For the 23rd time in franchise history and the eighth time in the past 13 years, the Cleveland Indians will have but one solitary (mandatory) representative in Tuesday night’s MLB All-Star Game. And while we could certainly make an argument that Jason Kipnis deserves some company at the Midsummer Classic down in Cincinnati, we’ve also long since wised up to the fact that the ASG is—for a lack of a better term—a circus of absurdity, where for every great player snubbed, there’s at least one scrub who sneaks his way in.
Granted, I’m using the word “scrub” a tad liberally here, mainly because it rhymes with “snub” and offers some nice, lazy wordplay opportunities. But the point remains. Joe Carter never played in an All-Star Game as an Indian. Nor did Travis Hafner. But you better believe Ronnie Belliard and Matt Lawton did. In fact, you can track this sort of imbalance back through the decades—as the Indians’ exclusive club of past All-Stars includes a pretty big contingent of “how’d he get there?” names. Some may have been the beneficiaries of ballot-box stuffing or a coach’s bias. Others rode the crest of a fluky first half of a season. And still others were simply the best viable option on an otherwise awful team—with all due respect to Jack Kralick in ’64 and Jorge Orta in ‘80. Whatever their path, we certainly can’t begrudge these fellas their moment in the sun. If anything, we should celebrate them.
The Cleveland Indians All-Time “That Guy Was an All-Star?” Team
And just to think, some sportswriters still bring up All-Star Game selections as a factor in a player’s Hall of Fame candidacy.
Oral Hildebrand (SP) – 1933
With a name like Oral Hildebrand, you might think the Indians’ first ever All-Star Scrub was born in 1907 or something. And you would be right. A surprise addition to the inaugural AL-NL All-Star Game in 1933, the 26-year-old righty never actually got a chance to pitch in the game, as a pair of lefties (literally, Lefty Gomez and Lefty Grove) led the American League to a 4-2 win at Comiskey Park. Oral may have felt a bit out of place in a dugout with the likes of Ruth, Gehrig, and Foxx, but he was also fresh off an 11-5 first half record with a league-best five shutouts, so the kid had some confidence brewing. Oh to be young and full of ambition during the Great Depression! As it turned out, unfortunately, Hildebrand would never make another All-Star Game, nor approach the 16 wins he tallied for the ’33 Tribe. He’d retire in 1940 with an 83-78 career record and 4.35 ERA.
Ray Mack (2B) – 1940
A graduate of John Adams High School in Cleveland, Mack served as the Tribe’s pesky second baseman for the majority of the World War II era. He hit just .232 across eight years with a .631 OPS, but in his first full season—as a wide-eyed 23-year-old—he suited up with Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, and teammate Lou Boudreau on the 1940 All-Star team. Young Ray was hitting .318 at the time, and had shown some power, too, with 7 homers. In the game, he pinch-hit for Joe Gordon in the bottom of the eighth inning and went down on strikes against the Cubs’ Larry French. The NL took the contest 4-0, and Ray Mack began his gradual descent into permanent mediocrity.
Oris Hockett (OF) – 1944
The 1944 All-Star Game in Pittsburgh was more of a wartime fundraising effort than anything else, as many of the biggest names in the game were enlisted and fighting overseas. Through this open door strolled 34-year-old Indians outfielder Oris Hockett—a graduate of Denison University and a late bloomer in the Big Leagues. The only thing he ever led the league in was getting caught stealing (18 times) in 1943. But through the midway point of the ’44 season, he was hitting a solid .294 for Lou Boudreau’s club, and earned himself a surprising roster spot on the AL All-Star team alongside teammates Boudreau, Ken Keltner, and Roy Cullenbine. The American League suffered a rare loss, 7-1, and Oris never got in the game. He retired a year later with a career OPS of .694.
Dick Stigman (SP) – 1960
He pitched for only six seasons, posting a 46-54 record, a 4.03 ERA, and nary a single transcendent accomplishment—save for an all-important selection to one All-Star Game, of course. Richard Lewis Stigman—a native son of Nimrod, Minnesota—was actually off to a relatively inauspicious beginning to his rookie season (4-4, 3.80 ERA) when his manager Al Lopez (also manager of the AL All-Stars) decided to drop him into a pool of hurlers that included Whitey Ford and Early Wynn. They actually played two All-Star Games in that summer of 1960 (July 11 in Kansas City and July 13 in New York), but Dick Stigman didn’t end up pitching in either of them. He’d end that season just 5-11 for the Indians, and played out his so-so career mostly with his hometown Twins, never sniffing All-Star status again.
Steve Hargan (SP) – 1967
For whatever reason, AL manager Hank Bauer elected to use future Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter for five innings out of the pen in the 15-inning Midsummer Classic of 1967, leaving Steve Hargan with a DNP in his lone ASG opportunity. Hargan was just 24 years old, and part of an exciting young Indians rotation not unlike the 2015 edition. Usually overshadowed by Sam McDowell, Luis Tiant, and Sonny Siebert, it was Hargan who served as Cleveland’s lone pitcher in the ’67 All-Star Game, riding a 2.68 ERA into the break after leading the league in FIP (2.51) the previous year. He just couldn’t sustain that production much beyond the Summer of Love. By 1971, he was a 1-13 pitcher with a 6.19 ERA, sending him off on a journeyman conclusion to a once promising career.
