1972 Boston Red Sox season

1972 Boston Red Sox
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) Tom Yawkey
General manager(s) Dick O'Connell
Manager(s) Eddie Kasko
Local television WBZ-TV, Ch. 4
(Ken Coleman, Johnny Pesky)
Local radio WHDH-AM 850
(Ned Martin, Dave Martin, John MacLean)
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The 1972 Boston Red Sox season was the 72nd season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished second in the American League East with a record of 85 wins and 70 losses, ½ game behind the Detroit Tigers. Due to the cancellation of games missed during the 1972 Major League Baseball strike, Detroit played (and won) one more game than Boston, allowing them to finish with a record of 86–70, winning the division by ½ game.

Offseason

A bad trade

After the 1971 season, the Red Sox management decided on drastic changes. First there was a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers. George Scott, who had fallen out of favor with the Red Sox management, was packaged with Billy Conigliaro (younger brother of former Red Sox star Tony Conigliaro), outfielders Joe Lahoud and Don Pavletich, pitchers Ken Brett (George Brett's older brother) and Jim Lonborg and exchanged for pitchers Marty Pattin and Lew Krausse, Jr. and outfielders Tommy Harper and Pat Skrable. It was a big deal and, as it turned out, a bad one for Boston. Lonborg won 14 games for Milwaukee in 1972, with a 2.83 ERA, and later was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies, where he won 13, 17, 18, 8 and 11 games during five seasons. Scott batted .263, .266, .306, .281 and .285 in his five seasons with the Brewers, driving in 88, 107, 82, 109, and 77 runs during those same years and clouting an average of 23 homers a season, with 36 in 1975 alone. Meanwhile, although Pattin was 17–13 for Boston in 1972 a 15–15 in 1973, he was then traded away. Harper batted .254 and .281 in his two years with the Sox before being traded.

Regular season

Following the 1972 Major League Baseball strike, and Commissioner Bowie Kuhn's ruling that no games cancelled due to the April strike would be made up, the Red Sox wound up with 155 games on their 1972 schedule. They finished a half-game behind the AL East champion Detroit Tigers, who played 156 and won one more game than Boston. In the second-to-last game of the season, shortstop Luis Aparicio fell down rounding third, possibly costing the Sox a chance at victory in a game that could have made the difference. Thus, the Sox finished one-half game out with an 85–70 record.

Season standings

AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Detroit Tigers 8670 0.551 — 44–34 42–36
Boston Red Sox 8570 0.548 ½ 52–26 33–44
Baltimore Orioles 8074 0.519 5 38–39 42–35
New York Yankees 7976 0.510 6½ 46–31 33–45
Cleveland Indians 7284 0.462 14 43–34 29–50
Milwaukee Brewers 6591 0.417 21 37–42 28–49

Record vs. opponents

1972 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK TEX
Baltimore —7–116–68–48–1010–86–610–56–67–66–66–6
Boston 11–7—8–46–68–75–96–611–74–89–99–38–4
California 6–64–8—7–118–45–79–67–57–84–88–1010–7
Chicago 4–86–611–7—8–45–78–99–38–67–57–814–4
Cleveland 10–87–84–84–8—10–86–65–108–47–112–109–3
Detroit 8–109–57–57–58–10—7–510–89–37–94–810–2
Kansas City 6–66–66–99–86–65–7—7–59–97–57–118–6
Milwaukee 5–107–115–73–910–58–105–7—4–89–94–85–7
Minnesota 6–68–48–76–84–83–99–98–4—6–68–911–7
New York 6–79–98–45–711–79–75–79–96–6—3–98–4
Oakland 6–63–910–88–710–28–411–78–49–89–3—11–4
Texas 6–64–87–104–143–92–106–87–57–114–84–11—

Notable transactions

Opening Day lineup

  4Tommy HarperCF
11Luis AparicioSS
  8Carl Yastrzemski    LF
  7Reggie SmithRF
  6Rico Petrocelli3B
  5Danny Cater1B
  2Doug Griffin2B
24Duane JosephsonC
33Marty PattinP

[5]

Roster

1972 Boston Red Sox
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

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

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
CFTommy Harper144546141.2541449

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

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
Marty Pattin3825317133.24168
Ray Culp16105584.4652

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
Lew Krausse2460.2136.3835

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
Bobby Bolin210152.9327

Awards and honors

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Louisville Colonels International League Darrell Johnson
AA Pawtucket Red Sox Eastern League Don Lock
A Winston-Salem Red Sox Carolina League Rac Slider
A Winter Haven Red Sox Florida State League John Butler
A-Short Season Williamsport Red Sox New York–Penn League Dick Berardino

Notes

References

  • Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
  • 1972 Boston Red Sox team page at Baseball Reference
  • 1972 Boston Red Sox season at baseball-almanac.com
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