There have been many memorable moments since the Indians began playing professional baseball in Indianapolis. This Day in Indianapolis Indians History reflects on 120 years of baseball in the heart of the Circle City.
1958: Sam Mele hit a three-run, pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning to lead Indianapolis to a 5-3 win over Minneapolis at old Victory Field. Cloyd "Junior" Boyer went the distance over 9.0 innings for Indy, allowing three earned runs on six hits and two walks with five punchouts. Mele went on to later manage the Minnesota Twins to a 1965 American League pennant.
1989: Mark Gardner improved to 5-0 on the season with a complete game shutout vs. Oklahoma City at Bush Stadium. The 27-year-old fanned 10 batters, issued two walks and allowed four hits as Indy grabbed an early 3-0 lead through four frames. Gardner went on to make his major league debut with Montreal on May 16 vs. San Diego and tossed 2.0 scoreless innings with two strikeouts. In 24 Triple-A games (23 starts) for the year, he went 12-4 with a 2.37 ERA (43er/163.1ip).
1963: In his International League MVP season, shortstop Don Buford was a triple away from the cycle after hitting two singles, a double and home run in an 11-6 win over the Atlanta Crackers at old Victory Field. He went on to hit .336 with 41 doubles, 114 runs and 42 stolen bases that season.
1999: Right fielder Darrell Whitmore went 4-for-4 with four extra-base hits to lead the Indians to a 6-3 win against Louisville at Victory Field. He scored three runs while recording his ninth double, first triple and second and third home runs of the season. The Indians scored in five of their eight offensive frames to lead Brett Tomko to his first win on the year.
2009: The Indians set a franchise record with nine stolen bases during a 7-5 loss vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre at Victory Field. The running game was led by right fielder Jeff Salazar, who swiped two bases in the first inning and one in the third. DH Garrett Jones and first baseman Steve Pearce each tacked on a pair of their own, with Jones stealing home to take a 5-4 lead in the fifth inning. Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker each contributed one stolen base to the nine-swipe effort.
1956: Southpaw Hank Aguirre struck out 10 batters in a 9.0-inning complete game as Indianapolis topped the Minneapolis Millers, 5-2, at old Victory Field. Aguirre made his MLB debut with Cleveland that season and was a 1962 American League All-Star with Detroit thanks to a major league-leading 2.21 ERA. Third baseman Stan Pawloski clubbed two home runs and drove in three runs in the triumph.
1971: Left-hander Ross Grimsley tossed a three-hitter in a 3-2 Indians win over the Iowa Oaks in Des Moines. Grimsley improved his record to 5-0 as he struck out 12 batters. Center fielder Frank DeCastris led the offense with a two-run home run in the sixth inning, a shot that evened the score at 2-2.
2004: With a 19-3 win over Charlotte, the Indians set a new Victory Field era record with the most runs scored in a game at home. Indy put up five runs in the second, four in the third, five in the fifth and four in the seventh behind 20 team hits, four of which came off the bat of second baseman Matt Erickson.
1970: After hitting a two-run home run in the seventh inning, Indians catcher Bill Plummer was hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Indianapolis a 4-3 walk-off win over Denver.
1950: Indianapolis starting pitcher Bill Pierro took a no-hitter into the eighth inning until center fielder Archie Wilson broke up the bid with a two-out single for the Kansas City Blues. That was the only hit allowed by Pierro in his 9.0-inning complete-game effort that featured nine strikeouts.
1963: Fritz Ackley threw 5.2 scoreless innings and Warren Hacker followed suit with 3.1 scoreless frames as the Indians blanked Jacksonville on the road, 6-0. Third baseman Don Buford, who was the 1963 Team and International League MVP, went 3-for-5 with one RBI atop the lineup. Second baseman Ramon Conde finished 2-for-4 with a double and RBI, as well.
1984: Mike Stenhouse recorded the fourth three-homer game in franchise history vs. Evansville at Bush Stadium. In a 17-4 victory for the Indians, Stenhouse went 3-for-5 with a team-leading eight RBI. Ron Johnson hit a home run of his own, going 4-for-4 with two RBI and five runs scored. Right-hander Greg Bargar went the distance and struck out 11 batters to earn the win. Stenhouse spent 27 games with Indianapolis in 1984, hitting .333 (31-for-93) with eight home runs and 27 RBI.
