If asked to name a team with a young starting lineup, you might think of last year’s Royals (with 2 first-year players, and no regulars over age 27); or one of the famous “fire-sale” remnants like the 1999 Marlins or 1917 Athletics (neither had a single PA by a nonpitcher who had seen his 30th birthday); or the 1950 Phillies‘ “Whiz Kids”; or maybe the ’78 Tigers, breaking in Alan Trammell (20), Lou Whitaker (21) and Lance Parrish (22) alongside veterans Jason Thompson and Steve Kemp (both 23).

But while there’s no official measure of lineup age, the 1973 Cleveland Indians get my vote for Youngest Lineup Ever. Here are their 12 regulars (300+ PAs), by age:

Youthful Distinctions of the ’73 Indians

• 11 players age 27 or under had 300+ PAs — 2 more than any other team in MLB history.
• 8 players age 24 or under played 100+ games — also 2 more than any other team.
• No one older than 24 got 400 PAs; no other team has done that in a full season (and just 2 in strike-shortened years).
• The average age of an Indians hitter was 24.50 (weighted per PA).
• Their most frequent 9-man lineup began the season with an average of 184 games of MLB experience. At season’s start, over 20 MLB players had more experience than those 9 Indians combined.

The average age of a 1973 Indians batter (weighted per PA*) was 24.50 years. By that standard, I’ve found just one younger team:

• 1975 Expos, 24.37 years

But those ‘Spos, while chock-full of youngsters, also played 32-year-old Bob Bailey (106 G, 279 PAs) and 29-year-old Larry Biittner (121 G, 384 PAs). And their top 8 batsmen had a little more experience than Cleveland’s bunch, averaging 199 MLB games before ’75.

How Did We Get Here?

The Tribe entered 1973 mired in the first long dry patch in club history. Until 1962, Cleveland had never been under .500 for 3 straight seasons. But things began to sour when their 1959 pennant hopes fizzled in a stretch run that saw them drop 4 straight at home to Chicago in a battle for 1st place heading into September. Two days before the 1960 opener, GM Frank Lane traded fan favorite Rocky Colavito — the reigning HR champ, just 26 and with two straight 40-HR seasons — straight-up for 29-year-old batting champ Harvey Kuenn.

That trade, which capped a complete roster turnover by “Trader” Lane in just a few years, left fans fuming (and staying home), and ultimately cost him his job. Five years later, Gabe Paul compounded the error by bringing Colavito back at the price of three good players — catcher John Romano (2-time All Star and 20-HR hitter), young power-speed CF Tommie Agee, and a 22-year-old lefty with a 2-11 record (but 100 ERA+) named Tommy John. Romano alone had more WAR than Colavito over the next 2 years; Agee became the 1966 Rookie of the Year; John would finish with 288 wins. And the Indians settled into the long darkness that became known as the Curse of Rocky Colavito.

They had 5 straight losing seasons from 1960-64, and after a modest revival, they collapsed in ’69 with 99 losses, their most since 1914. They would finish 6th or 5th for the first 5 years of the divisional era, tying the club record with 102 losses in ’71. They won 72 in ’72, with a moribund offense led by Graig Nettles (team highs of 17 HRs, 70 RBI, 65 Runs, and 57 walks).

Instant Makeover

In the fall of ’72, Gabe Paul made a string of deals that seemed to brighten the future, even though it cost them their best regular:

• Nettles, liberated from Minnesota’s outfield 3 years ago (for a sore-armed Luis Tiant), quickly became the best hot-corner glove in the game and Cleveland’s best
  regular over 1970-72. In 1971 he was among the league’s all-around best, with a .350 OBP, 28 HRs, and defensive stats — 3.61 chances per game, 54 DPs(!) with just 16 errors — that rank 5th all-time in defensive runs saved at 3B. But his numbers fell off in1972, and even though some of that was just context, Bell was ready to take over at 3B after a solid rookie year in CF. So Nettles, who had just turned 28, went to the Yankees for a package of 21-year-old OF Charlie Spikes (who’d just led the Eastern League in OPS), 24 -year-old C/1B John Ellis (who’d batted .345/1.019 his last year in the minors), and 24-year-old OF Rusty
  Torres (one of the top hitters in AAA two years before).
• George Hendrick, age 23, the 1st pick of the ’68 draft who had a 1.029 OPS at AAA two years before, was acquired from Oakland for Ray Fosse, whose promising career never got back on track after Pete Rose flattened him in the 1970 All-Star game. That deal also brought 27-year-old backstop Dave Duncan, who’d averaged 15 HRs and a 105 OPS+ in the past 3 years.
• Oscar Gamble, still just 23 despite 3 disappointing half-years in Philly, was picked up for Del Unser, sent packing after one dreadful year in Cleveland (.238, 1 HR).

