Terry Francona in Cleveland Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1988

As a player, Francona played in 62 games for the Tribe as a first baseman. While his defense was nothing spectacular, he batted a pretty robust .311 in 222 plate appearances, so he was pretty productive with a bat at least. He was ultimately let go after battling issues with a nagging knee injury that limited him to just 62 games.
He retired two years later in 1990, as a Milwaukee Brewer (he started back in 1981 with the Montreal Expos).

Answer: More

It was a dramatic improvement, going from a hopeless 68 win season to a 92 win campaign that saw them advance into the postseason. Unfortunately, their October ride didn't last very long, losing a drawn out affair to the Tampa Bay Rays 4-0 in that year's wild card game.

Adding a bit of personal touch to the II, I vividly recall 2013 as this is the year that watching the Indians every day after high school got out was something I began to look forward to. Personal things in my life were not going too, too great, but I was an avid sports fan, so having a quality team to finally watch since the Browns were horrible again and the Cavs still hadn't found their way in the post-LeBron era either was nice.

Answer: Manager of the Year

Shortly after the season ended, Francona was awarded with the American League Manager of the Year award. While he did obtain a contract extension, the MLB cannot issue those itself, and the question did specify "by the MLB."

Answer: No

Devastatingly for Francona, his team would become well known in MLB history for blowing a 3-1 series lead over the Chicago Cubs, dropping three straight games to lose the best of seven series 4-3. Prior to this, Francona's Indians had looked unstoppable, sweeping the Boston Red Sox and breezing aside the Toronto Blue Jays along the way.

They were unstoppable until their last three games of the season; alas, such is life.

Answer: Oakland Athletics, 20 wins in a row

The 2002 Oakland Athletics went on a 20 game win streak that did set the AL record at the time. It's worth noting that, despite only setting the mark by two games, the Indians were far more statistically dominant than the 2002 A's were. Cleveland nearly doubled them in runs +/- 105-56, and the Indians only trailed at the end of 8/199 innings they played during their streak, whereas Oakland's streak was a lot more "human" in a manner of speaking.
The MLB record is 26 straight by the 1916 NY Giants.

Answer: 3

Francona signed his first contract with the team in 2013. His first contract was, interestingly, just a one year pact. This was fairly unusual for a manager, as they tend to sign on for multiple years. No reason was ever officially given for this, but it didn't matter, as Francona would end up staying in Cleveland for a long time anyway.

After 2014, he signed a two year extension, which then turned into a three year extension in 2016, wrapping it up with a third and final extension of the same length in 2019.

In 2023, Francona's career with Cleveland finally ended, as he resigned due to health issues.

Answer: 3

In his first season with the team in 2013, once more in 2016, then one final time in 2022, Francona was labeled the AL Manager of the Year. In 2013, this was essentially a foregone conclusion at the time he received the award, but in 2016 and especially 2022, Francona had some pretty stiff competition. Scott Servais of Seattle was thought to have an edge on Francona, due to him taking a downtrodden Mariners team into the playoffs after years of mediocrity and losing - something which earned Francona himself the award in 2013.

Answer: Most wins all-time by a Cleveland manager

This was slightly controversial, as Francona had missed time in 2021 recovering from surgery from a staph infection, prompting DeMarlo Hale to assume interim responsibilities. Because Hale was considered the 'interim' manager and not the full time, all of the wins earned by Hale were credited to Francona. This caused Francona to have set the record at 753 wins as a Cleveland manager.

Answer: 4

2016-2017-2018-2022 are when Cleveland hoisted the AL Central crown. 2016 is when they went to the World Series and lost to Chicago. The other three years were a bit more disappointing, as the Indians lost in the ALDS in each of them, twice to the New York Yankees.

Answer: Cincinnati Reds

In his first season with the Reds in 2025, Terry Francona managed to take the team to the playoffs. This was after the Reds had been fairly mediocre for several years. In Francona's first season, they went to the playoffs. Gee, where have we heard of a similar story?