1971 Minnesota Twins season

The 1971 Minnesota Twins finished 74–86, fifth in the American League West. 940,858 fans attended Twins games, the fifth-highest total in the American League, the first time the Twins failed to attract over one million fans since moving to Minnesota.

1971 Minnesota Twins
74–86, fifth in the AL Western Division
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Calvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes)
General manager(s)Calvin Griffith
Manager(s)Bill Rigney
Local televisionWTCN-TV
(Halsey Hall, Frank Buetel, Bob Allison)
Local radio830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, Halsey Hall, Ray Christensen)
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Regular season

Five Twins made the All-Star Game: first baseman Harmon Killebrew, second baseman Rod Carew, shortstop Leo Cárdenas, outfielder Tony Oliva, and pitcher Jim Perry.

On August 10, at Metropolitan Stadium, slugger Harmon Killebrew hit his 500th career home run, in the first inning off the Baltimore Orioles' Mike Cuellar. He followed that in the sixth inning with his 501st, also off Cuellar.

Lead off batter César Tovar led the AL with 204 hits and was second with 94 runs. Tony Oliva won his third batting title with a .337 average and led the AL with a .546 slugging percentage. Harmon Killebrew hit 28 HR and 119 RBI. Rod Carew hit .307.

Jim Perry (17–17), Bert Blyleven (16–15), and Jim Kaat (13–14) were the Twins' best pitchers. Kaat won his tenth Gold Glove Award.

Shortstop Leo Cárdenas topped the AL with a .985 fielding percentage—the highest for an American League shortstop since records began in 1901.

Season standings
AL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Oakland Athletics 10160 0.627 — 46–35 55–25
Kansas City Royals 8576 0.528 16 44–37 41–39
Chicago White Sox 7983 0.488 22½ 39–42 40–41
California Angels 7686 0.469 25½ 35–46 41–40
Minnesota Twins 7486 0.463 26½ 37–42 37–44
Milwaukee Brewers 6992 0.429 32 34–48 35–44

Record vs. opponents
1971 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK WSH
Baltimore —9–97–58–413–58–106–59–310–211–77–413–3
Boston 9–9—6–610–211–712–61–116–68–47–113–912–6
California 5–76–6—8–108–46–68–106–1212–66–67–114–8
Chicago 4–82–1010–8—3–97–59–911–77–115–711–710–2
Cleveland 5–137–114–89–3—6–122–104–84–88–104–87–11
Detroit 10–86–126–65–712–6—8–410–26–610–84–814–4
Kansas City 5–611–110–89–910–24–8—8–109–95–75–139–3
Milwaukee 3–96–612–67–118–42–1010–8—10–72–103–156–6
Minnesota 2–104–86–1211–78–46–69–97–10—8–48–105–6
New York 7–1111–76–67–510–88–107–510–24–8—5–77–11
Oakland 4–79–311–77–118–48–413–515–310–87–5—9–3
Washington 3–136–128–42–1011–74–143–96–66–511–73–9—

Notable transactions

Roster
1971 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats
= Indicates team leader

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
1BHarmon Killebrew147500127.25428119
SSLeo Cárdenas153554146.2641875
LFCésar Tovar157657204.311145
RFTony Oliva126487164.3372281

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
Danny Thompson485715.26307
Paul Ratliff21447.15926

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
Bert Blyleven38278.116152.81224
Jim Perry4027017174.23126
Jim Kaat39260.113143.32137

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
Ray Corbin52140.18114.1083
Tom Hall48129.2473.33137
Steve Luebber1868255.0335
Steve Barber411.2106.174

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
Bob Gebhard171203.0013
Sal Campisi60004.152

Awards and honors

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Portland Beavers Pacific Coast League Ralph Rowe
AA Charlotte Hornets Southern League Harry Warner
A Lynchburg Twins Carolina League Johnny Goryl
A Orlando Twins Florida State League Jackie Ferrell
A Wisconsin Rapids Twins Midwest League Weldon Bowlin
A-Short Season Auburn Twins New York–Penn League Boyd Coffie
A-Short Season St. Cloud Rox Northern League Ken Staples
Rookie GCL Twins Gulf Coast League Fred Waters

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Charlotte, St. Cloud

Notes
  1. Dave Boswell at Baseball Reference
  2. Dave Edwards at Baseball Reference
  3. "Baseball Draft: 39th Round of the 1971 June Draft". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved December 27, 2008.
  4. Glenn Borgmann at Baseball Reference
  5. Phil Roof at Baseball Reference

References
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