Sid Monge (RP) – 1979
In May of 1977, the Indians traded their kinda not-that-amazing All-Star closer Dave LaRoche to the Angels for a man who would become their new, not-particularly-outstanding fireman, Sid Monge. The crafty Mexican lefty was abysmal in his first year with the Tribe, posting a 6.23 ERA and 1.89 WHIP in 33 games. In the pre-saves mindset of the late ‘70s, though, he soon settled into a role as the axis of the Indians pen, cleaning up Wayne Garland’s messes. At the All-Star break in ’79, Monge was 6-6 with 9 saves and a 1.75 ERA. He was selected as the Indians’ token representative for the game at Seattle’s Kingdome, and, as per usual, never got off the bench. It was Sid’s only ASG nod in his 10-year career. He retired with a 49-40 record, 3.53 ERA, and 56 saves. Nothing wrong with that.
Ken Schrom (SP) – 1986
I’m glad I didn’t have the unenviable task of informing Joe Carter, Julio Franco, and Brett Butler that their fine efforts weren’t quite up to the All-Star caliber of Ken Schrom in 1986. The Schrominator—a 30-year-old castoff from the Twins—got off to a deceptively impressive start in his first season in Cleveland, putting together a 10-2 record with a 4.17 ERA. Unfortunately, and predictably, Ken never got his number called in the big game, and even more unfortunately, he would only go 4-5 in the second half of the season—finishing with a 4.54 ERA and a 4.96 FIP. On the bright side, those numbers would actually look sparkling compared to the hideously grotesque stats he put up a year later (6-13, 6.50 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, and -1.7 WAR in 1987). As you may have guessed, Schrom’s All-Star selection streak ended at one.
Pat Tabler (1B) – 1987
The “Indian Uprising” hadn’t quite gone as Sports Illustrated had predicted, and when it came time to send their token cap-tipper to Oakland for the ’87 All-Star Game, the Tribe gave power hitters Cory Snyder, Brook Jacoby, and Joe Carter a miss and went straight to their unheralded first baseman—one of the last of the banjo-hitting corner infielders—Patrick Tabler. Now, some might say Pat didn’t quite belong in an infield with Wade Boggs, Cal Ripken, and Willie Randolph. But in reality, the only place Pat Tabler doesn’t belong is on this list. The man they called “Mr. Clutch” was a .282 career hitter in the midst of a career-best season (11 HR, 86 RBI, .307 AVG, .809 OPS in ’87). So what if he never hit more than 2 homers or drove in more than 60 runs any season afterwards? So what if his nearest statistical comps are all largely forgotten 1940s players like Dick Siebert, Johnny Groth, and Babe Dahlgren? Pat Tabler was a terrific ballplayer, and his lone ASG appearance—while less than magical (Sid Fernandez struck him out in a pinch-hit appearance in the 13th inning)—was well deserved.
Sandy Alomar (C) – 1991, 1992
Okay, just kidding. I won’t actually bark up this tree. But do consider that our beloved Sandy never played more than 89 games over a five season span from 1991-1995, and still made a couple All-Star Games while putting up these numbers:
1991: .217 / .264 / .266
1992: .251 / .293 / .324
Ronnie Belliard (2B) – 2004
After the ‘90s saw the Tribe send an influx of legitimate superstars to the All-Star Game every year, fans began to long for the good old days when relatively average journeymen used to represent the club at the Midsummer Classic. In 2004, they finally got their wish, as Eric Wedge’s rebuilding Indians sent a surprising crew of five players to the game in Houston. Two of them were brilliant youngsters (CC Sabathia and Victor Martinez), and one was a steady No. 2 pitcher (Jake Westbrook), but the other two were relatively anonymous on the streets of Cleveland. Ronnie Belliard got just one pinch-hit at-bat in his lone career All-Star appearance, and he struck out. But like Pat Tabler before him, Belliard was actually an underrated little hitter, and he was certainly at an offensive peak during his two-plus year stint in Cleveland (.285 / .337 / .433). Still, across his career, Ronnie’s closest statistical equals at second base include the remarkably average Adam Kennedy, Carlos Guillen, and Damion Easley. People did not tune into the All-Star Game hoping to see Roger Clemens stare down Ronnie Belliard…
Matt Lawton (OF) – 2004
…But perhaps they DID tune in to see Tom Glavine vs. Matt Lawton. If so, the ancient peoples of 2004 would have been delighted to watch the underdog prevail, as Lawton singled in his first at-bat (the only man on this entire list who did anything whatsoever in the actual All-Star Game). Matty would strikeout against Dodgers closer Eric Gagne in his second and final go-round, but nobody except for everybody thought it would be the final ASG at-bat of his career. It’s easy to forget that Lawton—once a top prospect with the Twins—had played in an All-Star game for Minnesota back in 2000. By ’04, though, he was 32 and recovering from two straight awful seasons. This made his numbers in the first half of the 2004 season all the more surprising (15 HR, 49 RBI, .305 AVG). Again, he was a pretty deserving All-Star selection. By the end of the year, though, he had sunk right back into the doldrums, only hitting .239 in the second half with five homers and 21 ribbies. He was out of the league less than two years later. No plans for a Matt Lawton statue are currently in the Progressive Field budget. But indeed, he was an All-Star.
??????? – 2010
This jersey was supposedly worn by a relatively undeserving Cleveland Indian at the 2010 All-Star Game. Looking at the available statistics, however, there is no record of anyone by that name participating in said game.