This date in Cleveland Indians history: World Series champions

October 11

1920 World Series Game 6, Dunn Field: Indians 1, Robins 0

As Duster Mails had pitched very well in relief in game three in Ebbets Field, Tris Speaker sent him out to the mound to take on Sherry Smith who had a dominant game, winning 2-1. After a 1-2-3 first by Mails, Joe Evans led off with a single but was caught stealing second by Otto Miller and Smith ended up facing the minimum. The Robins loaded the bases with two outs in the second on an Ed Konetchy single and back to back errors by Joe Sewell and Larry Gardner. But Smith flew out, leaving them loaded. The Tribe also threatened in the second. George Burns walked, but was forced by Gardner. Smoky Joe Wood singled to left and took second when Zach Wheat tried to throw out Gardner at third. Sewell hit a grounder to second but Gardner was thrown out at home.

After the second, neither team could generate much of anything. The Robins stranded two in the fourth on a Hi Myers single and Konetchy walk and a Bernie Neis walk in the sixth. The Indians got an Evans single in the third and Sewell single in the fifth. In the sixth, after a two out single by Speaker, Burns doubled him home for the only run of the game. Mails retired the Robins in order in the seventh and worked around a one out double by Olson in the eighth and a Sewell error in the ninth. He finished with a three hit shutout, two walks and four strikeouts. The Indians were one win away from their first title, up 4-2.

1948 World Series Game 6, Braves Field: Indians 4, Braves 3

Playing their sixth game in six games, after a train ride to Boston, the teams squared off again. Wanting to avoid an all or nothing game seven, Lou Boudreau sent out game two starter, Bob lemon, this time against Bill Voiselle, who had pitched great in relief of game three. The Indians got runners to first and second in the first on a Larry Doby single and Lou Boudreau hit by pitch, but nothing else materialized. Al Dark had a bunt single in their first, but was thrown out at first by Doby on Earl Torgeson's flyball. Singles by Jim Hegan and Bob Elliott also led to nothing, and the game was scoreless entering the third.

Doubles by Dale Mitchell and Boudreau netted the first run in the third. Eddie Stanky walked and Tommy Holmes singled, setting up first and second with one out. But Dark hit back to the box, 1-6-3, inning over. The Braves did tie it in the fourth on an Elliott single, Bill Salkeld walk and Mike McCormick single. Lemon did avoid the bases loaded jam by retiring Voiselle on a ground ball. After a scoreless fifth, Joe Gordon crushed one to deep left, making it 2-1 Tribe. Thurman Tucker went to third on Eddie Robinson's single after being walked, and then scored on a 5-4 forceout at second.

Warren Spahn relieved for the second time in two days after Voiselle was lifted for a pnch hitter in the seventh. Back to back to back singles by Ken Keltner, Tucker and Robinson pushed the lead to 4-1 with only six outs remaining. Holmes led off with a single. Dark lined out to right. But Torgeson doubled Holmes to third and Elliott walked, loading the bases. Boudreau called for Gene Bearden to stop the bleeding. Clint Conaster pinch hit for Marv Rickert, flying to center and cutting the lead to 4-2. Phil Masi pinch hit for Salkeld and doubled to left, but luckily only Torgeson scored with Elliott stopping at third. Beaden would leave the tying and winning runs at second and third by getting Mike McCormick to hit one back to him.

Spahn stuck out the side in the top of the ninth, so Berden came out nursing just a one run lead. Stanky worked another walk to start the ninth. Connie Ryan pinch ran for him and Sibby Sisti pinch hit for Spahn. Sisti tried to lay down a sacrifice, but popped his attempt up. Hegan caught it and doubled up Ryan by throwing to Gordon. Holmes was the last chance for Boston, but he flew out to defensive replacement Bob Kennedy and the Tribe had their second world championship. Who knew we would still be waiting ...

1995 ALCS Game 2, Kingdome: Indians 5, Mariners 2

After leaving twelve men on base the night before, the Indians tried to avoid a two game deficit by sending Orel Hershiser out to face Tim Belcher. It looked like more of the same in the first. A two out single by Carlos Baerga and Albert Belle walk led to nothing. Vince Coleman hit a leadoff single off Hershiser and took second on a groundout. Trying to avoid Edgar Martinez, he was walked and then Tino Martinez struck out to end the inning.

In the second, Manny Ramirez singled, but was erased on Paul Sorrento's double play grounder. A one out Mike Blowers single was also averted. The Tribe went in order in the third while Hershiser hit Joey Cora with one out, but that was all. Belle was stranded after a one single in the fourth and Hershiser had his first clean frame.

