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

September

Making his major league debut on September 5, J. R. Richard struck out 15 San Francisco Giants to tie a record for Major League debuts first established by Karl Spooner. ^[5]

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. ^[6]

Don Wilson became the first Astros pitcher to lead the NL in hits per nine innings (6.549 H/9). ^[7]

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	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
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

^[8]

• June 8, 1971: 1971 Major League Baseball draft
  • Paul Siebert was drafted by the Astros in the 3rd round. ^[9]
  • Rich Troedson was drafted by the Astros in the 1st round (8th pick) of the Secondary Phase, but did not sign. ^[10]

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): ^[11] Don Wilson
• Gold Glove Award—Third baseman: Doug Rader
• MLB All-Star Game ^[12]
  • Reserve pitcher—Larry Dierker
  • Reserve pitcher—Don Wilson

NL batting leaders ^[13]

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

NL pitching leaders ^[14]

• Hit by pitch: Jack Billingham (16—led MLB)
• Hits per nine innings (H/9): Don Wilson (6.549) ^[7]

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

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. Seidel, Jeff (June 9, 2010). "K street: Strasburg racks up the strikeouts". MLB.com . Retrieved June 13, 2010.
6. "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.
7. "Yearly league leaders and records for hits per 9 IP". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
8. "Doug Konieczny stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 14, 2025.
9. "Paul Siebert stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 14, 2025.
10. "Rich Troedson stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 14, 2025.
11. McTaggart, Brian (December 21, 2009). "Bourn highlights Astros' awards season". MLB.com. Archived from the original on December 8, 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2025.
12. "1971 All-Star Game box score". Baseball-Reference.com. July 13, 1971. Retrieved October 10, 2025.
13. "1971 Major League batting leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 10, 2025.
14. "1971 Major League pitching leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 10, 2025.

External links

• 1971 Houston Astros season at Baseball Reference