History

Most games played in center field in Cleveland Indians history

As amazing as last week’s installment was with shortstop, we will conclude this series with the final position, center field. This position is one where the Tribe has had many a superstar.

By talonk Mar 8, 2016, 12:00pm EST

Oh what could have been with Grady Sizemore and this list.

Like with the infield and shortstop, I have saved the best for last when it comes to the outfield, center field. This is also likely the best position in Cleveland history due to the sheer volume of great players and seasons played here.

Abraham Almonte, with a decent showing this season, had a shot at cracking the Top 25 as he had 50 games last year and needed just over 100 to make it. But with that 80 game suspension, I seriously doubt he'll get anywhere close.

Surprisingly enough Michael Brantley has already reached number 12 on the list. And that isn't because Terry Francona plays him there way too often. The bulk of that total came from 2012 when he was the starting center fielder for the season. That was the year Johnny Damon and Shelley Duncan played left field.

But what makes this position special is the fact there are five players who have reached the millennial mark. That includes three Hall of Famers and one more who should be in the Hall. Grady Sizemore would have likely been the sixth millennial if not for those rotten injuries.

With five players above 1000 games and another five over 500 games, this has to be one of the most stable positions in club history.

When the last decade wrapped up, 243 players had appeared in center field for the Blues/Bronchos/Naps/Indians. And since the last decade completed, just 15 new faces have appeared there.

Here is the full list of new players who made at least one appearance this decade so far:

Aaron Cunningham, Abraham Almonte, Austin Kearns, Brent Lillibridge, Chris Dickerson, Drew Stubbs, Ezequiel Carrera, Jason Donald, Kosuke Fukudome, Michael Bourn, Michael Martinez, Mike Aviles, Nyjer Morgan, Travis Buck, Tyler Holt.

And onto the top 25:

	Player	Years	Games Played
1	Tris Speaker	1916-1926	1474
2	Earl Averill	1929-1938	1457
3	Kenny Lofton	1992-96, 98-01, 07	1209
4	Larry Doby	1948-1955, 1958	1080
5	Rick Manning	1975-1983	1002
6	Grady Sizemore	2004-2011	848
7	Joe Birmingham	1907-1914	647
8	Vic Davalillo	1963-1968	601
9	Brett Butler	1984-1987	600
10	Harry Bay	1902-1907	555
11	Roy Weatherly	1936-1942	411
12	Michael Brantley	2009-2015	356
13	George Hendrick	1973-1976	340
14	Jim Piersall	1959-1961	338
15	Michael Bourn	2013-2015	321
15	Joe Carter	1984-1989	298
17	Jose Cardenal	1968-1969	294
18	Nemo Leibold	1913-1915	208
19	Milton Bradley	2001-2005	195
20	Coco Crisp	2002-2005	188
21	Felix Mackiewicz	1945-1947	185
22	Ollie Pickering	1901-1902	167
23	Alex Cole	1990-1992	165
24	Jim Busby	1956-1957	158
25	Chuck Hinton	1965-1967, 1969	157

With Brantley moving up as far as has on this list and Bourn also joining the list, they bumped off Ben Chapman, the starting center fielder in 1939, and Oris Hockett, a reserve outfielder from 1941-1944. This position, unsurprisingly, has just 18 players with 200 or more games or just 7.0% of the 258 total. Another 21 players have broken the century mark, leaving 85% with under 100 games. Only 27 players have just a single game in center, including Oscar Gamble, Ray Chapman, and Shawon Dunston.

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