The new lineup had young talent from top to bottom. Duncan, at 27 with 509 games in the majors, would be the oldest regular; newcomer Ellis (24, 235) shared the catching duties while also backing up at 1B and DH. With Bell (age 21, 132 MLB games) moving from CF to 3B, the all-new outfield was LF Spikes (22, 14 games), CF Hendrick (23, 100) and RF Torres (24, 89), with Gamble (23, 278) mostly DHing. The holdovers were 1971 Rookie of the Year 1B Chris Chambliss (24, 232); sophomore 2B Jack Brohamer (23, 136); and SS Frank Duffy (26, 170), a bonus from the prior fall’s Sam McDowell-for-Gaylord Perry swindle. The top backups were home-grown John Lowenstein (26, 143), a solid bat in search of a position, and Walt (No-Neck) Williams, a veritable fossil at age 29.

The starting rotation was mostly intact from the ’72 staff that ranked 4th in AL run prevention. In ’72, Gaylord Perry won the Cy Young Award with one of the greatest seasons in live-ball history (10.5 WAR, 170 ERA+). Rookie Dick Tidrow had a 118 ERA+ in 237 IP, while 22-year-old Milt Wilcox (96 ERA+ in 156 IP) showed more than enough to justify the trade that brought him over from Cincinnati for on-the-way-out CF Ted Uhlaender. Steve Dunning, the #2 pick in the 1970 June draft, had been brought up in July and went 6-4 with a 100 ERA+ in 16 starts. Any rotation openings would likely go to swingman Ray Lamb or rookie Brent Strom, another high draft pick lifted from the Mets that fall for one-year-relief-wonder Phil Hennigan.

The Results

So how did it all work out? Mainly, it didn’t; Cleveland finished 71-91, last in the AL East. The baby-faced lineup was OK, scoring near the league average. Their AL-best 158 HRs (with Spikes, Hendrick and Gamble all reaching 20) was offset by a league-worst BB total (not surprising for a young team) that left them last in OBP. Bell handled the defensive chores about as well as Nettles had in ’72 and had a 100 OPS+, but was miscast as a leadoff man, with a .325 OBP (AL avg. was .332) and just 7 steals in 22 tries. Chambliss, the #1 overall pick in 1970, was in a holding pattern, repeating the 104 OPS+ from his ROY season. Torres was a disaster, with a 74 OPS+ and subpar defense; his first year of 300+ ABs would prove to be his last. Brohamer had a 67 OPS+, his second straight poor hitting year, but Duffy continued to be a pleasant surprise, producing 2.7 WAR between his glove and his stick.

But the pitching staff, backed by poor team defense, fell apart. Perry did match his ’72 endurance almost exactly, with 29 CG (his 19 wins were all CG, with just 23 runs allowed), but his ERA+ fell to 118. The rest of the rotation just didn’t come through. Tidrow saw his ERA+ fall to 90, and no other SP did even that well. Strom went 2-10 with an 87 ERA+, and would spend the next year back in the minors. Milt Wilcox saw his ERA+ plunge to 68. Dunning got off to a slow start and was traded for veteran Dick Bosman, the ’69 ERA champ whose career was unraveling; Bosman went 1-8, 6.22 in 17 starts. A parade of stopgaps all floundered, as only Perry and Tidrow made 20+ starts.