Finally, the Tribe gained their first lead of the series in the fifth. Manny singled to lead off, but was forced on Sorrento's grounder to first. Sandy Alomar flew to right for the second out. Kenny Lofton singled Sorrento to second and Omar Vizquel walked to load the bases. Baerga then singles up the middle bringing home both Sorrento and Lofton. Hershiser almost had a 1-2-3 bottom half, but Coleman got to first after striking out on a wild pitch. He stole second but Cora grounded out.

In the sixth, Belcher retired Eddie Murray on another grounder and got Jim Thome to fly out. But Manny tagged him for a fly ball to deep right. Sorrento singles and scored on Alomar's triple, ending Belcher's evening. Bobby Ayala struck out Lofton, but the Indians now led 4-0. Ken Griffey Jr. got one back on a solo shot of his own in the bottom of the sixth.

The Indians threatened again in the seventh. Omar walked and stole second. Belle walked with one out and Eddie Murray singled to load them up. But Thome hit into a double play. Hershiser got through his half on ten pitches and three ground balls. Manny hit his second blast in the eighth to push it to 5-1, while Hershiser worked around a two out single by Griffey Jr. With a four run lead in the ninth, Jose Mesa came on in a non-save situation. A one out shot by Buhner got the lead down to three. Pinch hitter Alex Diaz singled with two out, but pinch hitter Doug Strange grounded back to Mesa and the Tribe left Seattle with the much needed split, heading back to Cleveland for three games.

1997 ALCS Game 3, Jacobs Field: Indians 2, Orioles 1, 12 innings

After knotting up the series, the Indians headed home and called on Orel Hershiser to start game three. His opponent was the always dangerous Mike Mussina. This would become a serious pitcher's duel. Hershiser faced the minimum batters through six innings. But it was one of the oddest eighteen batter displays. He struck out the side in the second, but from inning three to inning six, he allowed the leadoff hitter to reach every time. Harold Baines walked in the fourth and Brady Anderson, Rafael Palmeiro and Baines singled to start each of the next three. But each was also erased on a double play. In the third it was a strikeout of Mike Bordick, caught stealing of Baines. The fourth was a 4-6-3, the fifth a 6-4-3, and the sixth was a 5-4-3. The cycle was broken in the seventh when Robbie Alomar singled with one out and they couldn't turn two on Eric Davis' grounder, but the game remained scoreless

Mussina didn't face the minimum, but was probably more dominant. Through six, he had only walked Jim Thome in the second and given up a Manny Ramirez single in the fourth and he stuck out the side in the first, third and sixth innings, fourteen in all. After notching strikeout number fifteen to start the seventh (Ramirez), he walked Thome again. David Justice singled him to second. Then Matt Williams plated the first run on a single back up the middle. Getting seven strong from Hershiser was exactly what Hargrove needed. He called on Paul Assenmacher to retire BJ Surhoff and Cal Ripken, and then Mike Jackson took care of pinch hitter Geronimo Berroa.

After a 1-2-3 Armando Benitez eighth, out came Jose Mesa to close shop. Chris Hoiles led off with a single. With Jeff Reboulet pinch running, Jeffrey Hammonds grounded to second, Reboulet landing on second himself. Brady Anderson doubled to center and the game was ties at one. The Indians got two singles and a walk in the bottom of the ninth, but Ramirez had been picked off after his single, so the game headed to extras. Both went in order in the tenth. The Orioles loaded the bases off Jeff Juden in the eleventh, but Alvin Morman got the final out. The Tribe also loaded the bases against Arthur Rhodes and Randy Myers, but could not end the game. A two out double by Berroa off Eric Plunk in the twelfth went for naught. After Myers struck out Brian Giles, he walked Marquis Grissom. He went to third on Tony Fernandez' single and stole home with Omar Vizquel batting. The Indians had dodged a toughie, and led the series 2-1.

1998 ALCS Game 5, Jacobs Field: Yankees 5, Indians 3

After seeing Jaret Wright's disastrous game one start, Mike Hargrove elected to send Chad Ogea out for this start in place of him. Joe Torre went with David Wells. Ogea fared better than Wright did, but not by much. He hit Chuck Knoblauch to start the game. After Derek Jeter struck out, Paul O'Neill singled Knoblauch to third. O'Neill stole second and Bernie Williams walked to load the bases. Chili Davis scored two with a single and Ogea loaded the bases by hitting Tino Martinez. Tim Raines grounded out scoring the third run. He walked Jorge Posada to load the bases a third time, but luckily Scott Brosius struck out.

With the Tribe already down 3-0, Kenny Lofton homered off Wells in the first. Omar Vizquel singled and so did Travis Fryman. Omar stole third and Wells' wild pitch moved Fryman to second. Manny Ramirez hit a deep enough fly to score Omar, but Fryman was stranded at third after stealing it. But the lead had been trimmed to 3-2. Knoblauch walked to start the second and Jeter bunted him over. O'Neill hit an RBI single and then Williams moved him over to third and poof, Ogea was done. Wright came in to relive him and induced a 6-4-3 double play to stop the bleeding and keeping the score 4-2.

