1971 Detroit Tigers season explained

Detroit Tigers
Season:	1971
League:	American League
Division:	East
Ballpark:	Tiger Stadium
City:	Detroit, Michigan
Owners:	John Fetzer
General Managers:	Jim Campbell
Managers:	Billy Martin
Television:	WJBK (George Kell, Larry Osterman)
Radio:	WJR (Ernie Harwell, Ray Lane)

The 1971 Detroit Tigers finished in second place in the American League East with a 91–71 record, 12 games behind the Orioles. They outscored their opponents 701 to 645. They drew 1,591,073 fans to Tiger Stadium, the second highest attendance in the American League.

Offseason

October 9, 1970: Denny McLain, Elliott Maddox, Norm McRae, and Don Wert were traded by the Tigers to the Washington Senators for Ed Brinkman, Aurelio Rodríguez, Joe Coleman, and Jim Hannan.^[1]
March 30, 1971: Jerry Robertson was traded by the Detroit Tigers to the New York Mets for Dean Chance and Bill Denehy.^[2]

Regular season

Mickey Lolich became the second pitcher in the history of the American League to win 25 games but not win the Cy Young Award.^[3]

Notable transactions

April 9, 1971: Dave Boswell was signed as a free agent by the Tigers.^[4]
May 28, 1971: Dave Boswell was released by the Tigers.^[4]
June 8, 1971: Gene Pentz was drafted by the Tigers in the 7th round of the 1971 Major League Baseball Draft.^[5]
June 12, 1971: Carl Cavanaugh (minors) and Mike Fremuth (minors) were traded by the Tigers to the Philadelphia Phillies for Tony Taylor.^[6]

Roster

1971 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers	CatchersInfielders	Outfielders	ManagerCoaches (Pitching) (Third base) (Bullpen) (First base)

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

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

Pos	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	148	516	143	.277	21	71
1B	135	452	128	.283	32	91
2B	128	477	99	.208	18	57
3B	154	604	153	.253	15	39
SS	159	527	120	.228	1	37
LF	119	450	130	.289	22	72
CF	139	401	117	.292	7	55
RF	133	405	119	.294	15	54

Other batters

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

G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
136	459	124	.270	16	71
82	195	66	.338	11	29
55	181	52	.287	3	19
83	138	35	.254	5	11
59	110	28	.255	8	19
29	54	13	.241	1	7
31	41	11	.268	1	4
38	37	7	.189	0	4
7	16	3	.188	2	6
7	15	1	.067	0	1
8	14	2	.143	0	1
2	4	2	.500	0	1

Note: pitchers' batting statistics not included

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
45	376.0	25	14	2.92	308
39	286.0	20	9	3.15	236
26	144.2	10	9	4.35	118

Other pitchers

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

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
31	122.1	6	7	4.49	43
31	89.2	4	6	3.51	64
30	86.1	4	5	5.00	47
16	31.2	1	1	5.12	15
9	30.0	2	1	4.80	14

Relief pitchers

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

G	W	L	SV	GF	ERA	SO
69	11	6	20	40	2.71	76
52	7	6	4	23	3.86	51
31	0	3	1	10	4.22	27
12	0	1	0	3	4.82	5
11	0	1	2	7	2.50	8
7	1	0	0	3	3.27	6
7	0	2	1	2	5.63	6
5	0	0	0	0	13.50	1
3	0	0	0	1	6.23	3
3	0	0	0	1	18.00	2

Awards and honors

Mickey Lolich, Tiger of the Year award from Detroit baseball writers

League top ten finishers

Ed Brinkman

AL leader in games played at shortstop (159)
AL leader in innings played at shortstop (1395-2/3)
AL leader in assists by a shortstop (513)
#4 in AL in games played (159)
#7 in AL in times hit by pitch (7)

Norm Cash

Finished 12th in AL MVP voting
AL leader in at bats per home run (14.1)
#2 in AL in home runs (32)
#3 in AL in slugging percentage (.531)
#3 in AL in OPS (.903)
#7 in AL in times hit by pitch (7)
#8 in AL in RBIs (91)
#9 in AL in runs created (93)
7th oldest player in the AL

Joe Coleman

#3 in AL in strikeouts (236)
#4 in AL in strikeouts per 9 innings pitched (7.43)
#5 in AL in win percentage (.690)
#5 in AL in innings pitched (286)
#5 in AL in batters faced (1174)
#6 in AL in wins (20)
#9 in AL in complete games (16)

Bill Freehan

AL leader in games at catcher (144)
AL leader in complete games at catcher (128)
AL leader in innings played at catcher (1265)
AL leader in putouts by a catcher (912)
#3 in AL in times hit by pitch (9)
#8 in AL in doubles (26)
#9 in AL in extra base hits (51)
#9 in AL in at bats per strikeout (10.8)

Willie Horton

#7 in AL in slugging percentage (.496)
#7 in AL in times hit by pitch (7)
#10 in AL in extra base hits (48)
#10 in AL in at bats per home run (20.5)

Al Kaline

#3 in AL in on-base percentage (.416)
#6 in AL in OPS (.878)
#7 in AL in time hit by pitch (7)
#8 in AL in batting average (.294)
#10 in AL in bases on balls (82)
9th oldest player in the AL

Mickey Lolich

Finished 2nd in AL Cy Young Award voting (behind Vida Blue)
Finished 5th in AL MVP voting
MLB leader in wins (25)
MLB leader in strikeouts (308)
MLB leader in innings pitched (376)
MLB leader in games started (45)
AL leader in complete games (29)
MLB leader in hits allowed (336)
MLB leader in batters faced (1538)
#2 in MLB in home runs allowed (36)
#2 in MLB in earned runs allowed (122)
#4 in AL in sacrifice hits (16)
#4 in AL in strikeout to walk ratio (3.35)
#5 in AL in strikeouts per 9 innings pitched (7.37)
#7 in AL in Adjusted ERA+ (125)
#8 in AL in bases on balls per 9 innings pitched (2.20)
#10 in AL in ERA (2.92)

Aurelio Rodríguez

#3 in AL in doubles (30)
#4 in AL in triples (7)
#4 in AL in outs (476)
#5 in AL in at bats (604)
#8 in AL in extra base hits (52)
#10 in AL in strikeouts (104)

Fred Scherman

#2 in AL in games by pitcher (69)
#3 in AL in saves (20)
#3 in AL in games finished (40)

Players ranking among top 100 all time at position

The following members of the 1972 Tigers were ranked among the Top 100 of all time at their position in The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract in 2001:

Bill Freehan: 12th best catcher of all time
Norm Cash: 20th best first baseman of all time
Dick McAuliffe: 22nd best second baseman of all time
Aurelio Rodríguez: 91st best third baseman of all time
Willie Horton: 55th best left fielder of all time
Al Kaline: 11th best right fielder of all time
Mickey Lolich: 72nd best pitcher of all time

Farm system

References

Book: Johnson. Lloyd. Wolff. Miles. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. 2nd. Durham, North Carolina. Baseball America. 1997. 978-0-9637189-8-3.
Detroit Tigers 1971 Regular Season Statistics at Baseball Reference
BaseballLibrary.com Game by Game Summary of 1971 Tigers season

Notes and References

https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mclaide01.shtml Denny McLain page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/roberje01.shtml Jerry Robertson page at Baseball Reference
Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 236, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York,
https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bosweda01.shtml Dave Boswell page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pentzge01.shtml Gene Pentz page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/t/tayloto02.shtml Tony Taylor page at Baseball Reference