1993: Trailing 8-0 in the middle of the sixth, the Indians scored nine unanswered runs in their final four at-bats of the game to stun Nashville at Bush Stadium, 9-8. Designated hitter Steve Carter led the charge with a home run and three RBI. Indy plated three runs in the sixth, one in the seventh, four in the eighth and one to walk it off in the ninth.
2007: With a double vs. Ottawa in a 5-2 win at Victory Field, Rajai Davis began a Victory Field era record 21-game hitting streak that lasted through June 3. The streak tied Eduardo Perez's streak from 1996 for third all-time in Indians history, trailing Frank Sigafoos (38 games, 1933) and Ed Stevens (33 games, 1951). Davis was recalled by Pittsburgh before he could extend his hitting streak and spent the remainder of the season at the major league level.
1963: Fritz Ackley tossed a six-hit complete game in a 9-2 Indians win over Jacksonville at old Victory Field. The two teams almost brawled after Indy shortstop Jose Valdivielso was hit-by-pitch in both the seventh and eighth innings.
1948: In his first season at the helm, player-manager Al Lopez caught all nine innings and went 1-for-3 with one RBI as Indy upped its record to 18-10 with a 7-3 win over Toledo at old Victory Field. Right fielder Ted Beard finished 2-for-3 with a triple, run scored and RBI in the triumph. The Indians won a club record 100 games that season, finishing 100-54.
2001: Indians third baseman Micah Franklin capped a two-homer, four-RBI performance with a three-run shot in the bottom of the ninth to send Indy to a 6-3 walk-off win over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre at Victory Field. The long balls were Franklin's third and fourth of the season, and he finished as the team leader with 23 blasts.
2005: In a 4-0 win over Norfolk at Victory Field, right-hander Ian Snell went 9.0 hitless innings for Indy’s first no-hitter since 1997 and 12th in franchise history. Snell walked one batter and struck out nine as Indianapolis’ offense put up three runs in the second inning and another in the fifth. It was his only shutout of the season and his sixth career complete game. The lone no-hitter of his career earned him his second International League Pitcher of the Week Award. Snell went 4-0 in six May starts that year with a 2.04 ERA (9er/39.2ip).
1964: In its first of a five-season run in the Pacific Coast League, Indy scored 15 runs in the top of the first inning in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Seattle en route to an 18-0 win. Right fielder Jim Hicks finished 3-for-5 with a team-high six RBI. The 15-run frame is still a franchise record to this day. Second baseman Marvin Staehle batted three times in the first inning to match a Pacific Coast League record originally set by Pudgy Gould on Aug. 18, 1923, a record that is shared by Staehle and Gould today.
1946: Paul "Duke" Derringer tossed a four-hit shutout vs. Kansas City as Indianapolis earned a 7-0 win in seven innings. He also led the offense with two singles and two RBI. Derringer's 15-year major league career ended in 1945 as a 223-game winner with the Cardinals, Reds and Cubs.
2005: Starting pitcher Zach Duke took a one-hit shutout into the ninth inning at Pawtucket's McCoy Stadium until back-to-back doubles ended his day. Duke's final line was still impressive, as he yielded only one earned run on three hits and one walk with five strikeouts over 8.1 innings pitched in a 3-1 triumph. The victory was Duke's seventh of a team-leading 12 wins on the season, and his 3.32 ERA at the time would drop to a team-best 2.92 mark by the end of the season.
1998: The Indians put up nine runs in the eighth inning at Pawtucket en route to an 18-6 win. Center fielder Pat Watkins led off for Indianapolis and went 4-for-5 with a double, home run, three RBI and four runs scored. Shortstop Aaron Boone also had a game-high five RBI after going 3-for-6 with two home runs. The Indians pounded out 19 total hits with five going as homers, and five players recorded three-plus knocks.
1998: The first home run cycle ever recorded in a single inning by a professional baseball team occurred in the top of the fifth, when the Indians put up 10 runs at Pawtucket. Pete Rose Jr. hit a solo home run, Jason Williams tacked on a three-run homer, Glenn Murray cleared the bases with a grand slam and Guillermo Garcia finished it off with a two-run shot. Garcia finished the day with two home runs after hitting a solo shot in the ninth inning to give the Indians an 11-4 win.
1987: Dennis Martinez fired a one-hit shutout in a 5-0 win for the Indians against Buffalo at Bush Stadium. Martinez finished with five strikeouts in the 9.0-inning complete game. Left fielder Tom Romano and third baseman Jeff Reynolds both hit home runs for Indy while second baseman Johnny Paredes and first baseman Razor Shines notched two hits apiece.
