# 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.

## 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

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Oakland Athletics | 101 | 60 | .627 | — | 46‍–‍35 | 55‍–‍25 |
| Kansas City Royals | 85 | 76 | .528 | 16 | 44‍–‍37 | 41‍–‍39 |
| Chicago White Sox | 79 | 83 | .488 | 22½ | 39‍–‍42 | 40‍–‍41 |
| California Angels | 76 | 86 | .469 | 25½ | 35‍–‍46 | 41‍–‍40 |
| Minnesota Twins | 74 | 86 | .463 | 26½ | 37‍–‍42 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 69 | 92 | .429 | 32 | 34‍–‍48 | 35‍–‍44 |

### Record vs. opponents

1971 American League recordvte Sources: :
| 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

* April 9, 1971: Dave Boswell was released by the Twins.
* June 8, 1971: 1971 Major League Baseball draft
** Dave Edwards was drafted by the Twins in the 7th round.
** Future NFL quarterback Joe Theismann was drafted by the Twins in the 39th round.
** Glenn Borgmann was drafted by the Twins in the 1st round of the secondary phase.
* July 8, 1971: Paul Ratliff was traded by the Twins to the Milwaukee Brewers for Phil Roof.

### Roster
## 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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

## Farm system

| 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