1971 Oakland Athletics season

The 1971 Oakland Athletics season involved the A's finishing first in the American League West with a record of 101 wins and 60 losses (their best record in the Swingin' A's era). In their first postseason appearance of any kind since 1931, the A's were swept in three games by the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Championship Series.

1971 Oakland Athletics
American League West Champions
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionWest
BallparkOakland-Alameda County Coliseum
CityOakland, California
Record101–60 (.627)
OwnersCharles O. Finley
ManagersDick Williams
TelevisionKBHK-TV
RadioKEST
(Monte Moore, Bob Elson, Red Rush)
← 1970 Seasons 1972 →

Offseason

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Round 5: Rich Dauer (did not sign)
Secondary Phase[2]
Round 1: Phil Garner
Round 3: Steve Staggs (did not sign)

Regular season

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Vida Blue became the first black player in the history of the American League to win the American League Cy Young Award.[3] He was also the youngest AL player in the 20th century to win the MVP Award.[4] During the year, Vida Blue was on the cover of Sports Illustrated and Time magazine.[5]

Season standings

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AL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Oakland Athletics 101 60 .627 46‍–‍35 55‍–‍25
Kansas City Royals 85 76 .528 16 44‍–‍37 41‍–‍39
Chicago White Sox 79 83 .488 22½ 39‍–‍42 40‍–‍41
California Angels 76 86 .469 25½ 35‍–‍46 41‍–‍40
Minnesota Twins 74 86 .463 26½ 37‍–‍42 37‍–‍44
Milwaukee Brewers 69 92 .429 32 34‍–‍48 35‍–‍44

Record vs. opponents

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Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK WSH
Baltimore 9–9 7–5 8–4 13–5 8–10 6–5 9–3 10–2 11–7 7–4 13–3
Boston 9–9 6–6 10–2 11–7 12–6 1–11 6–6 8–4 7–11 3–9 12–6
California 5–7 6–6 8–10 8–4 6–6 8–10 6–12 12–6 6–6 7–11 4–8
Chicago 4–8 2–10 10–8 3–9 7–5 9–9 11–7 7–11 5–7 11–7 10–2
Cleveland 5–13 7–11 4–8 9–3 6–12 2–10 4–8 4–8 8–10 4–8 7–11
Detroit 10–8 6–12 6–6 5–7 12–6 8–4 10–2 6–6 10–8 4–8 14–4
Kansas City 5–6 11–1 10–8 9–9 10–2 4–8 8–10 9–9 5–7 5–13 9–3
Milwaukee 3–9 6–6 12–6 7–11 8–4 2–10 10–8 10–7 2–10 3–15 6–6
Minnesota 2–10 4–8 6–12 11–7 8–4 6–6 9–9 7–10 8–4 8–10 5–6
New York 7–11 11–7 6–6 7–5 10–8 8–10 7–5 10–2 4–8 5–7 7–11
Oakland 4–7 9–3 11–7 7–11 8–4 8–4 13–5 15–3 10–8 7–5 9–3
Washington 3–13 6–12 8–4 2–10 11–7 4–14 3–9 6–6 6–5 11–7 3–9


Opening day starters

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  • 1B Don Mincher
  • 2B Dick Green
  • 3B Sal Bando
  • SS Bert Campaneris
  • LF Felipe Alou
  • CF Rick Monday
  • RF Reggie Jackson
  • C Dave Duncan
  • P Vida Blue

Notable transactions

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Roster

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1971 Oakland Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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= Indicates team leader

Batting

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Starters by position

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Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Dave Duncan 103 363 92 .253 15 40
1B Mike Epstein 104 329 77 .234 18 51
2B Dick Green 144 475 116 .244 12 49
3B Sal Bando 153 538 146 .271 24 74
SS Bert Campaneris 134 569 143 .251 5 47
LF Joe Rudi 127 513 137 .267 10 52
CF Rick Monday 116 355 87 .245 18 56
RF Reggie Jackson 150 567 157 .277 32 80