Wright loaded the bases in third but kept the zero on the board. After Davis hit a solo shot in the fourth, Wright avoided any more scoring, but ended up walking seven in six innings of work with just two hits. Steve Reed and Paul Assenmacher each got an out in the eighth and Paul Shuey pitched the ninth. After not making Wells pay in the first, they didn't do too much to him the rest of the night. Jim Thome touched him for a solo shot in the sixth, but Wells finished his night with 7.1 innings, seven hits, one walk and eleven strikeouts. Jeff Nelson got one out in the eighth and Mariano Rivera got the final four outs in a non-save situation. The Indians headed back to New York, needing to win both games.

1999 ALDS Game 5, Jacobs Field: Red Sox 12, Indians 8

After the humiliating 23-7 shellacking the day before, both teams arrived in Cleveland. Charles Nagy got the nod for the rubber game and to most everyone's relief, Bret Saberhagen would start, not Pedro Martinez. Nagy retired the first two hitters on grounders, but after walking Brian Daubach, Nomar Garciaparra deposited one over the fence and the Red Sox led 2-0.

The Tribe struck back quickly. Kenny Lofton walked and stole second. Omar Vizquel doubled him in. Two batters later, Jim Thome homered and the score was now 3-2 in our favor. Nagy had a quick 1-2-3 second. Wil Cordero singled and Travis Fryman homered off Saberhagen starting the second, 5-2 Tribe. After his awful game two result and these first eight hitters, Jimy Williams wasted no more time and in came Derek Lowe, who got the next three. Graced with a three run lead, Nagy gave it right back in the third. Trot Nixon walked and went to third on Jose Offerman's single. John Valentin grounded out, but Nixon scored. Daubach doubled Valentin to third and Nomar was given first base. Troy O'Leary hit a granny and the Red Sox now led 7-5.

Robbie Alomar and Manny Ramirez hit back to back doubles off Lowe in the third and Thome hit another home run, and after just one third of the game, the score was 8-7 Indians. Hargrove tried Nagy once more in the fourth, but after a leadoff double to Darren Lewis, in came Sean DePaula. He retired Nixon but walked Offerman, with Sandy's error moving Lewis to third. Valentin hit a deep enough fly to tie the game. That is when Williams pulled out his ace, Pedro Martinez. In the final six frames he pitched, nobody got a hit and he walked just three guys, all in separate innings. With the Tribe offense being shut down, the Red Sox went to work on the pen.

DePaula pitched a scoreless fifth and sixth, with just one walk issued. Paul Shuey took over in the seventh. Valentin started with a single and moved to second on a Daubach grounder. Nomar was intentionally passed to get to Troy O'Leary. Bad move. O'Leary homered and essentially killed the Tribe's postseason. Shuey had a perfect eighth and Mike Jackson pitched the ninth, giving up one last run on back to back doubles by Daubach and Nomar. The Red Sox had been down 2-0, but won the next three to earn the right to take on the Yankees in round two, while the Tribe would go home disappointed yet again.

2001 ALDS Game 2, Safeco Field: Mariners 5, Indians 1

After taking the first game of the series, due to scheduling reasons, game two occurred two days later. Hoping to head back home with a 2-0 lead, Chuck Finley faced off with Jamie Moyer. After a 1-2-3 first for Moyer, Finley started off by walking Ichiro Suzuki. Mike Cameron drilled one out, and just like that, 2-0 Mariners. Bret Boone singled to center and then Edgar Martinez doubled the score with a homer of his one.

The Tribe continued to struggle with Moyer, not getting their first baserunner until Einar Diaz singled with two out in the third. Omar Vizquel led off with a walk in the fourth. And after a single by Juan Gonzalez and an Ellis Burks flyball, runners were at the corners with two away. But Jim Thome struck out. And in the sixth, with Omar singled with one out.

Finley came out determined and pitched three perfect frames from the second through fourth. But a solo homer by David Bell and a single by Ichiro ended his night in that fifth inning. David Riske relieved and retired all five batters he faced. Moyer came out for the seventh, but after singles by both Burks and Thome, Jeff Nelson was summoned. He walked Travis Fryman to load the bases. The Tribe got their first run when Marty Cordova grounded into a double play.

Paul Shuey pitched the seventh with a Bell single the only damage and Danys Baez had a clean eighth. The Indians went in order against Arthur Rhodes in the eighth and Burks singled off Kazuhiro Suzuki in the ninth. The Mariners had evened things up, but the Tribe just needed to hold serve at home.