Indianapolis Indians - History

History

Professional baseball was first played in Indianapolis in 1877. After 15 years of various franchises competing in various leagues (including four years in the National League and one year in the American Association), the current Indianapolis Indians franchise was founded as an original member of the American Association in 1902. That year's team won 95 games, and the first of 21 pennants.

The ballclub played its early seasons at several ballparks, including two on Washington Street, before Norm Perry, who took ownership of the team in 1929, built a new stadium on 16th Street in 1931. He named the park Perry Stadium in honor of his brother James who had been killed in a plane crash. That ballpark, which was renamed Victory Field in 1942 and Bush Stadium in 1967, remained the Tribe's home until July 1996.

Norm Perry sold the team to Frank E. McKinney and Donie Bush in December 1941. Those two men ran the club for 10 seasons.

The Cleveland Indians purchased the team in 1952, but after losing $500,000 on the operation over four seasons, looked to move the team. The Indianapolis community rallied to save the Indians. Funeral director Robert E. Kirby, Chairman of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce Athletic Committee, obtained an option to purchase the franchise from Cleveland. A broad-based sale of stock in the team was organized. Stock was priced at $10 per share with a 100-share limit on individual purchases.

Kirby, William R. Kraft, David M. Lewis, Thomas A. Moynahan and Thomas J. O'Brien got the ball rolling with investments of $200 each, and the certificate of incorporation for Indians, Inc. was received from the state of Indiana on November 9, 1955.

Media promotion of the stock sale was intense. The Indianapolis Star, The Indianapolis News and The Indianapolis Times ran complete lists of stock purchasers and their addresses.

So successful was the drive that the original 16,000-share purchase authorization of capital stock was increased to 25,000 shares by the Secretary of State on December 5 following stockholder approval on November 30. Eventually the new corporation stopped accepting investments in February after a total of 20,488 shares had been purchased by 6,672 investors. Former Indians player, manager, and owner Donie Bush was named the first President of Indians, Inc. He held that position until January 1969.

In 1956, the Indianapolis Indians were 92–62. On May 18, they defeated the Louisville Colonels by a score of 24–0. The Indians went go on to win the 1956 Junior World Series by defeating the Rochester Red Wings. In Game 2 of the Junior World Series, Roger Maris set a record by getting seven RBIs.

Max Schumacher joined the Indians front office as ticket manager in 1957. He added the duties of publicity director in 1959, and became the club's general manager in 1961—a post he held through 1997. Max was also named the team's President in 1969 following Bush's retirement. To this day, he continues as President and Chairman of the Board of Indians, Inc. Under his direction, the corporation has turned a profit for 35 straight years.

The team captured three straight pennants from 1961–63, including the International League championship in 1963. (The Indians competed in the American Association until it briefly disbanded after 1962. The Tribe joined the IL for one season before belonging to the Pacific Coast League from 1964 through 1968. At that point the Indians rejoined the American Association.)

The Indians had been affiliated with several Major League clubs over the years including Cincinnati (1939–41, 1961), Boston Braves (1946–47), Pittsburgh (1948–1951), Cleveland (1952–1956), Philadelphia (1960) and the Chicago White Sox (1962–67). Beginning in 1968 they had a working agreement with the Cincinnati Reds that lasted through 1983. In addition to four first-place finishes and one playoff championship in that time period, Indianapolis fans saw numerous members of "The Big Red Machine" come through town. Players like Pedro Borbón, Bernie Carbo, Dave Concepción, Dan Driessen, George Foster, Ken Griffey, Ray Knight and Hal McRae all donned Tribe uniforms.

The most glorious run in team history came in the 1980s after the team affiliated with the Montreal Expos. In a six-year period (1984–1989), the Indians won four division titles, four straight league championships (1986–1989) and two consecutive Triple-A Classic playoffs (1988–1989) over the champions of the International League. Players such as Delino DeShields, Andrés Galarraga, Marquis Grissom, Randy Johnson, and Larry Walker wore Indianapolis uniforms during those memorable years.

The Indians affiliated again with Cincinnati from 1993–1999. That relationship led to two more pennants and a league championship (1994). In 1998, Triple-A baseball expanded to 30 teams and consolidated into two leagues, with the Indians returning to the International League. After becoming the top affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2000, the Tribe won the league championship and went on to capture the Triple-A World Series in Las Vegas. But sub-.500 finishes during the next four seasons prompted the Indians to break from the Brewers and join the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system for the first time since 1951.

Perhaps the most significant change in Indians history came in 1996 when the team moved downtown to a new ballpark. Taking a name from the past, Victory Field, an $18 million project on the west side of downtown and part of White River State Park, opened on July 11, 1996 as the Tribe hosted the Oklahoma City 89ers. The open-air facility features 13,500 permanent seats and a lawn berm around the outfield that can seat up to 2,000 additional fans. The park also features 29 luxury suites. The ballpark was designed by the same architectural firm that designed Baltimore's Camden Yards and Cleveland's Jacobs Field.

The opening of Victory Field took the Indianapolis Indians to a new level. Attendance nearly doubled with more than 600,000 fans coming to the ballpark in each of the first five full seasons. In January 1999, Baseball America dubbed Victory Field "the best minor league ballpark in America." Those accolades were reinforced in 2001 by Sports Illustrated and minorleaguenews.com.

The national commendations and record attendance marks earned the Indians a share of the national spotlight. On July 11, 2001 representatives from all 30 Triple-A teams came to Indianapolis, and a national TV audience watched on ESPN2 as the Triple-A All-Star Game took place in front of a sellout crowd of 15,868.

Ten Indians players and or managers have enjoyed enough success at the Major League level to warrant induction into baseball's Hall of Fame. Those players are: Grover Cleveland Alexander, Luke Appling, Gabby Hartnett, Harmon Killebrew, Nap Lajoie, Al Lopez, Rube Marquard, Joe McCarthy, Bill McKechnie, Ray Schalk. Bob Uecker was recognized as a Ford C. Frick Award-winning broadcaster.