1971 Detroit Tigers
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionEast
BallparkTiger Stadium
CityDetroit, Michigan
OwnersJohn Fetzer
General managersJim Campbell
ManagersBilly Martin
TelevisionWJBK
(George Kell, Larry Osterman)
RadioWJR
(Ernie Harwell, Ray Lane)
← 1970 Seasons 1972 →

The 1971 Detroit Tigers finished in second place in the American League East with a 91–71 record, 12 games behind the Orioles. They outscored their opponents 701 to 645. They drew 1,591,073 fans to Tiger Stadium, the second highest attendance in the American League.

Offseason

Regular season

Mickey Lolich became the second pitcher in the history of the American League to win 25 games but not win the Cy Young Award.[3]

Season standings

AL East 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Baltimore Orioles 101 57 0.639 — 53–24 48–33
Detroit Tigers 91 71 0.562 12 54–27 37–44
Boston Red Sox 85 77 0.525 18 47–33 38–44
New York Yankees 82 80 0.506 21 44–37 38–43
Washington Senators 63 96 0.396 38½ 35–46 28–50
Cleveland Indians 60 102 0.370 43 29–52 31–50

Record vs. opponents

1971 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK WSH
Baltimore — 9–9 7–5 8–4 13–5 8–10 6–5 9–3 10–2 11–7 7–4 13–3
Boston 9–9 — 6–6 10–2 11–7 12–6 1–11 6–6 8–4 7–11 3–9 12–6
California 5–7 6–6 — 8–10 8–4 6–6 8–10 6–12 12–6 6–6 7–11 4–8
Chicago 4–8 2–10 10–8 — 3–9 7–5 9–9 11–7 7–11 5–7 11–7 10–2
Cleveland 5–13 7–11 4–8 9–3 — 6–12 2–10 4–8 4–8 8–10 4–8 7–11
Detroit 10–8 6–12 6–6 5–7 12–6 — 8–4 10–2 6–6 10–8 4–8 14–4
Kansas City 5–6 11–1 10–8 9–9 10–2 4–8 — 8–10 9–9 5–7 5–13 9–3
Milwaukee 3–9 6–6 12–6 7–11 8–4 2–10 10–8 — 10–7 2–10 3–15 6–6
Minnesota 2–10 4–8 6–12 11–7 8–4 6–6 9–9 7–10 — 8–4 8–10 5–6
New York 7–11 11–7 6–6 7–5 10–8 8–10 7–5 10–2 4–8 — 5–7 7–11
Oakland 4–7 9–3 11–7 7–11 8–4 8–4 13–5 15–3 10–8 7–5 — 9–3
Washington 3–13 6–12 8–4 2–10 11–7 4–14 3–9 6–6 6–5 11–7 3–9 —


Notable transactions

Roster

1971 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: 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 Bill Freehan 148 516 143 .277 21 71
1B Norm Cash 135 452 128 .283 32 91
2B Dick McAuliffe 128 477 99 .208 18 57
3B Aurelio Rodríguez 154 604 153 .253 15 39
SS Ed Brinkman 159 527 120 .228 1 37
LF Willie Horton 119 450 130 .289 22 72
CF Mickey Stanley 139 401 117 .292 7 55
RF Al Kaline 133 405 119 .294 15 54

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
Jim Northrup 136 459 124 .270 16 71
Gates Brown 82 195 66 .338 11 29
Tony Taylor 55 181 52 .287 3 19
Dalton Jones 83 138 35 .254 5 11
Ike Brown 59 110 28 .255 8 19
Jim Price 29 54 13 .241 1 7
Kevin Collins 31 41 11 .268 1 4
César Gutiérrez 38 37 7 .189 0 4
Tim Hosley 7 16 3 .188 2 6
Gene Lamont 7 15 1 .067 0 1
Marvin Lane 8 14 2 .143 0 1
John Young 2 4 2 .500 0 1

Note: pitchers' batting statistics not included

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Mickey Lolich 45 376.0 25 14 2.92 308
Joe Coleman 39 286.0 20 9 3.15 236
Les Cain 26 144.2 10 9 4.35 118

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
Joe Niekro 31 122.1 6 7 4.49 43
Dean Chance 31 89.2 4 6 3.51 64
Mike Kilkenny 30 86.1 4 5 5.00 47
Bill Zepp 16 31.2 1 1 5.12 15
Bill Gilbreth 9 30.0 2 1 4.80 14

Relief pitchers

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

Player G W L SV GF ERA SO
Fred Scherman 69 11 6 20 40 2.71 76
Tom Timmermann 52 7 6 4 23 3.86 51
Bill Denehy 31 0 3 1 10 4.22 27
Daryl Patterson 12 0 1 0 3 4.82 5
Ron Perranoski 11 0 1 2 7 2.50 8
Jim Hannan 7 1 0 0 3 3.27 6
Jack Whillock 7 0 2 1 2 5.63 6
Chuck Seelbach 5 0 0 0 0 13.50 1
Dave Boswell 3 0 0 0 1 6.23 3
Jim Foor 3 0 0 0 1 18.00 2

Awards and honors

League top ten finishers

Ed Brinkman

Norm Cash

Joe Coleman

Bill Freehan

Willie Horton

Al Kaline

Mickey Lolich

Aurelio Rodríguez

Fred Scherman

Players ranking among top 100 all time at position

The following members of the 1972 Tigers were ranked among the Top 100 of all time at their position in The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract in 2001:

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Toledo Mud Hens International League Mike Roarke
AA Montgomery Rebels Southern League Dick Tracewski
A Rocky Mount Leafs Carolina League Len Okrie
A Lakeland Tigers Florida State League Stubby Overmire
A Clinton Pilots Midwest League Max Lanier
A-Short Season Batavia Trojans New York–Penn League Joe Lewis
Rookie Bristol Tigers Appalachian League Jim Leyland

Notes

  1. ^ Denny McLain page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Jerry Robertson page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 236, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  4. ^ a b Dave Boswell page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Gene Pentz page at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Tony Taylor page at Baseball Reference

References

Categories