1996 Cleveland Indians season

The 1996 Major League Baseball season was the Cleveland Indians' third season at Jacobs Field. For the second consecutive season, the Indians had the best record in Major League Baseball. This was the first time in franchise history that the Indians had accomplished that feat.[1] Between May 30 and August 19, the Indians hit at least one double in each of 75 games, the longest such streak in MLB since 1901.[2]

1996 Cleveland Indians
American League Central Champions
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionCentral
BallparkJacobs Field
CityCleveland, Ohio
Record99–62 (.615)
Divisional place1st
OwnersRichard Jacobs
General managersJohn Hart
ManagersMike Hargrove
TelevisionWUAB
Jack Corrigan, Mike Hegan
SportsChannel
John Sanders, Rick Manning
RadioWKNR (1220 AM)
Herb Score, Tom Hamilton, Matt Underwood
Seasons

Offseason
  • November 9, 1995: Rubén Amaro Jr. was released by the Cleveland Indians.[3]
  • December 6, 1995: Casey Candaele was signed as a free agent with the Cleveland Indians.[4]
  • December 7, 1995: Julio Franco was signed as a free agent with the Cleveland Indians.[5]
  • December 14, 1995: Jack McDowell signed as a free agent with the Cleveland Indians.[6]
  • January 4, 1996: Mario Díaz was signed as a free agent with the Cleveland Indians.[7]
  • March 31, 1996: Mark Clark was traded by the Cleveland Indians to the New York Mets for Reid Cornelius and Ryan Thompson.[8]

Regular season

Once again, the Indians had a formidable offensive lineup. They led the Majors in hits (1,665), batting average (.293), on-base percentage (.369). They also struck out an MLB-low 844 times.[9]

Season standings
AL Central W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cleveland Indians 9962 0.615 — 51–29 48–33
Chicago White Sox 8577 0.525 14½ 44–37 41–40
Milwaukee Brewers 8082 0.494 19½ 38–43 42–39
Minnesota Twins 7884 0.481 21½ 39–43 39–41
Kansas City Royals 7586 0.466 24 37–43 38–43

Record vs. opponents
1996 American League record

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —7–66–64–85–711–29–39–37–53–109–47–53–10–18–5
Boston 6–7—8–46–61–1112–13–97–56–67–68–57–66–68–5
California 6–64–8—6–64–96–64–87–54–87–66–75–84–97–5
Chicago 8–46–66–6—5–810–37–66–76–76–75–75–78–47–5
Cleveland 7–511–19–48–5—12–07–67–610–33–96–68–44–87–5
Detroit 2–111–126–63–100–12—6–64–86–65–84–86–64–96–7
Kansas City 3–99–38–46–76–76–6—4–96–74–85–77–56–65–8
Milwaukee 3–95–75–77–66–78–49–4—9–46–67–54–96–75–7
Minnesota 5–76–68–47–63–106–67–64–9—5–76–76–67–58–5
New York 10–36–76–77–69–38–58–46–67–5—9–33–95–78–5
Oakland 4–95–87–67–56–68–47–55–77–63–9—8–57–64–8
Seattle 5–76–78–57–54–86–65–79–46–69–35–8—10–35–7
Texas 10–3–16–69–44–88–49–46–67–65–77–56–73–10—10–2
Toronto 5–85–85–75–75–77–68–57–55–85–88–47–52–10—

