1971 Houston Astros season

The 1971 Houston Astros season was a season in American baseball. The team finished tied for fourth in the National League West with a record of 79–83, 11 games behind the San Francisco Giants.

1971 Houston Astros
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1962) Western Division (since 1969)
Location
Astrodome (since 1965) Houston, Texas (since 1962)
Results
Record	79–83 (.488)
Divisional place	5th
Other information
Owner(s)	Roy Hofheinz
General manager(s)	Spec Richardson
Manager(s)	Harry Walker
Local television	KTRK-TV
Local radio	KPRC (AM) (Gene Elston, Loel Passe)
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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]

Offseason

• 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.^[2]

Regular season

• September 5, 1971: In a game against the Giants, J. R. Richard struck out 15 batters in his very first game, tying a Major League record first established by Karl Spooner.^[3]

Season standings

v t e NL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
San Francisco Giants	90	72	0.556	—	51–30	39–42
Los Angeles Dodgers	89	73	0.549	1	42–39	47–34
Atlanta Braves	82	80	0.506	8	43–39	39–41
Cincinnati Reds	79	83	0.488	11	46–35	33–48
Houston Astros	79	83	0.488	11	39–42	40–41
San Diego Padres	61	100	0.379	28½	33–48	28–52

Record vs. opponents

1971 National League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
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.^[4]
  • Rich Troedson was drafted by the Astros in the 1st round (8th pick) of the Secondary Phase, but did not sign.^[5]

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

Farm 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

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

External links

• 1971 Houston Astros season at Baseball Reference