[9]

Other batters

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Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Ángel Mangual 94 287 82 .286 4 30
Tommy Davis 79 219 71 .324 3 42
Larry Brown 70 189 37 .196 1 9
Gene Tenace 65 179 49 .274 7 25
George Hendrick 42 114 27 .237 0 8
Curt Blefary 50 101 22 .218 5 12
Don Mincher 28 98 22 .239 2 8
Mike Hegan 65 55 13 .236 0 3
Dwain Anderson 16 37 10 .270 0 3
Steve Hovley 24 27 3 .111 0 3
Adrian Garrett 14 21 3 .143 1 2
Frank Fernández 4 9 1 .111 0 1
Felipe Alou 2 8 2 .250 0 0
Tony LaRussa 23 8 0 .000 0 0
Ramon Webster 7 5 0 .000 0 0
Ron Clark 2 2 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Vida Blue 39 312.0 24 8 1.82 301
Catfish Hunter 37 273.2 21 11 2.96 181
Chuck Dobson 30 189.0 15 5 3.81 100
Diego Seguí 26 146.1 10 8 3.14 81
Blue Moon Odom 25 140.2 10 12 4.29 69

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Rob Gardner 4 7.2 0 0 2.35 5

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Rollie Fingers 48 4 6 17 2.99 98
Bob Locker 47 7 2 6 2.86 46
Darold Knowles 43 5 2 7 3.59 40
Jim Roland 31 1 3 1 3.18 30
Ron Klimkowski 26 2 2 2 3.38 25
Mudcat Grant 15 1 0 3 1.98 13
Paul Lindblad 8 1 0 0 3.94 4
Daryl Patterson 4 0 0 0 7.94 2
Jim Panther 4 0 1 0 11.12 4
Marcel Lachemann 1 0 0 0 54.00 0

Awards and honors

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All-Stars

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1971 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

1971 American League Championship Series

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Game 1

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Sunday, October 3, 1971, at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Oakland 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 9 0
Baltimore 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 0 X 5 7 1
WP: Dave McNally (1–0)   LP: Vida Blue (0–1)   Sv: Eddie Watt (1)

Game 2

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Monday, October 4, 1971, at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Oakland 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 0
Baltimore 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 2 X 5 7 0
WP: Mike Cuellar (1–0)   LP: Catfish Hunter (0–1)
Home runs:
OAK: None
BAL: Brooks Robinson (1), Boog Powell 2 (2), Elrod Hendricks (1)

Game 3

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Tuesday, October 5, 1971, at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Baltimore 1 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 5 12 0
Oakland 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 3 7 0
WP: Jim Palmer (1–0)   LP: Diego Seguí (0–1)
Home runs:
BAL: None
OAK: Reggie Jackson 2 (2), Sal Bando (1)

Farm system

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Level Team League Manager
AAA Iowa Oaks American Association Sherm Lollar
AA Birmingham A's Southern League Phil Cavarretta
A Burlington Bees Midwest League Harry Bright
A-Short Season Coos Bay-North Bend A's Northwest League Jim Reinebold

References

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  1. ^ 1971 Oakland Athletics Picks in the MLB June Amateur Draft
  2. ^ 1971 Oakland Athletics Picks in the MLB January Amateur Draft (secondary phase)
  3. ^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 199, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  4. ^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 152
  5. ^ Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.148, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
  6. ^ Darold Knowles page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Curt Blefary page at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ Champ Summers page at Baseball Reference
  9. ^ 1971 Oakland Athletics at Baseball Reference
  10. ^ American League Cy Young Award winners at Baseball Reference
  11. ^ 1971 Cy Young Award voting results at Baseball Reference
  12. ^ American League Most Valuable Player Award winners at Baseball Reference
  13. ^ a b 1971 Most Valuable Player award voting results at Baseball Reference
  14. ^ www.rauzulusstreet.com
  15. ^ a b c 1971 All-Star game at Baseball Reference
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