Game log
1996 Game Log: 99–62 (Home: 51–29; Away: 48–33)
April: 16–8 (Home: 8–3; Away: 8–5)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecord
1April 2Yankees1–7ConeMartinez (0–1)—42,2890–1
2April 3Yankees1–5PettitteMcDowell (0–1)Nelson41,8430–2
3April 5Blue Jays1–7GuzmanHershiser (0–1)—41,7820–3
4April 6Blue Jays5–3Nagy (1–0)HansonMesa (1)41,8521–3
5April 7Blue Jays8–3Martinez (1–1)Quantrill—41,6892–3
6April 10@ Orioles2–3 (10)OroscoTavarez (0–1)—45,0972–4
7April 11@ Orioles4–14EricksonHershiser (0–2)Rhodes43,1892–5
8April 12@ Red Sox3–1Nagy (2–0)SeleMesa (2)26,7033–5
9April 13@ Red Sox14–2Martinez (2–1)Moyer—31,8274–5
10April 14@ Red Sox7–6 (11)Tavarez (1–1)StantonMesa (3)31,7965–5
11April 15@ Red Sox8–0McDowell (1–1)Wakefield—32,8616–5
12April 16@ Twins7–2Hershiser (1–2)Radke—13,1037–5
13April 17@ Twins8–9HansellShuey (0–1)Stevens11,2767–6
14April 19Red Sox9–4Martinez (3–1)Gordon—40,5218–6
15April 20Red Sox2–1McDowell (2–1)WakefieldMesa (4)40,4989–6
16April 21Red Sox11–7Ogea (1–0)Pennington—42,25610–6
17April 22Orioles6–3Nagy (3–0)EricksonMesa (5)42,23611–6
18April 23Orioles9–8Ogea (2–0)MussinaMesa (6)40,77012–6
19April 24@ Yankees8–10KamienieckiMartinez (3–2)—20,18712–7
20April 25@ Yankees4–3Poole (1–0)PettitteMesa (7)18,58013–7
21April 26@ Blue Jays6–3Hershiser (2–2)HansonMesa (8)30,22714–7
22April 27@ Blue Jays6–11CastilloNagy (3–1)—40,14014–8
23April 28@ Blue Jays17–3Lopez (1–0)Viola—31,14315–8
24April 30White Sox5–3Martinez (4–2)TapaniMesa (9)40,26816–8
May: 19–9 (Home: 8–2; Away: 11–7)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecord
25May 1White Sox9–5McDowell (3–1)McCaskillPlunk (1)40,44717–8
26May 2@ Mariners6–4Hershiser (3–2)WolcottMesa (10)21,71118–8
27May 3@ Mariners5–2Nagy (4–1)HitchcockMesa (11)38,08619–8
28May 4@ Mariners1–5MenhartLopez (1–1)—57,13319–9
29May 5@ Mariners2–0Martinez (5–2)BosioMesa (12)56,88320–9
30May 6@ Athletics3–5TaylorAssenmacher (0–1)Mohler47,31320–10
31May 7@ Athletics4–8JohnsHershiser (3–3)—10,12620–11
32May 8@ Athletics7–3Nagy (5–1)Reyes—9,28821–11
33May 10@ Angels8–13BoskieLopez (1–2)—23,52221–12
34May 11@ Angels6–5McDowell (4–1)SandersonMesa (13)32,10222–12
35May 12@ Angels4–1Poole (2–0)PercivalMesa (14)22,76823–12
36May 14Tigers5–1Nagy (6–1)Gohr—40,76524–12
37May 15Tigers5–2Martinez (6–2)LimaMesa (15)42,25925–12
38May 16Tigers8–3McDowell (5–1)Williams—42,33026–12
39May 17Rangers12–10Embree (1–0)HerediaMesa (16)41,22527–12
40May 18Rangers3–6OliverAnderson (0–1)Henneman40,97327–13
41May 19Rangers8–5Nagy (7–1)WittMesa (17)43,29928–13
42May 21Brewers6–5Tavarez (2–1)Boze—39,97429–13
43May 22Brewers8–10KarlMcDowell (5–2)Fetters41,02729–14
44May 23Brewers5–1Hershiser (4–3)Miranda—42,39530–14
45May 24@ Tigers6–3Plunk (1–0)VeresMesa (18)26,96731–14
46May 25@ Tigers7–6Nagy (8–1)LewisMesa (19)41,52732–14
47May 26@ Tigers5–0Martinez (7–2)Williams—39,05633–14
48May 27@ Rangers2–3PavlikMcDowell (5–3)—46,52133–15
49May 28@ Rangers3–11OliverHershiser (4–4)—35,72733–16
50May 29@ Rangers4–5CookTavarez (2–2)Henneman35,89333–17
51May 30@ Brewers2–0Nagy (9–1)BonesMesa (20)11,54334–17
52May 31@ Brewers10–4Martinez (8–2)McDonald—24,05035–17
June: 14–14 (Home: 8–8; Away: 6–6)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecord
53June 1@ Brewers1–2GarciaMcDowell (5–4)Fetters22,00435–18
54June 2@ Brewers11–6Poole (3–0)Karl—21,15036–18
