Eddie Leon - 5 seasons (1968-72) - Leon only wore the Number 11 during his final season as an Indians player. Before that, he wore Number 24, so we'll see him again later. In '72, he had 225 at-bats in 89 games. He had 45 hits, 2 doubles, 1 triple, and knocked in 4 homers, all of which netted him 14 runs and 16 RBIs. He was traded to the White Sox in 1972 for Walt Williams after accumulating only a .200 average on the season.
Frankie Hayes - 2 seasons (1945-46) - Hayes may have left the Tribe with a .246 overall average, but in his two seasons, he got on the All-Star team in one of those (1946). And the other season didn't have an all-star game (1945). Not too shabby. Overall, he had 541 at-bats in 170 games with 131 hits, 27 doubles, 6 triples and 9 home runs. He brought in 61 RBIs and walked 74 times while striking out 78 times. Hayes served as catcher to Bob Feller in the post-war all-star game. Now, that's not a bad gig at all.
Frankie Pytlak - 9 seasons (1932-40) - We took a look at Pytlak a few uniform numbers ago when he sported the Number 8. That was the 2nd half of his Tribe career. During the first part of his years with the Indians, he wore the Number 11. During those first five seasons, he racked up a respectable .285 average. He had two .300+ seasons and another in which he batted .295. He made 939 plate appearances in 313 games while wearing Number 11. He scored 136 runs with 275 hits, 44 doubles, 16 triples. Incredibly, he only had 3 home runs. As a side note, in his entire twelve-year MLB career, he played in 700 games. He was a catcher in 699 of those. Only in one game in 1940 did he get moved to right field. I don't know how he fared at the plate during that game, but his fielding percentage as a goose-egg... Based on his stats, he never had a play oon the ball. Weird.
Hank Ruszkowski - 3 seasons (1944-45,47) - Ruszkowski was born in Cleveland, grew up in Cleveland, played for the Indians three seasons and just over 50 years later died and is buried in Cleveland. A true Triber in every sense. he played while most of the other players were off at war. During his three-year stint, he had 84 at-bats in 40 games. He hit three home runs in his career with 2 doubles, 20 hits and scored 8 runs with 10 RBIs. He left the majors with a .238 average.
Herb Conyers - 1 season (1950) - Conyers played in only seven games during his career. In those seven games, he scored 2 runs, had 3 hits, and hit a homer. He struck out twice and was walked once. He ended his career batting a .333 average. He died a short 16 years later.
Jamie Easterly - 5 seasons (1983-87) - Easterly only wore Number 11 for a portion of his last season in the majors. We'll meet up with him again later. Since his final season is split, we'll go ahead and talk about the whole 1987 stat log. We went 1-1 with a 4.55 ERA in 31.2 innings pitched. He gave up 26 hits, 16 earned runs, 17 runs and 4 homers. He also struck out 22 batters and walked 13. He had suffered injury off and on during his time with the Tribe and at the end of '87, he was let go.
Jeff Branson - 2 seasons (1997-98) - Branson came to the Tribe in a 2-for-4 player swap with the Reds. He served as the utility infielder during his days in an Indians uniform. He was lucky enough to have joined the Tribe the same year they went to the World Series against the Marlins. He had one at-bat as a pinch hitter in the series, which unfortunately resulted in a strikeout. He left Cleveland for free agency in 1999 with a .232 batting average overall. While making his 172 plate showings, he scored 11 runs, 39 hits, 8 doubles, 1 triple and 3 home runs. He also struck out 38 times, making just as likely to strike out as to get a hit.
Jeff Moronko - 1 season (1984) - I don't believe I'd ever heard of Moronko before the countdown. He batted in only 7 games in '84, though he made 19 appearances. He struck out 5 times and walked three. He had 3 hits, scored 1 run, had a double, and brought in 3 RBIs. He left with a .158 batting average to return to the minors for a few years before the Yankees picked him up (in '87) for only seven more games.
Joe Adcock - 1 season (1963) - It surprised me to discover that Adcock only played one season with the Indians because I know I have several of his baseball cards for the Tribe. The reason? well, after playing in '63, then a few years for the Angels, he came back to the Tribe in '67 to manage them for a season. As for his playing time in Cleveland, he had 71 hits, 28 runs, 7 doubles, 1 triple, and 13 home runs. He had 49 RBIs and struck out 53 times. He left the Tribe with a .251 batting average.
Eddie Leon was my first favorite White Sox. He did worse for the Sox than he did for the Indians and Bucky Dent soon replaced him.
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