1971 Houston Astros season

1971  Houston Astros
League	National League
Division	West
Ballpark	Astrodome
City	Houston, Texas
Record	79–83 (.488)
Divisional place	4th–tied
Owners	Roy Hofheinz
General managers	Spec Richardson
Managers	Harry Walker
Television	KTRK-TV
Radio	KPRC (AM) (Gene Elston, Loel Passe)
←  1970 Seasons 1972  →

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 Astros performed to a 32–43 (.427) record.

The Astros concluded the season with a record of 79–83—replicating their performance from the year prior—while maintaining fourth place in the NL West, this time, tying with Cincinnati for 11 games behind the division-champion San Francisco Giants.

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

Offseason

Transactions

• January 13, 1971: Doug Konieczny was drafted by the Astros in the 1st round (4th pick) of the 1971 Major League Baseball draft Secondary Phase. ^[1]

Exhibition play

The Astrodome hosted a 15-inning, exhibition "tripleheader" between Houston, the Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees. For the first five-inning contest, the Astros tripped the Yankees, 2–1. During the middle five, the Twins toppled the Yankees, 4–1, prior to getting ripped by the Astros during the last five frames, 5–3. ^[2]

Regular season

Summary

April

Opening Day starting lineup ^{[3] [4]}

28	César Cedeño	CF
18	Joe Morgan	2B
24	Jimmy Wynn	RF
27	Bob Watson	LF
11	Denis Menke	1B
12	Doug Rader	3B
7	Johnny Edwards	C
15	Roger Metzger	SS
49	Larry Dierker	P
Venue:	Astrodome • HOU 5,	LAD 2

July

The Astros exploded for a season-high 18 runs on July 7, ^[5] en route to an 18–4 drubbing of the San Francisco Giants at Candlestick Park. ^[6] Jimmy Wynn became the first player to attain 1,000 hits as a member the Houston Astros, also the 1,000th hit of his career, ^{[7] [8]} with a seventh inning double off left-hander Steve Hamilton. During an all-round memorable day, Wynn was 2-for-4 with 2 runs batted in (RBI), 2 runs scored, one stolen base and one base on balls. ^[6]

September

Astros pitching displayed a record performance on September 5 during a doubleheader at Candlestick Park. ^[2] In the opener, Jack Billingham tossed a five-hit, 1–0 shutout with 11 strikeouts and a game score of 86 over the Gitants. ^[9] Making his major league debut during the second game on September 5, J. R. Richard ^[2] struck out 15 Giants on the way to firing another complete game. Richard's final strikeout victim was Hal Lanier, also the final out of the contest, to finish off a 5–3 Astros triumph. This contest garnered a 75 game score for Richard. ^[10] His 15-strikeout effort tied a record for a Major League debut first established in 1954 by Karl Spooner of the Brooklyn Dodgers. ^[11] The 26 combined strikeouts during the twinbill set a new MLB record. ^[2]

Performance overview

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. ^[12]

Third baseman Doug Rader, who won his second consecutive Gold Glove Award, became the first Astro to win more than once. ^[13]

As the Astrodome was reputed for suppressing the home run, ^[14] three Astros combined to lead the league in extra-base hit categories. With 40 doubles, César Cedeño led the major leagues. He joined Rusty Staub in 1967 as the second Astro to lead both theNatioal League in doubles as well as all of baseball. ^[15] Meanwhile, Houston's first-ever triples leaders—Roger Metzger and Joe Morgan jointly led the major leagues with 11 each—forged a three-way tie with Freddie Patek of the Kansas City Royals in the American League. ^[16]

Don Wilson became the first Astros pitcher to lead the NL in hits per nine innings (6.549 H/9). ^[17]

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

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
Houston Astros	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 v t e Sources:
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MON	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
Houston	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

• June 8, 1971: 1971 Major League Baseball draft
  • Paul Siebert was drafted by the Astros in the 3rd round. ^[18]
  • Rich Troedson was drafted by the Astros in the 1st round (8th pick) of the Secondary Phase, but did not sign. ^[19]