1977: Paul Moskau pitched 7.0 innings of one-hit ball while scattering four walks with five strikeouts in a 3-0 win over Omaha at Bush Stadium. Reliever Joe Henderson finished up the game with 2.0 hitless innings. Ron Oester gave Indy the lead with a solo home run in the second inning, and Arturo DeFreites clubbed a two-run shot in the fifth to cap the scoring.
1998: For the second time in five days, Indians center fielder Pat Watkins recorded a four-hit game en route to an Indianapolis win. Tied at 4-4 through seven innings, the Indians plated eight runs in the eighth and two in the ninth to run away with a 14-4 victory at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Indy had 20 hits as a team, with Watkins and shortstop Damian Jackson accounting for eight of the knocks. Watkins had three doubles, and the Indians tallied nine extra-base hits in total (seven doubles, one triple, one home run).
1974: Tom Carroll tossed the seventh no-hitter in franchise history on a Friday at Omaha. Both starters went the distance, with Carroll improving to 3-2 on the season after issuing just two walks and striking out five. For Omaha, Dennis Leonard allowed two runs – both driven in by Ed Armbrister – on eight hits and four walks with six strikeouts.
1997: After dropping Game 1 of a doubleheader at Louisville, 4-1, three Indianapolis pitchers combined to throw the first no-hitter in the Victory Field era. Pedro Martinez (5.2ip, 3bb, 3k), Felix Rodriguez (0.1ip, 1k) and Scott Service (1.0ip, 3k) each appeared in the game and rolled through seven innings. First baseman Kevin Maas hit a solo home run in the top of the seventh inning for the only run of the game, giving Service a chance to close out the historic bid. Rodriguez earned the win and improved to 3-3 on the season, and Service earned his sixth save of the year.
2001: The Indians raked 18 hits in a 10-2 triumph at McCoy Stadium against Pawtucket. Center fielder Lou Collier went 4-for-6 with two home runs, four RBI and three runs scored from the leadoff spot for Indy.
2012: Left-hander Jeff Locke recorded the only 10-plus strikeout game of the season for Indianapolis, striking out a career-high tying 11 batters in 6.1 innings at Louisville. Locke surrendered three runs on four hits and gave up no walks in the outing. He took a no-decision as Indy overcame a 4-1 deficit, scoring one in the eighth and seven runs in the top of the ninth for the 9-4 win. Third baseman Jordy Mercer tied the game in the final frame with a two-run homer, and after Alex Presley reached base safely with a run-scoring fielder's choice, Starling Marte cleared the bases with a grand slam.
2011: Shortstop Josh Harrison went 5-for-5 at Pawtucket as the Indians earned a comeback win, 9-7. Harrison finished the day with three doubles, two RBI, three runs scored and a stolen base. After falling behind 7-0 through three innings, Indianapolis put together a string of four multi-run innings, including a two-run ninth, for the win. Indy's bullpen combined for 7.0 three-hit innings to close out the game, with Tony Watson earning his first win of the season after pitching the eighth.
1970: The Indians won a 23-inning game at Oklahoma City that began on Thursday, May 28 and finished on Friday. The score was tied 5-5 through nine innings, and both teams went scoreless for the next 10 innings before trading runs in the 20th. The Indians broke ahead in the 23rd inning with a four-run frame, and Oklahoma City rallied with one run in the bottom half to finish the game, 10-7. The game time was 6 hours and 37 minutes and remains the longest game by both innings and time in franchise history. Indy outhit OKC 22-16, led by a four-hit performance from 30-year-old right fielder George Kernek. Ross "Crazy Eyes" Grimsley threw the final 6.0 innings for Indy to earn the win.
1963: Right-hander Joe Shipley tossed 7.0 scoreless innings in a 4-0 shutout win for Indy at Rochester. He yielded two hits and four walks with four strikeouts. The outing was his sixth start that May, a month in which he threw four 9.0-inning complete games while going 5-1 with a 1.64 ERA (9er/49.1ip).
2001: The Indians won 11-5 in Syracuse behind a 4-for-4 performance from second baseman Marco Scutaro. The future 2012 World Series champion drove in four runs, scored three times and fell a triple short of the cycle.
2016: Jacob Stallings set a single-game Victory Field record with seven RBI in the Indians' 9-3 win vs. Rochester. The catcher went 4-for-4 with a solo home run, three-run double, RBI triple and another home run to drive in two. Stallings had his contract selected by Pittsburgh just a few weeks later and made his major league debut on June 19.