Tribe deals Rick Sutcliffe to Cubs for Joe Carter, Mel Hall: On this date in Cleveland Indians history
Joe Carter #JoeCarter
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Was it an infected tooth that hastened pitcher Rick Sutcliffe’s departure from the Cleveland Indians on June 13, 1984? Maybe.
Sutcliffe, the American League ERA champ with the Indians in 1982 and a 17-game winner in 1983, dealt with dental issues for most of May. The pain contributed to him going 4-5 at the start of the season with a 5.15 ERA. The infection caused him to lose 17 pounds and prompted troubles with equilibrium, control and hearing in his right ear.
By June, Cleveland general manager Phil Seghi dealt Sutcliffe, along with reliever George Frazier and catcher Ron Hassey to the Chicago Cubs for outfielders Mel Hall, Joe Carter and others. The move proved to benefit both teams as Sutcliffe would go on to post a 16-1 record and a 2.69 ERA the rest of the season to win the National League Cy Young Award and lead the Cubs to the NL East Division title.
The Indians had acquired the 6-foot-7 righty from Independence, Missouri, in 1982 after parts of five seasons with the Dodgers. Sutcliffe famously butted heads with Los Angeles’ Tommy Lasorda, flipping the manager’s desk over during an argument while the club was in the middle of winning the World Series.
Sutcliffe finished fifth in American League Cy Young voting in 1982 and was an All-Star for the Indians in 1983. Hall and Carter would go on to become cornerstones in the Indians outfield for the remainder of the 1980s while Sutcliffe found success as one of the fixtures in the Cubs’ rotation into the 1990s.
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