1971 Oakland Athletics season

March 2026 November 2013 Oakland Athletics 1971 American League West champions American League West Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Oakland, California 101–60 (.627) Charles O. Finley Dick Williams KBHK-TV KEST(Monte Moore, Bob Elson, Red Rush) The 1971 Oakland Athletics season was the 71st season for the Oakland Athletics franchise, all as members of the American League, and their 4th season in Oakland. The Athletics finished first in the American League West with a record of 101 wins and 60 losses (their best record in the Swingin' A's era). In their first postseason appearance of any kind since 1931, the A's were swept in three games by the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Championship Series. This would be the final season that the team wore the vest-style uniforms, they would switch to their Swingin' A's era uniforms the next year. Offseason January 13, 1971: 1971 Major League Baseball draft (January draft) notable picks:1971 Oakland Athletics Picks in the MLB June Amateur Draft Round 5: Rich Dauer (did not sign) Secondary Phase1971 Oakland Athletics Picks in the MLB January Amateur Draft (secondary phase) Round 1: Phil Garner Round 3: Steve Staggs (did not sign) Regular season Vida Blue became the first black player in the history of the American League to win the American League Cy Young Award.Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 199, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, 978-0-451-22363-0 He was also the youngest AL player in the 20th century to win the MVP Award.Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 152 During the year, Vida Blue was on the cover of Sports Illustrated and Time magazine.Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.148, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, 978-0-8027-1745-0 Season standings Oakland Athletics Record vs. opponents OAK Opening day starters 1B Don Mincher 2B Dick Green 3B Sal Bando SS Bert Campaneris LF Felipe Alou CF Rick Monday RF Reggie Jackson C Dave Duncan P Vida Blue Notable transactions May 8, 1971: Frank Fernández, Don Mincher, Paul Lindblad, and cash were traded by the Athletics to the Washington Senators for Darold Knowles and Mike Epstein.Darold Knowles page at Baseball Reference May 26, 1971: Rob Gardner was traded by the Athletics to the New York Yankees for Curt Blefary.Curt Blefary page at Baseball Reference June 12, 1971: Champ Summers was signed by the Athletics as an amateur free agent.Champ Summers page at Baseball Reference Roster 1971 Oakland Athletics Roster Pitchers 35 Vida Blue 29 Chuck Dobson 34 Rollie Fingers 56 Rob Gardner 16,56 Mudcat Grant 27 Catfish Hunter 17 Ron Klimkowski 32 Darold Knowles 14 Marcel Lachemann 25 Paul Lindblad 36 Bob Locker 13 Blue Moon Odom 16 Jim Panther 58 Daryl Patterson 33 Jim Roland 24 Diego Seguí Catchers 39 Curt Blefary 10 Dave Duncan 16,39 Frank Fernández 38 Gene Tenace Infielders 11 Dwain Anderson  6 Sal Bando  8 Larry Brown 19 Bert Campaneris 12 Tommy Davis  5 Mike Epstein  1 Dick Green 20 Mike Hegan 42 Tony La Russa  5 Don Mincher 52 Ray Webster Outfielders  8 Felipe Alou  3 Adrian Garrett 25 George Hendrick 28 Steve Hovley  9 Reggie Jackson  2 Ángel Mangual  7 Rick Monday 26 Joe Rudi Other batters  3 Ron Clark Manager 23 Dick Williams Coaches 44 Vern Hoscheit 41 Jerry Lumpe 43 Irv Noren 40 Bill Posedel 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 C Dave Duncan Dave Duncan (baseball) 103 363 92 .253 15 40 1B Mike Epstein 104 329 77 .234 18 51 2B Dick Green 144 475 116 .244 12 49 3B Sal Bando 153 538 146 .271 24 74 SS Bert Campaneris 134 569 143 .251 5 47 LF Joe Rudi 127 513 137 .267 10 52 CF Rick Monday 116 355 87 .245 18 56 RF Reggie Jackson 150 567 157 .277 32 80 1971 Oakland Athletics at