1971 Houston Astros season

1971 Houston Astros
LeagueNational League
DivisionWest
BallparkAstrodome
CityHouston, Texas
Record79–83 (.488)
Divisional place4th–tied
OwnersRoy Hofheinz
General managersSpec Richardson
ManagersHarry Walker
TelevisionKTRK-TV
RadioKPRC (AM)
(Gene Elston, Loel Passe)
Seasons

The 1971 Houston Astros season was the tenth season for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Houston, Texas, their seventh as the Astros, tenth in the National League (NL), third in the NL West division, and seventh at The Astrodome. The Astros entered the season having posted a record of 79–83, for fourth place and 23 games behind the division-champion and NL pennant-winning Cincinnati Reds.

Pitcher Larry Dierker made his third Opening Day start for the Astros, who hosted the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 5, and won, 5–2. The Astros' first-round selection in the amateur draft was shortstop Neil Rasmussen, at 12th overall.

Dierker and fellow pitcher Don Wilson both represented the Astros and played for the National League at the MLB All-Star Game. This was second career selection for Dierker and first for Wilson.

The Astros played 75 games that were decided by a one run margin, which is an all-time MLB record. In those games, the team had a record of 32–43.[1]

The Astros concluded the season tied for fourth place with Cinncinnati in the NL West with a record of 79–83, 11 games behind the division-champion San Francisco Giants.

Third baseman Doug Rader won his second career Gold Glove Award.

Offseason

Regular season

  • September 5, 1971: In a game against the Giants, J. R. Richard struck out 15 batters in his very first game, tying a Major League record first established by Karl Spooner.[3]

Season standings

NL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
San Francisco Giants 90 72 .556 — 51‍–‍30 39‍–‍42
Los Angeles Dodgers 89 73 .549 1 42‍–‍39 47‍–‍34
Atlanta Braves 82 80 .506 8 43‍–‍39 39‍–‍41
Cincinnati Reds 79 83 .488 11 46‍–‍35 33‍–‍48
79 83 .488 11 39‍–‍42 40‍–‍41
San Diego Padres 61 100 .379 28½ 33‍–‍48 28‍–‍52

Record vs. opponents

1971 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MTL NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta — 5–7 9–9 9–9 9–9 7–5 7–5 8–4 4–8 11–7 7–11 6–6
Chicago 7–5 — 6–6 5–7 8–4 8–10 11–7 11–7 6–12 9–3 3–9 9–9
Cincinnati 9–9 6–6 — 5–13 7–11 7–5 8–4 5–7 5–7 10–8 9–9 8–4
9–9 7–5 13–5 — 8–10 4–8 5–7 8–4 4–8 10–8 9–9 2–10
Los Angeles 9–9 4–8 11–7 10–8 — 8–4 5–7 7–5 4–8 13–5 12–6 6–6
Montreal 5–7 10–8 5–7 8–4 4–8 — 9–9 6–12 7–11 6–5 7–5 4–14
New York 5–7 7–11 4–8 7–5 7–5 9–9 — 13–5 10–8 7–5 4–8 10–8
Philadelphia 4-8 7–11 2–10 3–9 5–7 6–10 5–13 — 6–12 4–8 6–6 7–11
Pittsburgh 8–4 12–6 7–5 8–4 8–4 11–7 8–10 12–6 — 9–3 3–9 11–7
San Diego 7–11 3–9 8–10 8–10 5–13 5–6 5–7 8–4 3–9 — 5–13 4–8
San Francisco 11–7 9–3 9–9 9–9 6–12 5–7 8–4 6–6 9–3 13–5 — 5–7
St. Louis 6–6 9–9 4–8 10–2 6–6 14–4 8–10 11–7 7–11 8–4 7–5 —


Notable transactions

Roster

1971 Houston Astros
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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 Johnny Edwards 106 317 74 .233 1 23
1B Denis Menke 146 475 117 .246 1 43
2B Joe Morgan 160 583 149 .256 13 56
SS Roger Metzger 150 562 132 .235 0 26
3B Doug Rader 135 484 118 .244 12 56
LF Bob Watson 129 468 135 .288 9 67
CF César Cedeño 161 611 161 .264 10 81
RF Jimmy Wynn 123 404 82 .203 7 45

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
Jesús Alou 122 433 121 .279 2 40
Jack Hiatt 69 174 48 .276 1 16
John Mayberry 46 137 25 .182 7 14
Rich Chiles 67 119 27 .227 2 15
César Gerónimo 94 82 18 .220 1 6
Norm Miller 45 74 19 .257 2 10
Larry Howard 24 64 15 .234 2 14
Marty Martínez 32 62 16 .258 0 4
Ray Busse 10 34 5 .147 0 4
Derrel Thomas 5 5 0 .000 0 0
Jay Schlueter 7 3 1 .333 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
Don Wilson 35 268.0 16 10 2.45 180
Jack Billingham 33 228.1 10 16 3.39 139
Ken Forsch 33 188.1 8 8 2.53 131
Larry Dierker 24 159.0 12 6 2.72 91
Wade Blasingame 30 158.1 9 11 4.60 93
Ron Cook 5 25.2 0 4 4.91 10
J.R. Richard 4 21.0 2 1 3.43 29

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
Tom Griffin 10 37.2 0 6 4.78 29
Scipio Spinks 5 29.1 1 0 3.68 26
Bill Greif 7 16.0 1 1 5.06 14

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
Fred Gladding 48 4 5 12 2.10 17
George Culver 59 5 8 7 2.64 57
Jim Ray 47 10 4 3 2.12 46
Denny Lemaster 42 0 2 2 3.45 28
Buddy Harris 20 1 1 0 6.46 21
Skip Guinn 4 0 0 1 0.00 3
Larry Yount 1 0 0 0 ---- 0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Oklahoma City 89ers American Association Jimmy Williams
AA Columbus Astros Southern League Clifford Davis
A Cocoa Astros Florida State League Tony Pacheco
A Sumter Astros Western Carolinas League Jackie Brandt
Rookie Covington Astros Appalachian League Billy Smith

References

  1. ^ "Team Batting Game Finder: From 1908 to 2017, (requiring run_diff<=1 and run_diff>=-1), sorted by greatest number of games in a single season matching the selected criteria". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 7, 2018. Note that tie games are not explicitly shown in the table; the number of ties, if any, can be deduced from any discrepancy between #Matching and (Wins + Losses). The 1971 Astros did not have any tied games in any case.
  2. ^ Doug Konieczny at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Seidel, Jeff (June 9, 2010). "K street: Strasburg racks up the strikeouts". MLB.com. Retrieved June 13, 2010.
  4. ^ Paul Siebert at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Rich Troedson at Baseball Reference
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