1971 Minnesota Twins season

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1971 Minnesota Twins
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionWest
BallparkMetropolitan Stadium
CityBloomington, Minnesota
OwnersCalvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes)
General managersCalvin Griffith
ManagersBill Rigney
TelevisionWTCN-TV
(Halsey Hall, Frank Buetel, Bob Allison)
Radio830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, Halsey Hall, Ray Christensen)
← 1970 Seasons 1972 →

The 1971 Minnesota Twins finished 74–86, fifth in the American League West. 940,858 fans attended Twins games, the fifth-highest total in the American League, the first time the Twins failed to attract over one million fans since moving to Minnesota.

Regular season

Five Twins made the All-Star Game: first baseman Harmon Killebrew, second baseman Rod Carew, shortstop Leo Cárdenas, outfielder Tony Oliva, and pitcher Jim Perry.

On August 10, at Metropolitan Stadium, slugger Harmon Killebrew hit his 500th career home run, in the first inning off the Baltimore Orioles' Mike Cuellar. He followed that in the sixth inning with his 501st, also off Cuellar.

Lead off batter César Tovar led the AL with 204 hits and was second with 94 runs. Tony Oliva won his third batting title with a .337 average and led the AL with a .546 slugging percentage. Harmon Killebrew hit 28 HR and 119 RBI. Rod Carew hit .307.

Jim Perry (17–17), Bert Blyleven (16–15), and Jim Kaat (13–14) were the Twins' best pitchers. Kaat won his tenth Gold Glove Award.

Shortstop Leo Cárdenas topped the AL with a .985 fielding percentage—the highest for an American League shortstop since records began in 1901.

Season standings

AL West 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Oakland Athletics 101 60 0.627 — 46–35 55–25
Kansas City Royals 85 76 0.528 16 44–37 41–39
Chicago White Sox 79 83 0.488 22½ 39–42 40–41
California Angels 76 86 0.469 25½ 35–46 41–40
Minnesota Twins 74 86 0.463 26½ 37–42 37–44
Milwaukee Brewers 69 92 0.429 32 34–48 35–44

Record vs. opponents

1971 American League record

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 —


Notable transactions

Roster

1971 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

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 George Mitterwald 125 388 97 .250 13 44
1B Harmon Killebrew 147 500 127 .254 28 119
2B Rod Carew 147 577 177 .307 2 48
SS Leo Cárdenas 153 554 146 .264 18 75
3B Steve Braun 128 343 87 .254 5 35
LF César Tovar 157 657 204 .311 1 45
CF Jim Holt 126 340 88 .259 1 29
RF Tony Oliva 126 487 164 .337 22 81

Other batters

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
Rich Reese 120 329 72 .219 10 39
Jim Nettles 70 168 42 .250 6 24
Brant Alyea 79 158 28 .177 2 15
Steve Brye 28 107 24 .224 3 11
Phil Roof 31 87 21 .241 0 6
Eric Soderholm 21 64 10 .156 1 4
Danny Thompson 48 57 15 .263 0 7
Rick Renick 27 45 10 .222 1 8
Paul Ratliff 21 44 7 .159 2 6
Paul Powell 20 31 5 .161 1 2
George Thomas 23 30 8 .267 0 2
Tom Tischinski 21 23 3 .130 0 2
Charlie Manuel 18 16 2 .125 0 1
Rick Dempsey 6 13 4 .308 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Bert Blyleven 38 278.1 16 15 2.81 224
Jim Perry 40 270.0 17 17 4.23 126
Jim Kaat 39 260.1 13 14 3.32 137

Other pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Ray Corbin 52 140.1 8 11 4.10 83
Tom Hall 48 129.2 4 7 3.33 137
Steve Luebber 18 68.0 2 5 5.03 35
Pete Hamm 13 44.0 2 4 6.75 16
Steve Barber 4 11.2 1 0 6.17 4

Tom Hall led the Twins in saves with 9.

Relief pitchers

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

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Ron Perranoski 36 1 4 5 6.75 21
Stan Williams 46 4 5 4 4.15 47
Hal Haydel 31 4 2 1 4.28 29
Jim Strickland 24 1 0 1 1.44 21
Bob Gebhard 17 1 2 0 3.00 13
Sal Campisi 6 0 0 0 4.15 2

Awards and honors

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Portland Beavers Pacific Coast League Ralph Rowe
AA Charlotte Hornets Southern League Harry Warner
A Lynchburg Twins Carolina League Johnny Goryl
A Orlando Twins Florida State League Jackie Ferrell
A Wisconsin Rapids Twins Midwest League Weldon Bowlin
A-Short Season Auburn Twins New York–Penn League Boyd Coffie
A-Short Season St. Cloud Rox Northern League Ken Staples
Rookie GCL Twins Gulf Coast League Fred Waters

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Charlotte, St. Cloud

Notes

  1. ^ Dave Boswell at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Dave Edwards at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ "Baseball Draft: 39th Round of the 1971 June Draft". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved December 27, 2008.
  4. ^ Glenn Borgmann at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Phil Roof at Baseball Reference

References

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