55June 4Mariners7–10CarmonaMesa (0–1)Charlton42,17936–19
56June 5Mariners13–5Plunk (2–0)Milacki—42,27437–19
57June 6Mariners2–5WellsMartinez (8–3)Charlton42,23637–20
58June 7Angels4–3McDowell (6–4)BoskieMesa (21)42,26038–20
59June 8Angels5–0Hershiser (5–4)Finley—42,26739–20
60June 9Angels6–8 (13)HancockTavarez (2–3)—42,23739–21
61June 10Athletics5–4Nagy (10–1)JohnsMesa (22)42,16740–21
62June 11Athletics6–5 (13)Ogea (3–0)Reyes—42,24941–21
63June 12Athletics6–9MontgomeryMcDowell (6–5)Mohler40,67341–22
64June 13@ Yankees6–2Hershiser (6–4)RogersShuey (1)30,70742–22
65June 14@ Yankees3–4GoodenOgea (3–1)Wetteland32,58042–23
66June 15@ Yankees10–3Nagy (11–1)Boehringer—42,03243–23
67June 16@ Yankees4–5PettitteMartinez (8–4)Wetteland51,18043–24
68June 18Red Sox9–7Swindell (1–0)SeleMesa (23)42,20944–24
69June 19Red Sox11–4Hershiser (7–4)Gordon—42,27645–24
70June 20Red Sox5–4Shuey (1–1)Stanton—42,30646–24
71June 21Yankees7–8 (10)NelsonMesa (0–2)Wetteland42,17646–25
72June 21Yankees3–9MendozaTavarez (2–4)—42,45446–26
73June 22Yankees9–11BrewerMartinez (8–5)Wetteland42,46146–27
74June 23Yankees5–6GoodenMcDowell (6–6)Wetteland41,76746–28
75June 25@ Red Sox4–0Hershiser (8–4)Gordon—33,57647–28
76June 26@ Red Sox4–6 (15)GarcesEmbree (1–1)—33,72747–29
77June 27@ White Sox10–15FernandezSwindell (1–1)—27,78247–30
78June 28@ White Sox2–4BaldwinTavarez (2–5)Hernandez33,13647–31
79June 29@ White Sox3–2 (10)Shuey (2–1)Karchner—43,60148–31
80June 30@ White Sox4–2Hershiser (9–4)TapaniMesa (24)30,35149–31
July: 16–11 (Home: 7–6; Away: 9–5)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecord
81July 1Royals2–4HaneyNagy (11–2)—40,81449–32
82July 2Royals3–2Poole (4–0)Belcher—42,28350–32
83July 3Royals6–4Tavarez (3–5)MagnanteShuey (2)42,47051–32
84July 4White Sox5–6 (10)KarchnerMesa (0–3)Hernandez42,35551–33
85July 5White Sox0–7AlvarezHershiser (9–5)—42,53651–34
86July 6White Sox2–3KarchnerShuey (2–2)Hernandez42,45451–35
87July 7White Sox6–1Ogea (4–1)FernandezAssenmacher (1)42,34352–35
88July 11@ Twins11–7McDowell (7–6)Radke—16,43853–35
89July 12@ Twins7–5Mesa (1–3)StevensShuey (3)18,24654–35
90July 13@ Twins19–11Ogea (5–1)Aguilera—31,55255–35
91July 14@ Twins4–5GuardadoPlunk (2–1)—25,31255–36
92July 15@ Royals3–6MagnanteTavarez (3–6)Montgomery22,29455–37
93July 16@ Royals10–4McDowell (8–6)Haney—16,87156–37
94July 17@ Royals2–3BelcherHershiser (9–6)Montgomery19,53256–38
95July 18Twins5–4Graves (1–0)Guardado—40,93457–38
96July 19Twins2–3RodriguezNagy (11–3)Naulty42,37357–39
97July 20Twins6–5 (11)Shuey (3–2)Stevens—43,43358–39
98July 21Twins7–5McDowell (9–6)RadkeShuey (4)42,34159–39
99July 22@ Blue Jays4–2Hershiser (10–6)HansonMesa (25)35,51760–39
100July 23@ Blue Jays1–3HentgenOgea (5–2)Timlin35,19460–40
101July 24@ Blue Jays10–0Martinez (9–5)Janzen—35,21861–40
102July 25@ Orioles10–7Nagy (12–3)Coppinger—47,02562–40
103July 26@ Orioles14–9Assenmacher (1–1)Mussina—46,75163–40
104July 27@ Orioles2–14WellsHershiser (10–7)—47,36063–41
105July 28@ Orioles6–3 (13)Mesa (2–3)Stephenson—46,27364–41
106July 30Blue Jays1–3FlenerMartinez (9–6)Timlin42,35564–42
107July 31Blue Jays4–2Assenmacher (2–1)Timlin—42,30165–42
August: 15–13 (Home: 7–7; Away: 8–6)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecord
108August 1Blue Jays3–5HansonLopez (1–3)Timlin42,24965–43
