Despite owning the longest active World Series championship drought in Major League Baseball, the Cleveland Indians have been a familiar face in the postseason in the past few years, coming one game away from ending their title drought in 2016. The Indians began their MLB tenure in 1901 as the Cleveland Bluebirds, before becoming the Cleveland Broncos one year later in 1902. One year after that, the franchise underwent another name change, becoming the Cleveland Naps, which lasted from 1903 to 1914, when they became the Cleveland Indians, which has stuck for more than a century now.
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Indians History
The franchise first began in 1894 in Michigan as the minor league Grand Rapid Rustlers, playing in the Western League, which would eventually become the American League. The team would move to Cleveland in 1900, where it would play for one season as the Cleveland Lake Shores. The team played its early games at League Park before it moved into Cleveland Stadium in 1932. The team would go back to League Park for a few years before formally moving in full time after the 1946 season. The team would stay there until 1994, when it moved into its current home, Progressive Field.
Pennants
The Indians have won two World Series titles in franchise history, winning the first title in 1920 over the Brooklyn Robins in seven games. The title came at the height of the Black Sox Scandal, with the White Sox suspending eight of their players towards the end of the season that allowed the Indians to win the AL Pennant and subsequently the World Series. The Cleveland Indians would bring another title back home in 1948, defeating the Boston Braves in six games. Since then, the Indians have won four more AL Pennants, bringing their total to six, but they haven’t been able to win another title. The Indians came close in 2016 against the Chicago Cubs, taking Game 7 into extra innings but ultimately falling to the Cubs, 8-7. The Indians have won the Central Division 10 times, including five straight from 1995 to 1999 and three straight from 2016 to 2018.
Indians Hall of Famers
One of the most famous Cleveland ballplayers is Cy Young, who pitched for the Cleveland Naps from 1909 to 1911 and before then with the Cleveland Spiders from 1890 to 1898, and is known as one of the best pitchers in major league history. Center fielder Earl Averill was one of the early heroes on the Indians, named an All-Star six times and elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975. Frank Robinson finished his Hall of Fame playing career with the Cleveland Indians and then became the manager of the ball club from 1975 to 1977. Infielder and designated hitter Jim Thome, also inducted into the Hall of Fame, spent more than half his 22-season career in Cleveland, first from 1991 to 2002 and then for part of another season in 2011. Thome is best known for his ball club presence, and his penchant for hitting the deep ball, with his 612 career home runs, making him rank eighth all-time.
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