And the relief corps was awful, with a league-worst 4.38 ERA. Outside of journeyman Tom Hilgendorf (127 ERA+ in 95 IP) and a 2-month cameo by waiver pickup Ken Sanders, no other reliever had an ERA+ over 87. Jerry Johnson, the closer for the ’71 division-winning Giants, was Cleveland’s leader with 29 GF, but had a 6.18 ERA in 60 IP. The ‘pen was so bad that the club took a chance on Mike Kekich, owner of the greatest notoriety-to-performance ratio in MLB history; he was acquired from the Yanks in June and rang up a 7.02 in 50 IP. (Kekich, who debuted with the World Champion ’65 Dodgers at age 20 — and was pummeled — averaged 133 IP from 1968-72 without ever getting his ERA+ over 80, then capped that run by swapping families with teammate Fritz Peterson. His career 73 ERA+ in 861 innings is the worst in modern history with at least 500 IP, and his career WAR of -5.8 is the worst in the live-ball era. Cleveland released Kekich in March ’74; a month later, they traded Chambliss and Tidrow for a package fronted by … Fritz Peterson.)

Beyond ’73

The Nettles trade proved a big disappointment. Not one of Spikes, Ellis and Torres reached 3,000 career PAs, and their combined WAR from the time of that trade was 0.7. Nettles had that much in a typical month, topping 4 WAR for 6 straight years in the Bronx with an average of 5.3; for 1973-78, Nettles was 2nd only to Mike Schmidt in WAR by a 3B.

Bell remained a good player year after year with Cleveland, but never advanced beyond his ’73 total of 3.6 WAR. In December ’78 he was sent to Texas in a challenge trade for 3B Toby Harrah. Bell’s first 3 years in Texas would be his career peak — no surprise, for ages 27-29 — with 6+ WAR each year and an average of 6.4. In 1979, he tied Nettles’ stellar 1971 mark in defensive runs saved. For 1979-84 combined, the 3B WAR leaders went Schmidt, Bell, Brett, and a steep drop to the rest of the field. Harrah, who was 3 years older at the time of the deal, averaged 3.4 WAR in 5 years with Cleveland.

Hendrick spent 3 more years with Cleveland, averaging 23 HRs and a 118 OPS+, and was twice an All-Star. But his defense lagged — he averaged -0.8 dWAR in his 4 full years there — and in the fall of ’76, the 26-year-old Hendrick was shipped to San Diego for a trio of role players. Hendrick immediately had his best offensive season, and for 1977-83 combined he had a 129 OPS+, helping St. Louis win it all in ’82.

Oscar Gamble had a 140 OPS+ in ’74, his 3.6 WAR ranking #2 among DHs. Before the year was out, Cleveland dealt for the #1 DH, Frank Robinson. Gamble played the outfield in ’75, badly, and his offense slipped a little. So he was traded — before his 26th birthday — for an almost-done Pat Dobson. Over the next 7 years, Gamble would average a 146 OPS+ and 2.5 WAR in part-time play, a rate of 5.0 WAR/700 PAs.

And it would be 20 years before Cleveland got back in contention.

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Some other young lineups, by weighted average age:*

• 1915 Indians, 24.70
• 1920 A’s, 24.71
• 1976 Expos, 24.73
• 1911 Red Sox, 24.83 (WS champs the next year)
• 1966 Red Sox, 24.87 (AL champs the next year)
• 1967 A’s, 24.92
• 1968 A’s, 24.89
• 1956 Pirates, 24.95
• 1921 A’s, 24.99
• 1972 Padres 24.99
• 1967 Red Sox, 25.08 (AL Champs; regular lineup all 27 or under)
• 1973 Padres, 25.11
• 1978 Braves, 25.11
• 1999 Marlins, 25.11 (the “fire sale” was now complete)
• 1974 Giants, 25.15
• 1911 Giants, 25.16 (NL Champs)
• 1915 White Sox, 25.18
• 1982 Twins, 25.24
• 1950 Orioles, 25.28
• 1972 Giants, 25.28
• 1910 Dodgers (Superbas), 25.32
• 1917 Cardinals, 25.35
• 1913 Athletics, 25.36 (WS Champs)
• 1923 Cubs, 25.36
• 1993 Expos, 25.36 (94 wins, 3 GB)
• 1966 Astros, 25.37
• 1949 Phillies, 25.41 (NL champs the next year)
• 1998 Marlins, 25.41
• 2006 Marlins, 25.44
• 1968 Astros, 25.51
• 1973 Giants, 25.53
• 1977 Padres, 25.53
• 2011 Royals, 25.82

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* Baseball-Reference posts average ages for each team’s hitters, based on a combination of (as B-R says) “AB + Games.” My averages are based strictly on PAs. Also, I exclude all PAs by those who were primarily pitchers; I can’t tell if B-R has done the same.