109August 2Orioles11–1Hershiser (11–7)Erickson—42,46566–43
110August 3Orioles4–9OroscoOgea (5–3)—42,44866–44
111August 4Orioles14–2Anderson (1–1)Coppinger—42,34967–44
112August 5Orioles10–13WellsAssenmacher (2–2)—40,86367–45
113August 6@ Mariners4–3Lopez (2–3)WellsMesa (26)31,47268–45
114August 7@ Mariners5–4Tavarez (4–6)CharltonMesa (27)30,43169–45
115August 8@ Mariners2–1Ogea (6–3)MulhollandMesa (28)36,82270–45
116August 9@ Athletics10–4McDowell (10–6)Telgheder—20,12271–45
117August 10@ Athletics1–5AdamsNagy (12–4)—30,23871–46
118August 11@ Athletics3–9WasdinLopez (2–4)—21,91471–47
119August 12@ Angels5–4Hershiser (12–7)FinleyMesa (29)19,49972–47
120August 13@ Angels2–4BoskieOgea (6–4)Percival19,56972–48
121August 14@ Angels7–8GohrMcDowell (10–7)Percival23,88772–49
122August 16Tigers3–1 (12)Assenmacher (3–2)Lewis—42,48573–49
123August 17Tigers6–3Hershiser (13–7)ThompsonMesa (30)42,51174–49
124August 18Tigers11–3Ogea (7–4)Williams—42,33775–49
125August 19Rangers3–10PavlikMcDowell (10–8)—42,39375–50
126August 20Rangers10–4Lopez (3–4)Witt—42,37076–50
127August 21Rangers8–10 (10)VosbergTavarez (4–7)—42,34576–51
128August 23Brewers5–6 (11)JonesMesa (2–4)Fetters42,40576–52
129August 24Brewers3–4 (10)WickmanPlunk (2–2)Fetters42,43776–53
130August 25Brewers8–5Shuey (4–2)MirandaMesa (31)42,33577–53
131August 26@ Tigers2–1Nagy (13–4)Lira—22,34978–53
132August 27@ Tigers12–2Lopez (4–4)Thompson—19,60279–53
133August 28@ Tigers9–3Hershiser (14–7)Sager—21,09180–53
134August 30@ Rangers3–5PavlikOgea (7–5)Russell40,38380–54
135August 31@ Rangers3–6OliverMcDowell (10–9)Vosberg46,31980–55
September: 19–7 (Home: 13–3; Away: 6–4)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecord
136September 1@ Rangers8–2Nagy (14–4)Burkett—46,08481–55
137September 2@ Brewers6–7JonesMesa (2–5)—18,01581–56
138September 3@ Brewers2–8KarlHershiser (14–8)—10,59981–57
139September 4@ Brewers7–0Ogea (8–5)D'Amico—12,66682–57
140September 8Mariners2–1Nagy (15–4)Mulholland—42,30783–57
141September 8Mariners5–6CharltonMesa (2–6)—42,21783–58
142September 9Angels4–3Shuey (5–2)HoltzMesa (32)42,20884–58
143September 10Angels7–5Assenmacher (4–2)Percival—42,18185–58
144September 11Angels2–0McDowell (11–9)FinleyMesa (33)42,26486–58
145September 12Angels11–2Anderson (2–1)Boskie—42,24487–58
146September 14Athletics9–2Nagy (16–4)Wengert——88–58
147September 14Athletics9–8Plunk (3–2)SmallMesa (34)42,23389–58
148September 15Athletics9–10 (10)ReyesMesa (2–7)—42,22689–59
149September 16@ White Sox4–3McDowell (12–9)Alvarez—25,39290–59
150September 17@ White Sox9–4Anderson (3–1)FernandezPlunk (2)18,76391–59
151September 18@ White Sox4–3Lopez (5–4)BaldwinMesa (35)20,28992–59
152September 19Royals9–1Ogea (9–5)Appier—42,29793–59
153September 20Royals4–6BevilNagy (16–5)Bluma42,35893–60
154September 21Royals13–4Hershiser (15–8)Rosado—42,33994–60
155September 22Royals6–5McDowell (13–9)JacomeMesa (36)42,29195–60
156September 23Twins7–6Graves (2–0)ParraMesa (37)42,29996–60
157September 24Twins7–5Ogea (10–5)RodriguezMesa (38)42,27297–60
158September 25Twins6–3Nagy (17–5)Robertson—42,46998–60
159September 27@ Royals6–11RosadoHershiser (15–9)—15,93998–61
160September 28@ Royals5–4Mercker (1–0)ScanlanMesa (39)19,82099–61
161September 29@ Royals1–4BelcherOgea (10–6)Pichardo14,55699–62
Legend:        = Win        = Loss
Bold = Indians team member

