1971 Detroit Tigers season

Detroit Tigers
	1971 Detroit Tigers;
	Major league affiliations
	American League (since 1901) Eastern Division (since 1969); ;
	Location
	Tiger Stadium (since 1912); Detroit, Michigan (since 1901);
	1971 information
Owner(s)	John Fetzer
Manager(s)	Billy Martin
Local television	WJBK (TV); (George Kell, Larry Osterman)
Local radio	WJR; (Ernie Harwell, Ray Lane)
	Previous season Next season

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 [edit]

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 [edit]

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]

Season standings [edit]

AL East	W	L	GB	Pct.
Baltimore Orioles	101	57	0	.639
Detroit Tigers	91	71	12	.562
Boston Red Sox	85	77	18	.525
New York Yankees	82	80	21	.506
Washington Senators	63	96	38.5	.396
Cleveland Indians	60	102	43	.370

Opening Day lineup [edit]

Notable transactions [edit]

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 [edit]

1971 Detroit Tigers

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

1 Billy Martin

Coaches

Player stats [edit]

Batting [edit]

Starters by position [edit]

Note: 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	Freehan, BillBill Freehan	148	516	143	.277	21	71
1B	Cash, NormNorm Cash	135	452	128	.283	32	91
2B	McAuliffe, DickDick McAuliffe	128	477	99	.208	18	57
3B	Rodríguez, AurelioAurelio Rodríguez	154	604	153	.253	15	39
SS	Brinkman, EdEd Brinkman	159	527	120	.228	1	37
LF	Horton, WillieWillie Horton	119	450	130	.289	22	72
CF	Stanley, MickeyMickey Stanley	139	401	117	.292	7	55
RF	Kaline, AlAl Kaline	133	405	119	.294	15	54

Other batters [edit]

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
Northrup, JimJim Northrup	136	459	124	.270	16	71
Brown, GatesGates Brown	82	195	66	.338	11	29
Taylor, TonyTony Taylor	55	181	52	.287	3	19
Jones, DaltonDalton Jones	83	138	35	.254	5	11
Brown, IkeIke Brown	59	110	28	.255	8	19
Price, JimJim Price	29	54	13	.241	1	7
Collins, KevinKevin Collins	31	41	11	.268	1	4
Gutiérrez, CésarCésar Gutiérrez	38	37	7	.189	0	4
Hosley, TimTim Hosley	7	16	3	.188	2	6
Young, JohnJohn Young	2	4	2	.500	0	1

Note: pitchers' batting statistics not included

Pitching [edit]

Starting pitchers [edit]

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Lolich, MickeyMickey Lolich	45	376	25	14	2.92	308
Coleman, JoeJoe Coleman	39	286	20	9	3.15	236
Cain, LesLes Cain	26	144.2	10	9	4.35	118

Other pitchers [edit]

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Niekro, JoeJoe Niekro	31	122.1	6	7	4.49	43
Chance, DeanDean Chance	31	89.2	4	6	3.51	64
Kilkenny, MikeMike Kilkenny	30	86.1	4	5	5.00	47
Gilbreth, BillBill Gilbreth	9	30	2	1	4.80	14

Relief pitchers [edit]

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

Player	G	W	L	SV	GF	ERA	SO
Scherman, FredFred Scherman	69	11	6	20	40	2.71	76
Timmermann, TomTom Timmermann	52	7	6	4	23	3.86	51
Denehy, BillBill Denehy	31	0	3	1	10	4.22	27
Patterson, DarylDaryl Patterson	12	0	1	0	3	4.82	5
Hannan, JimJim Hannan	7	1	0	0	3	3.27	6
Boswell, DaveDave Boswell	3	0	0	0	1	6.23	3
Foor, JimJim Foor	3	0	0	0	1	18.00	2

Awards and honors [edit]

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

League top ten finishers [edit]

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 [edit]

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 [edit]

Notes [edit]

^ Denny McLain page at Baseball Reference
^ 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, NY, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
^ ^a ^b Dave Boswell page at Baseball Reference
^ Gene Pentz page at Baseball Reference
^ Tony Taylor page at Baseball Reference

References [edit]

Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, N.C.: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
Detroit Tigers 1971 Regular Season Statistics
BaseballLibrary.com Game by Game Summary of 1971 Tigers season

[1] Denny McLain page at Baseball Reference

[2] Jerry Robertson page at Baseball Reference

[3] Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 236, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, NY, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0

[boswell-4] Dave Boswell page at Baseball Reference

[5] Gene Pentz page at Baseball Reference

[6] Tony Taylor page at Baseball Reference

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1971 Detroit Tigers
Major league affiliations
American League (since 1901) Eastern Division (since 1969)
Location
Tiger Stadium (since 1912) Detroit, Michigan (since 1901)
1971 information
Owner(s)	John Fetzer
Manager(s)	Billy Martin
Local television	WJBK (TV) (George Kell, Larry Osterman)
Local radio	WJR (Ernie Harwell, Ray Lane)
Previous season Next season

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Toledo Mud Hens	International League	Mike Roarke
AA	Montgomery Rebels	Southern League	Dick Tracewski
A	Rocky Mount Leafs	Carolina League	Len Okrie
A	Lakeland Tigers	Florida State League	Stubby Overmire
A	Clinton Pilots	Midwest League	Max Lanier
Short-Season A	Batavia Trojans	New York-Penn League	Joe Lewis
Rookie	Bristol Tigers	Appalachian League	Jim Leyland

1971 Detroit Tigers season

Contents

Offseason [edit]

Regular season [edit]

Season standings [edit]

Opening Day lineup [edit]

Notable transactions [edit]

Roster [edit]

Player stats [edit]

Batting [edit]

Starters by position [edit]

Other batters [edit]

Pitching [edit]

Starting pitchers [edit]

Other pitchers [edit]

Relief pitchers [edit]

Awards and honors [edit]

League top ten finishers [edit]

Players ranking among top 100 all time at position [edit]

Farm system [edit]

Notes [edit]

References [edit]

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