings in Washington, five runs, and the walk to the dugout. A few days later in Boston he stood in the coaching lines instead of warming up, and by mid-August Cleveland let him go. He would not hear it. He signed with the last-place Boston Rustlers, who one writer said wanted him mostly to draw a crowd, and on September 22 he shut out Pittsburgh for win number 511. Nobody has come within 90 of it since.

Seventeen Runs Before the Third Inning (1928)

Cleveland scored eight in the first against the defending champion Yankees, and nine more in the second. Final: 24 to 6. Second baseman Johnny Hodapp got two hits in a single inning twice in the same game, the first American Leaguer ever to manage it, which tells you how long the Indians stayed at bat. The Yankees, for the record, won the pennant anyway and swept the World Series.

Four Strikeouts, Three Outs (1977)

Phil Niekro fanned Dave Parker, then Bill Robinson, then gave up a double to Al Oliver. Then he struck out Rennie Stennett, except the knuckleball fluttered past catcher Biff Pocoroba and Stennett reached first before anybody caught up to the ball. So Niekro struck out Omar Moreno too. Four strikeouts, one inning, Braves win 5 to 3. It was that kind of year in Atlanta: the club lost 101 games, Niekro lost a league-high 20, and he still led the league in strikeouts, complete games, and innings.

Rickey Henderson Never Came to the Plate (1989)

He played all nine innings and did not record a single official at-bat. Four walks, three leading off. Five steals. Four runs, one for every time he reached. Every walk came off Randy Johnson, and Oakland lost 14 to 6 anyway. Johnson told the AP he expected to be on Henderson's Christmas list. Three months later Rickey was ALCS MVP with a World Series ring.