Indians, 14 1/2 Out of First, Fire Edwards : Cleveland Falls From Position as Contender to 6th Place in AL East

CLEVELAND —  Cleveland Indians Manager Doc Edwards, his team 14 1/2 games out of first place, was fired today and replaced on an interim basis by special assignment scout John Hart.

Hart was third base coach last season at Baltimore and was brought to Cleveland as a scout this year by Indians President Hank Peters, who was formerly general manager of the Orioles.

Edwards’ dismissal was announced by Peters, who said, “This is not a particularly happy occasion for me.”

54-54 at Mid-Summer

Edwards had kept the Indians in contention through mid-summer with Cleveland 54-54 and 1 1/2 games out of first place on Aug. 4. Since then the team went 11-24.

The Indians lost back-to-back extra-inning games to division-leading Toronto on Saturday and Sunday. The team has lost 12 of 14 extra-inning games this season.

The weekend losses dropped the Indians to 14 1/2 games out of first place in the American League East division and 13 games under .500. Both marks were the worst of the season for Cleveland, which had Monday off.

The Indians went into Tuesday night’s start of a home series against Detroit with a 65-78 record, in sixth place in the division.

Through Sunday’s loss, the Indians had lost eight of their last 10 games.

Edwards, 52, was named Cleveland’s 33rd manager July 16, 1987, replacing Pat Corrales. Last year, his first full season with the Indians, the team went 78-84, a 17-win improvement over the 1987 season.