Baseball Reference 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 Ángel Mangual 94 287 82 .286 4 30 Tommy Davis Tommy Davis (outfielder) 79 219 71 .324 3 42 Larry Brown Larry Brown (infielder) 70 189 37 .196 1 9 Gene Tenace 65 179 49 .274 7 25 George Hendrick 42 114 27 .237 0 8 Curt Blefary 50 101 22 .218 5 12 Don Mincher 28 98 22 .239 2 8 Mike Hegan 65 55 13 .236 0 3 Dwain Anderson 16 37 10 .270 0 3 Steve Hovley 24 27 3 .111 0 3 Adrian Garrett 14 21 3 .143 1 2 Frank Fernández Frank Fernández (baseball) 4 9 1 .111 0 1 Felipe Alou 2 8 2 .250 0 0 Tony LaRussa 23 8 0 .000 0 0 Ramon Webster 7 5 0 .000 0 0 Ron Clark Ron Clark (baseball) 2 2 0 .000 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 Vida Blue 39 312.0 24 8 1.82 301 Catfish Hunter 37 273.2 21 11 2.96 181 Chuck Dobson 30 189.0 15 5 3.81 100 Diego Seguí 26 146.1 10 8 3.14 81 Blue Moon Odom 25 140.2 10 12 4.29 69 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 Rob Gardner Rob Gardner (baseball) 4 7.2 0 0 2.35 5 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 Rollie Fingers 48 4 6 17 2.99 98 Bob Locker 47 7 2 6 2.86 46 Darold Knowles 43 5 2 7 3.59 40 Jim Roland 31 1 3 1 3.18 30 Ron Klimkowski 26 2 2 2 3.38 25 Mudcat Grant 15 1 0 3 1.98 13 Paul Lindblad 8 1 0 0 3.94 4 Daryl Patterson 4 0 0 0 7.94 2 Jim Panther 4 0 1 0 11.12 4 Marcel Lachemann 1 0 0 0 54.00 0 Awards and honors Vida Blue, P, American League Cy Young AwardAmerican League Cy Young Award winners at Baseball Reference1971 Cy Young Award voting results at Baseball Reference Vida Blue, P, American League Most Valuable Player Award.American League Most Valuable Player Award winners at Baseball Reference1971 Most Valuable Player award voting results at Baseball Reference Sal Bando, second in American League MVP voting Dick Williams, Associated Press AL Manager of the Yearhttp://www.rauzulusstreet.com/baseball/mlbawards/apmanageryr.htm www.rauzulusstreet.com October 3, 2009 October 22, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20251022051932/http://www.rauzulusstreet.com/baseball/mlbawards/apmanageryr.htm dead All-Stars 1971 Major League Baseball All-Star Game Vida Blue, pitcher, starter1971 All-Star game at Baseball Reference Dave Duncan, reserve Reggie Jackson, reserve 1971 American League Championship Series 1971 American League Championship Series Game 1 Sunday, October 3, 1971, at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland Oakland OAK 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 9 0 Baltimore BAL 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 0 X 5 7 1 Dave McNally (1–0) Vida Blue (0–1) Eddie Watt (1) Game 2 Monday, October 4, 1971, at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland Oakland OAK 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 0 Baltimore BAL 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 2 X 5 7 0 Mike Cuellar (1–0) Catfish Hunter (0–1) Brooks Robinson (1), Boog Powell 2 (2), Elrod Hendricks (1) Game 3 Tuesday, October 5, 1971, at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California Baltimore BAL 1 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 5 12 0 Oakland OAK 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 3 7 0 Jim Palmer (1–0) Diego Seguí (0–1) Reggie Jackson 2 (2), Sal Bando (1) Farm system Minor League Baseball AAA Iowa Oaks American Association Sherm Lollar AA Birmingham A's Southern League Phil Cavarretta A Burlington Bees Midwest League Harry Bright A-Short Season Coos Bay-North Bend A's Northwest League Jim Reinebold References 2 External links 1971 Oakland Athletics team page at Baseball Reference 1971 Oakland Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com Category:Oakland Athletics seasons Oakland Athletics season Category:American League West champion seasons Oakland Athletics