1971 Minnesota Twins season

March 2026 November 2013 Minnesota Twins 1971 American League West Metropolitan Stadium Bloomington, Minnesota 74 86 y 5th Calvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes) Calvin Griffith Bill Rigney WTCN-TV (Halsey Hall, Frank Buetel, Bob Allison) 830 WCCO AM (Herb Carneal, Halsey Hall, Ray Christensen) The 1971 Minnesota Twins season was the 11th season for the Minnesota Twins franchise in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, their 11th season at Metropolitan Stadium and the 71st overall in the American League. The 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. 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 Record vs. opponents MIN Notable transactions April 9, 1971: Dave Boswell was released by the Twins.Dave Boswell at Baseball Reference June 8, 1971: 1971 Major League Baseball draft Dave Edwards was drafted by the Twins in the 7th round.Dave Edwards at Baseball Reference Future NFL quarterback Joe Theismann was drafted by the Twins in the 39th round.Baseball-Reference.com https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/index.cgi?year_ID=1971&round=39&draft_type=junreg Baseball Draft: 39th Round of the 1971 June Draft December 27, 2008 Glenn Borgmann was drafted by the Twins in the 1st round of the secondary phase.Glenn Borgmann at Baseball Reference July 8, 1971: Paul Ratliff was traded by the Twins to the Milwaukee Brewers for Phil Roof.Phil Roof at Baseball Reference Roster 1971 Minnesota Twins Roster Pitchers 24 Steve Barber 28 Bert Blyleven 19 Sal Campisi 23 Ray Corbin 16 Bob Gebhard 21 Tom Hall 33,24 Pete Hamm 30 Hal Haydel 36 Jim Kaat 32 Steve Luebber 16 Ron Perranoski 31 Jim Perry 19 Jim Strickland 35 Stan Williams Catchers 25 Rick Dempsey 15 George Mitterwald  8 Paul Ratliff  8 Phil Roof 22 Tom Tischinski Infielders  4 Steve Braun 17 Leo Cárdenas 29 Rod Carew  3 Harmon Killebrew 20 Rich Reese 10 Rick Renick  1 Eric Soderholm  5 Danny Thompson Outfielders 11 Brant Alyea 37 Steve Brye 26 Jim Holt  9 Charlie Manuel  7 Jim Nettles  6 Tony Oliva  7 Paul Powell 24 George Thomas 12 César Tovar Manager 18 Bill Rigney Coaches  2 Frankie Crosetti 46 Marv Grissom 44 Vern Morgan 43 Frank Quilici 45 Buck Rodgers 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 George Mitterwald 125 388 97 .250 13 44 1B Harmon Killebrew 147 500 127 .254 28 119 2B Rod Carew 147 577 177 .307 2 48 SS Leo Cárdenas 153 554 146 .264 18 75 3B Steve Braun 128 343 87 .254 5 35 LF César Tovar 157 657 204 .311 1 45 CF Jim Holt 126 340 88 .259 1 29 RF Tony Oliva 126 487 164 .337 22 81 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 Rich Reese 120 329 72 .219 10 39 Jim Nettles 70 168 42 .250 6 24 Brant Alyea 79 158 28 .177 2 15 Steve Brye 28 107 24 .224 3 11 Phil Roof 31 87 21 .241 0 6 Eric Soderholm 21 64 10 .156 1 4 Danny Thompson Danny Thompson (baseball) 48 57 15 .263 0 7 Rick Renick 27 45 10 .222 1 8 Paul Ratliff 21 44 7 .159 2 6 Paul Powell 20 31 5 .161 1 2 George Thomas 23 30 8 .267 0 2 Tom Tischinski 21 23 3 .130 0 2 Charlie Manuel 18 16 2 .125 0 1 Rick Dempsey 6 13 4 .308 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 Bert Blyleven 38 278.1 16 15 2.81 224 Jim Perry Jim Perry (baseball) 40 270.0 17 17 4.23 126 Jim Kaat 39 260.1 13 14 3.32 137 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 Corbin 52 140.1 8 11 4.10 83 Tom Hall Tom Hall (baseball) 48 129.2 4 7 3.33 137 Steve Luebber 18 68.0 2 5 5.03 35 Pete Hamm 13 44.0 2 4 6.75 16 Steve Barber Steve Barber (right-handed pitcher) 4 11.2 1 0 6.17 4 Tom Hall led the Twins in saves with 9. 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 Ron Perranoski 36 1 4 5 6.75 21 Stan Williams 46 4 5 4 4.15 47 Hal Haydel 31 4 2 1 4.28 29 Jim Strickland 24 1 0 1 1.44 21 Bob Gebhard 17 1 2 0 3.00 13 Sal Campisi 6 0 0 0 4.15 2 Awards and honors Harmon Killebrew, Lou Gehrig Award All-Star Game Rod Carew, Second Base, Starter Harmon Killebrew, First Base, Reserve Jim Perry, Pitcher, Reserve Tony Olivia, Outfield, Injured, Did not play Farm system Minor League Baseball 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 2 References Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com Team info from www.baseball-almanac.com Johnson Lloyd Wolff Miles The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball 2nd Durham, North Carolina Baseball America 1997 978-0-9637189-8-3 Category:Minnesota Twins seasons Minnesota Twins season Minnesota Twins