1971 Houston Astros season

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1971  Houston Astros
League National League
Division West
Ballpark Astrodome
City Houston, Texas
Record79–83 (.488)
Divisional place4th–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.

Contents

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

Season standings

NL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
San Francisco Giants 9072.55651303942
Los Angeles Dodgers 8973.549142394734
Atlanta Braves 8280.506843393941
Cincinnati Reds 7983.4881146353348
Houston Astros 7983.4881139424041
San Diego Padres 61100.37928½33482852

Record vs. opponents


Sources:
TeamATLCHCCINHOULADMTLNYMPHIPITSDSFSTL
Atlanta 5–79–99–99–97–57–58–44–811–77–116–6
Chicago 7–56–65–78–48–1011–711–76–129–33–99–9
Cincinnati 9–96–65–137–117–58–45–75–710–89–98–4
Houston 9–97–513–58–104–85–78–44–810–89–92–10
Los Angeles 9–94–811–710–88–45–77–54–813–512–66–6
Montreal 5–710–85–78–44–89–96–127–116–57–54–14
New York 5–77–114–87–57–59–913–510–87–54–810–8
Philadelphia 4-87–112–103–95–76–105–136–124–86–67–11
Pittsburgh 8–412–67–58–48–411–78–1012–69–33–911–7
San Diego 7–113–98–108–105–135–65–78–43–95–134–8
San Francisco 11–79–39–99–96–125–78–46–69–313–55–7
St. Louis 6–69–94–810–26–614–48–1011–77–118–47–5

Notable transactions

Roster

1971 Houston Astros
Roster
PitchersCatchers

Infielders

OutfieldersManager

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

PosPlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
C Johnny Edwards 10631774.233123
1B Denis Menke 146475117.246143
2B Joe Morgan 160583149.2561356
SS Roger Metzger 150562132.235026
3B Doug Rader 135484118.2441256
LF Bob Watson 129468135.288967
CF César Cedeño 161611161.2641081
RF Jimmy Wynn 12340482.203745

Other batters

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

PlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
Jesús Alou 122433121.279240
Jack Hiatt 6917448.276116
John Mayberry 4613725.182714
Rich Chiles 6711927.227215
César Gerónimo 948218.22016
Norm Miller 457419.257210
Larry Howard 246415.234214
Marty Martínez 326216.25804
Ray Busse 10345.14704
Derrel Thomas 550.00000
Jay Schlueter 731.33300

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Don Wilson 35268.016102.45180
Jack Billingham 33228.110163.39139
Ken Forsch 33188.1882.53131
Larry Dierker 24159.01262.7291
Wade Blasingame 30158.19114.6093
Ron Cook 525.2044.9110
J.R. Richard 421.0213.4329

Other pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Tom Griffin 1037.2064.7829
Scipio Spinks 529.1103.6826
Bill Greif 716.0115.0614

Relief pitchers

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

PlayerGWLSVERASO
Fred Gladding 4845122.1017
George Culver 595872.6457
Jim Ray 4710432.1246
Denny Lemaster 420223.4528
Buddy Harris 201106.4621
Skip Guinn 40010.003
Larry Yount 1000----0

Farm system

LevelTeamLeagueManager
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