by In 1992 his numbers continued to grow and improve as he hit for a .260 average while knocking in 112 RBI and belting 34 homeruns.
The team around him was getting better as well with rookie centerfielder Kenny Lofton playing great and taking pressure off of Belle, allowing him to cover less territory in the outfield.
Carlos Baerga was coming of age and hitting third, this gave Belle plenty of chances to drive Baerga and Lofton in, creating great RBI numbers for Belle who almost always cashed in. Baerga was the only player to hit over 300 on the entire team, going 312 with 105 RBI, 205 hits and 20 homeruns. Baerga continued to provide the 1-2 punch with Belle that was needed.
His protection in the lineup improved as well, as Paul Sorrento batted fifth in the order most of the season. Sorrento did his best to protect Belle with 24 doubles, 60 RBI and 18 homers. With a dangerous hitter in front of him in Baerga, and a suitable hitter behind him in Sorrento, Belle was cashing in.
Sandy Alomar only appeared in 89 games as his lack of presence behind the plate, once again hurt the rotation. They were awful with only Charles Nagy putting up solid numbers. Nagy won 17 games, striking out 169 batters and at the age of 25, looked like their ace of the future.
Belles on field play helped the team improve as well. Their win total jumped from 57 to 76. A 19 game improvement for Mike Hargrove who finished his first full year as skipper.
Hargrove had a lot to be positive about too, as his best players were all very young. Belle and Lofton were 25, Baerga only 23 and Sorrento and Alomar 26. Now, they just needed to build chemistry and confidence.
The Indians were doing everything they could to help Belle have a great career, he just kept getting in his own way at times. He landed a three-game suspension for charging the mound when Kansas City pitcher Steve Neal threw one a little too close to his head.
He was causing issues with teammates as well. The Indians had a ping pong table in their clubhouse, it was a big hit amongst the players and kept them loose. One ugly day, Belle got annoyed and took one of the paddles and whacked a visiting chef from Maryland with one of the paddles.
Belle also liked the clubhouse cold and frozen; much like him. He wanted the thermostat close to 60 degrees at all times, one day a teammate made the mistake of turning it up and Belle took it upon himself to grab a bat and destroy the thermostat in yet another fit of rage.
It got to the point that the Indians were routinely billing him about $10,000 a year for damage done to the locker rooms both at home and on the road.
It continued during batting practice one day when media members were seeking interviews with the players and Belle refused to turn down his blaring hip hop music from the stereo.
A teammate had the nerve to switch it to salsa music which caused Belle to snap and take the tape out, destroying it, then putting his hip hop back on. The twelve-step program he took for alcoholism worked, now he just needed one for anger.