Detailed records

Notable transactions
  • May 14, 1996: Greg Cadaret was signed as a free agent with the Cleveland Indians.[10]
  • June 15, 1996: Greg Swindell signed as a free agent with the Cleveland Indians.[11]

Roster
1996 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

  • 11 Toby Harrah (Bench)
  •  6 Luis Isaac (Bullpen)
  • 42 Charlie Manuel (Hitting)
  •  1 Dave Nelson (First Base)
  • 29 Jeff Newman (Third Base)
  • 28 Mark Wiley (Pitching)
  • 43 Dan Williams (Bullpen Catcher)

Player stats

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
CSandy Alomar Jr.127418110.2631150
1BJulio Franco112432139.3221476
2BCarlos Baerga100424113.2671055
SSOmar Vizquel151542161.297964
3BJim Thome151505157.31138116
LFAlbert Belle158602187.31148148
CFKenny Lofton154662210.3171467
RFManny Ramirez152550170.30933112
DHEddie Murray8833688.2621245

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
José Vizcaíno4817951.285013
Tony Peña6717434.195127
Mark Carreon3814246.324214
Jeromy Burnitz7112836.281726
Brian Giles5112143.355527
Álvaro Espinoza5911225.223411
Jeff Kent3910227.265316
Kevin Seitzer228332.386116
Casey Candaele244411.25014
Scott Leius27436.14013
Ryan Thompson8227.31815
Wayne Kirby27164.25001
Nigel Wilson10123.25025
Herbert Perry7121.08300
Damian Jackson5103.30001
Gerónimo Peña591.11112
Einar Díaz410.00000

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
Charles Nagy32222.01753.41167
Orel Hershiser33206.01594.24125
Jack McDowell30192.01395.11141
Chad Ogea29146.21064.79101
Dennis Martínez20112.0964.5048
Brian Anderson1051.1314.9121

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
Albie Lopez1362.0546.3945
Greg Swindell1328.2116.5921

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
José Mesa6927393.7364
Paul Assenmacher634213.0944
Eric Plunk563222.4385
Julián Tavárez514705.3646
Paul Shuey425242.8544
Jim Poole324003.0419
Alan Embree241106.3933
Danny Graves152004.5522
Kent Mercker101003.097
Joe Roa100010.800

Award winners

All-Star Game

Postseason

Game log
1996 Postseason Game Log
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveStadiumAttendanceRecord
1October 1@ Orioles4–10Wells (1–0)Nagy (0–1)—Oriole Park at Camden Yards47,6440–1
2October 2@ Orioles4–7Benitez (1–0)Plunk (0–1)Myers (1)Oriole Park at Camden Yards48,9700–2
3October 4Orioles9–4Assenmacher (1–0)Orosco (0–1)—Jacobs Field44,2501–2
4October 5Orioles3–4 (12)Benitez (2–0)Mesa (0–1)Myers (2)Jacobs Field44,2801–3
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement
Bold = Indians team member

Minor league affiliates
Classification level Team League Season article
AAA Buffalo Bisons International League 1996 Buffalo Bisons season
AA Canton–Akron Indians Eastern League 1996 Canton–Akron Indians season
Advanced A Kinston Indians Carolina League
A Columbus RedStixx South Atlantic League
Short Season A Watertown Indians New York–Penn League
Rookie Burlington Indians Appalachian League

References
  1. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 371, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  2. "Team Batting Streak Finder: Consecutive games with Doubles >= 1, In the Regular Season, since 1901". Stathead Baseball. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  3. Ruben Amaro Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  4. "Casey Candaele Stats".
  5. Julio Franco Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  6. Jack McDowell Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  7. "Mario Diaz Stats".
  8. Mark Clark Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  9. "1996 Major League Baseball Season Summary".
  10. "Greg Cadaret Stats".
  11. Greg Swindell Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  12. "Hutch Award | Baseball Almanac".
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