Roster

1971 Houston Astros
Roster
Pitchers 42 Jack Billingham 36 Wade Blasingame 41 Ron Cook 39 George Culver 49 Larry Dierker 43 Ken Forsch 48 Fred Gladding 44 Bill Greif 38 Tom Griffin 35 Skip Guinn 46 Buddy Harris 23 Denny Lemaster 45 Jim Ray 50 J. R. Richard 37 Scipio Spinks 40 Don Wilson 31 Larry Yount		Catchers  7 Johnny Edwards  8 Jack Hiatt 10 Larry Howard Infielders 16 Ray Busse 14 Marty Martínez 33 John Mayberry 11 Denis Menke 15 Roger Metzger 18 Joe Morgan 12 Doug Rader 19 Derrel Thomas		Outfielders 22 Jesús Alou 28 César Cedeño 29 Rich Chiles 20 César Gerónimo 21 Norm Miller 17 Jay Schlueter 27 Bob Watson 24 Jimmy Wynn		Manager 25 Harry Walker Coaches  4 Buddy Hancken  3 Hub Kittle  5 Jim Owens  2 Salty Parker

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

Awards and achievements

Awards

• Houston Astros Most Valuable Player (MVP): ^[20] Don Wilson
• Gold Glove Award—Third baseman: ^[21] Doug Rader
• MLB All-Star Game ^[22]
  • Reserve pitcher—Larry Dierker
  • Reserve pitcher—Don Wilson

NL batting leaders ^[23]

• Doubles: César Cedeño (40—led MLB)
• Triples: Roger Metzger & Joe Morgan (11—tied, led MLB) ^[a]

NL pitching leaders ^[24]

• Hit by pitch: Jack Billingham (16—led MLB)
• Hits per nine innings (H/9): Don Wilson (6.549) ^[17]

Minor league 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

See also

• Texas portal
• Baseball portal

• List of Major League Baseball annual doubles leaders
• List of Major League Baseball annual triples leaders

References

Footnotes

1. Tied with Freddie Patek of the Kansas City Royals of the American League.

Sources

1. "Doug Konieczny stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved October 10, 2025.
2. Hulsey, Bob. "This date in Astros history". Astros Daily. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
3. "Los Angeles Dodgers (2) vs Houston Astros (5) box score". Baseball Almanac . April 5, 1971. Retrieved October 10, 2025.
4. "1971 Houston Astros uniform numbers". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 10, 2025.
5. "1971 Houston Astros schedule". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
6. "Houston Astros (18) vs San Francisco Giants (4) box score". Baseball-Reference.com. July 7, 1971. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
7. "For combined seasons, from 1962 to 1971, Playing in the NL, Playing for HOU, in the regular season, sorted by descending Hits". Stathead . Retrieved November 9, 2025.
8. "Jimmy Wynn 1971 batting game logs". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
9. "Houston Astros (1) vs San Francisco Giants (0) box score—Game 1". Baseball-Reference.com. September 5, 1971. Retrieved October 19, 2025.
10. "Houston Astros (5) vs San Francisco Giants (3) box score—Game 2". Baseball-Reference.com. September 5, 1971. Retrieved October 19, 2025.
11. Seidel, Jeff (June 9, 2010). "K street: Strasburg racks up the strikeouts". MLB.com . Retrieved June 13, 2010.
12. "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.
13. "MLB Gold Glove Award winners—National League". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 25, 2025.
14. Knight, Ray (October 7, 1986). "The Astrodome is a ballpark you have to play..." United Press International (UPI). Retrieved October 26, 2025.
15. "Yearly league leaders & records for doubles". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 19, 2025.
16. "Yearly league leaders & records for triples". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 8, 2025.
17. "Yearly league leaders and records for hits per 9 IP". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
18. "Paul Siebert stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 14, 2025.
19. "Rich Troedson stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 14, 2025.
20. McTaggart, Brian (December 21, 2009). "Bourn highlights Astros' awards season". MLB.com. Archived from the original on December 8, 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2025.
21. "Gold Glove third basemen". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved October 11, 2025.
22. "1971 All-Star Game box score". Baseball-Reference.com. July 13, 1971. Retrieved October 10, 2025.
23. "1971 Major League batting leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 10, 2025.
24. "1971 Major League pitching leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 10, 2025.

External links

• 1971 Houston Astros season at Baseball Reference