[BobC]

Bill Wambsganss - October 10,1920. Only player to ever have an unassisted triple play in the World Series, against the Brooklyn Robins in an 8-1 win. Also in that same game, Elmer Smith hit the first ever grand slam in WS history, and Jim Bagby hit the first ever home run by a pitcher in WS history. All three players were Indians.

Ray Chapman - August 17, 1920. Only MLB player to die as a direct result of an injury incurred playing in a ML game when he got hit in the head by a pitch from Carl Mays.

Bob Feller - April 16, 1940. Pitched the only Opening Day no hitter in MLB history, for a 1-0 win over the White Sox. August 23, 1936. In his first ever ML start, Feller struck out 15 batters, setting the MLB record for strikeouts by a pitcher in their ML starting debut. Mother's Day, May 14,1939, Feller's Mother is in attendance to watch him pitch, and gets hit in the face by a foul ball off the bat of the White Sox' Marv Owen. Feller goes on to win the game. In 1936, Feller was signed to a professional contract by Indians scout, Cy Slapnicka, for $1 and an autographed baseball, and then ended up playing not even one second in any minor league game before making his ML debut with the Indians, which was against MLB rules at the time stating only minor league teams could sign amateurs to contracts. Then MLB Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis investigated and decided the Indians did break the rule with both Feller and Tommy Heinrich, another Indians signee that same year they tried to take straight to the ML club, and fined the team $7,500. Landis also ruled Feller and Heinrich as free agents, and allowed them to go and sign with any team they wanted, as at least a partial result of Feller's father threatening to sue Landis and MLB if they tried to stop his son playing for the Indians. Of course, Feller stayed with Cleveland while Heinrich ran off to the Yankees (just another reason Feller was beloved by Cleveland fans). I believe this technically makes Feller (and Heinrich) the first ever declared free agent(s) in MLB history, far earlier than Catfish Hunter in 1974. After his inaugural season with the Indians, Feller returned home to Iowa to start his senior year of high school, only to be greeted and welcomed home by the governor of Iowa himself. Feller's fame from his record setting 1936 rookie season, when he equaled the then all-time single game strikeout record of 17, also held by Dizzy Dean, was so great and received such national attention that he was considered by some as the most famous young person in America at the time, maybe second only to Shirley Temple. Feller is arguably the first pitcher to ever have one of his pitches determined to be faster than 100MPH (and by some accounts may be considered the second fastest pitcher of all time, behind only Nolan Ryan). Could continue with Feller, but will stop here.

Addie Joss - July 24, 1911. That was the date of the in-season memorial game to honor Addie Joss who had prematurely died back in April of that year from tubercular meningitis. That was an exhibition game, solely to raise money for Joss' widow and children, between the Cleveland Naps and a team of stars and other well-known players from the AL. Because Joss was so well liked and respected around the league, pretty much everyone enthusiastically volunteered, including the likes of Ty Cobb and Walter Johnson. The only AL team that wasn't represented was the White Sox. Ed Walsh couldn't get to the game due to Chicago's travel schedule. This marked the first ever ML type game like this, during the regular season, featuring a team of current all-stars. It was also credited by many as the inspiration and forerunner of the official MLB All-Star game, which began in 1933. And it was also the only time in history, to my knowledge, Ty Cobb ever appeared in a ML type/level game in anything other than a Tiger's uniform. Cobb's Detroit uniform got misplaced/lost, so he had to borrow and wear a Cleveland uniform for the game.

Larry Doby - July 5, 1947. Doby made his debut as the first ever black player in the AL for the Indians during a road game in Chicago. He was second only to Jackie Robinson to being the first ever black player in MLB history by about three months. Doby was the first ever black player to go right from a Negro League team to an MLB team, without ever playing in the minors. And Doby, along with Satchell Paige, were the first ever black players on a World Series championship team when Cleveland won the AL pennant and WS title in 1948.

Frank Robinson - April 8, 1975. Robinson debuts as the first ever black manager (and player manager) in MLB history for the Indians in the season's home opener against the Yankees in Cleveland. And not only does the Tribe triumph 5-3 behind a complete game performance by starter Gaylord Perry, in his very first at bat as a manager/Indian in the bottom of the first, Robinson belts a home run.

Cleveland Indians -1932-1946. Though not exactly a single event, despite the opening of Clevend's Municipal Stadium in 1932, the Indians continued to split playing their regular season games between Municipal Stadium and League Park, which had been in use since the 1890's, from 1932 all the the way through the end of the 1946 season. Due to the much larger size and costs to operate Municipal Stadium, most all weekday games during those 15 years were played at League Park, with games played at Municipal Stadium mostly relegated to weekends and holidays, when the crowds would typically be bigger. Don't believe anything was done like that, and for such a prolonged period of time, by any other team in MLB history.

Albert Belle - July 15, 1994. In the first inning of an Indians-White Sox game in Chicago, White Sox manager Gene Lamont uses a tip and challenges the umpires that Belle is using a corked bat, which is then confiscated and locked in the umpire's dressing room for later examination. However, later on while the game was still in progress, Indians pitcher Jason Grimsley takes a bat of teammate Paul Sorrento, and with a flashlight in his mouth crawls through the area above the false ceiling in the clubhouse to get into the umpire's room and swap the bats. They had to use a different player's bat as apparently the Indians knew all of Belle's bats were corked. But there was a big mess left by Grimsley and the umps knew it was a different bat anyway, so the FBI got called in and the Indians confronted and forced to turn over one of Belle's bats, which was indeed found to be corked. Belle got suspended, but then the whole incident became mute and largely forgotten when not long after the rest of the season got cancelled due to the player's strike. In 1995 Belle becomes the only 50/50 man in MLB history, hitting 52 doubles and 50 home runs during the strike shortened 144 game regular season. And then in 1997 Belle becomes the first player in MLB history to ever receive an annual salary of at least $10M.