# 1971 Detroit Tigers season

The 1971 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 71st season and the 60th season at Tiger Stadium. The 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

* October 9, 1970: Denny McLain, Elliott Maddox, Norm McRae, and Don Wert were traded by the Tigers to the Washington Senators for Ed Brinkman, Aurelio Rodríguez, Joe Coleman, and Jim Hannan.
* March 30, 1971: Jerry Robertson was traded by the Detroit Tigers to the New York Mets for Dean Chance and Bill Denehy.

## 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.

### Season standings

vteAL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Baltimore Orioles | 101 | 57 | .639 | — | 53‍–‍24 | 48‍–‍33 |
| Detroit Tigers | 91 | 71 | .562 | 12 | 54‍–‍27 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Boston Red Sox | 85 | 77 | .525 | 18 | 47‍–‍33 | 38‍–‍44 |
| New York Yankees | 82 | 80 | .506 | 21 | 44‍–‍37 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Washington Senators | 63 | 96 | .396 | 38½ | 35‍–‍46 | 28‍–‍50 |
| Cleveland Indians | 60 | 102 | .370 | 43 | 29‍–‍52 | 31‍–‍50 |

### 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 signed as a free agent by the Tigers.
* May 28, 1971: Dave Boswell was released by the Tigers.
* June 8, 1971: Gene Pentz was drafted by the Tigers in the 7th round of the 1971 Major League Baseball Draft.
* June 12, 1971: Carl Cavanaugh (minors) and Mike Fremuth (minors) were traded by the Tigers to the Philadelphia Phillies for Tony Taylor.

### Roster
## 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

* Mickey Lolich, Tiger of the Year award from Detroit baseball writers

### League top ten finishers

Ed Brinkman
* AL leader in games played at shortstop (159)
* AL leader in innings played at shortstop (1395-2/3)
* AL leader in assists by a shortstop (513)
* #4 in AL in games played (159)
* #7 in AL in times hit by pitch (7)
Norm Cash
* Finished 12th in AL MVP voting
* AL leader in at bats per home run (14.1)
* #2 in AL in home runs (32)
* #3 in AL in slugging percentage (.531)
* #3 in AL in OPS (.903)
* #7 in AL in times hit by pitch (7)
* #8 in AL in RBIs (91)
* #9 in AL in runs created (93)
* 7th oldest player in the AL
Joe Coleman
* #3 in AL in strikeouts (236)
* #4 in AL in strikeouts per 9 innings pitched (7.43)
* #5 in AL in win percentage (.690)
* #5 in AL in innings pitched (286)
* #5 in AL in batters faced (1174)
* #6 in AL in wins (20)
* #9 in AL in complete games (16)
Bill Freehan
* AL leader in games at catcher (144)
* AL leader in complete games at catcher (128)
* AL leader in innings played at catcher (1265)
* AL leader in putouts by a catcher (912)
* #3 in AL in times hit by pitch (9)
* #8 in AL in doubles (26)
* #9 in AL in extra base hits (51)
* #9 in AL in at bats per strikeout (10.8)
Willie Horton
* #7 in AL in slugging percentage (.496)
* #7 in AL in times hit by pitch (7)
* #10 in AL in extra base hits (48)
* #10 in AL in at bats per home run (20.5)
Al Kaline
* #3 in AL in on-base percentage (.416)
* #6 in AL in OPS (.878)
* #7 in AL in time hit by pitch (7)
* #8 in AL in batting average (.294)
* #10 in AL in bases on balls (82)
* 9th oldest player in the AL
Mickey Lolich
* Finished 2nd in AL Cy Young Award voting (behind Vida Blue)
* Finished 5th in AL MVP voting
* MLB leader in wins (25)
* MLB leader in strikeouts (308)
* MLB leader in innings pitched (376)
* MLB leader in games started (45)
* AL leader in complete games (29)
* MLB leader in hits allowed (336)
* MLB leader in batters faced (1538)
* #2 in MLB in home runs allowed (36)
* #2 in MLB in earned runs allowed (122)
* #4 in AL in sacrifice hits (16)
* #4 in AL in strikeout to walk ratio (3.35)
* #5 in AL in strikeouts per 9 innings pitched (7.37)
* #7 in AL in Adjusted ERA+ (125)
* #8 in AL in bases on balls per 9 innings pitched (2.20)
* #10 in AL in ERA (2.92)
Aurelio Rodríguez
* #3 in AL in doubles (30)
* #4 in AL in triples (7)
* #4 in AL in outs (476)
* #5 in AL in at bats (604)
* #8 in AL in extra base hits (52)
* #10 in AL in strikeouts (104)
Fred Scherman
* #2 in AL in games by pitcher (69)
* #3 in AL in saves (20)
* #3 in AL in games finished (40)

### 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:
* Bill Freehan: 12th best catcher of all time
* Norm Cash: 20th best first baseman of all time
* Dick McAuliffe: 22nd best second baseman of all time
* Aurelio Rodríguez: 91st best third baseman of all time
* Willie Horton: 55th best left fielder of all time
* Al Kaline: 11th best right fielder of all time
* Mickey Lolich: 72nd best pitcher of all time

## Farm system

| 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 |