1972 Cleveland Indians season

The 1972 Cleveland Indians season was the 72nd season in franchise history. The Indians finished 5th place in the American League East Division. with a record of 72 wins and 84 losses, 14 games behind the Detroit Tigers.

Offseason

George Steinbrenner offer

On December 6, 1971, George Steinbrenner led a group of investors that negotiated with Jim Stouffer, the son of Indians owner Vernon Stouffer about the potential purchase of the franchise. The group offered $8.6 million and agreed to absorb $300,000 in debt. Although Steinbrenner and Jim Stouffer agreed to a sale, Vernon Stouffer disapproved of the deal. He felt that he was able of getting $10 million for the franchise.

Notable transactions

November 29, 1971: Sam McDowell was traded by the Indians to the San Francisco Giants for Gaylord Perry and Frank Duffy.
December 2, 1971: Roy Foster, Ken Suarez, Mike Paul, and Rich Hand were traded by the Indians to the Texas Rangers for Del Unser, Gary Jones, Terry Ley, and Denny Riddleberger.
December 6, 1971: Adolfo Phillips was purchased by the Indians from the Montreal Expos.

Regular season

Notable transactions

June 6, 1972: 1972 Major League Baseball draft
*Rick Manning was drafted by the Indians in the 1st round.
*Dennis Eckersley was drafted by the Indians in the 3rd round. Player signed June 12, 1972.
*Rick Langford was drafted by the Indians in the 36th round, but did not sign.
September 18, 1972: Lowell Palmer was selected off waivers by the Indians from the St. Louis Cardinals.

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
	132	466	49	119	21	1	9	36	.255	5
	19	35	2	4	0	0	1	1	.114	0
	136	527	49	123	13	2	5	35	.233	3
	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
	39	41	2	6	2	0	0	3	.146	0
	121	466	51	136	27	2	6	44	.292	3
	23	20	1	4	1	0	0	0	.200	0
	130	385	23	92	16	4	3	27	.239	6
	20	33	6	9	1	0	3	4	.273	0
	46	7	0	1	0	0	0	0	,143	0
	134	457	42	110	20	1	10	41	.241	5
	73	143	19	32	4	0	4	13	.224	0
	12	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
	10	20	0	3	0	0	0	0	.150	0
	38	12	1	1	0	0	0	0	.083	0
	19	13	0	1	0	0	0	1	.077	0
	108	356	31	85	10	1	8	37	.239	6
	1	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	.500	0
	22	14	0	1	0	0	0	0	.071	0
	34	21	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
	89	225	14	45	2	1	4	16	.200	0
	24	80	4	15	1	0	2	8	.188	0
	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
	68	151	16	32	8	1	6	21	.212	2
	129	391	43	101	12	5	7	33	,258	12
	42	8	0	1	0	0	0	0	.125	0
	52	141	9	31	3	0	4	14	,220	0
	150	557	65	141	28	0	17	70	.253	2
	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0
	41	110	5	17	2	0	1	9	.155	0
	12	7	2	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
	38	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
	6	12	1	2	1	0	0	0	.167	0
	39	70	5	7	0	0	0	6	.100	0
	132	383	29	91	12	0	1	17	.238	5
	32	45	3	9	2	0	0	4	.200	0
Team Totals	156	5207	472	1220	186	18	91	440	.234	49

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
	0	0	1.54	6	2	0	11.2	9	3	2	10	6
	1	7	4.58	22	11	0	74.2	74	42	38	38	36
	6	4	3.26	16	16	0	105.0	98	39	38	43	52
	2	5	4.40	46	1	7	61.1	51	32	30	27	33
	0	3	5.85	12	1	0	20.0	23	16	13	15	10
	5	3	2.67	38	1	6	67.1	54	20	20	18	44
	3	1	2.68	19	5	0	47.0	51	16	14	21	25
	4	1	3.41	22	7	1	58.0	51	23	22	39	44
	5	6	3.09	34	9	0	107.2	101	42	37	29	64
	0	0	5.40	4	2	0	8.1	8	5	5	10	1
	0	6	3.95	41	0	10	57.0	67	28	25	36	47
	0	0	4.50	1	0	0	2.0	2	1	1	2	3
	24	16	1.92	41	40	1	342.2	253	79	73	82	234
	1	3	2.50	38	0	0	54.0	45	23	15	22	34
	14	15	2.77	39	34	0	237.1	200	83	73	70	123
	7	14	3.40	32	27	0	156.0	145	67	59	72	90
Team Totals	72	84	2.92	156	156	25	1410.0	1232	519	457	534	846

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Gaylord Perry, pitcher, reserve