# 1971 Houston Astros season

The 1971 Houston Astros season was the 10th season for the Houston Astros, a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Houston, Texas, their 7th as the Astros, 3rd in the National League West, and 7th at The Astrodome. The team finished tied for fourth in the National League West with a record of 79–83, 11 games behind the San Francisco Giants.
The Astros played 75 games that were decided by a one run margin, which is an all-time MLB record. In those games, the team had a record of 32–43.

## Offseason

* January 13, 1971: Doug Konieczny was drafted by the Astros in the 1st round (4th pick) of the 1971 Major League Baseball draft Secondary Phase.

## Regular season

* September 5, 1971: In a game against the Giants, J. R. Richard struck out 15 batters in his very first game, tying a Major League record first established by Karl Spooner.

### Season standings

vteNL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| San Francisco Giants | 90 | 72 | .556 | — | 51‍–‍30 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 89 | 73 | .549 | 1 | 42‍–‍39 | 47‍–‍34 |
| Atlanta Braves | 82 | 80 | .506 | 8 | 43‍–‍39 | 39‍–‍41 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 79 | 83 | .488 | 11 | 46‍–‍35 | 33‍–‍48 |
| Houston Astros | 79 | 83 | .488 | 11 | 39‍–‍42 | 40‍–‍41 |
| San Diego Padres | 61 | 100 | .379 | 28½ | 33‍–‍48 | 28‍–‍52 |

### Record vs. opponents

1971 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 5–7 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 4–8 | 11–7 | 7–11 | 6–6 |
| Chicago | 7–5 | — | 6–6 | 5–7 | 8–4 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 11–7 | 6–12 | 9–3 | 3–9 | 9–9 |
| Cincinnati | 9–9 | 6–6 | — | 5–13 | 7–11 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 8–4 |
| Houston | 9–9 | 7–5 | 13–5 | — | 8–10 | 4–8 | 5–7 | 8–4 | 4–8 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 2–10 |
| Los Angeles | 9–9 | 4–8 | 11–7 | 10–8 | — | 8–4 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 4–8 | 13–5 | 12–6 | 6–6 |
| Montreal | 5–7 | 10–8 | 5–7 | 8–4 | 4–8 | — | 9–9 | 6–12 | 7–11 | 6–5 | 7–5 | 4–14 |
| New York | 5–7 | 7–11 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 9–9 | — | 13–5 | 10–8 | 7–5 | 4–8 | 10–8 |
| Philadelphia | 4-8 | 7–11 | 2–10 | 3–9 | 5–7 | 6–10 | 5–13 | — | 6–12 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 7–11 |
| Pittsburgh | 8–4 | 12–6 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 11–7 | 8–10 | 12–6 | — | 9–3 | 3–9 | 11–7 |
| San Diego | 7–11 | 3–9 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 5–13 | 5–6 | 5–7 | 8–4 | 3–9 | — | 5–13 | 4–8 |
| San Francisco | 11–7 | 9–3 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 5–7 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 13–5 | — | 5–7 |
| St. Louis | 6–6 | 9–9 | 4–8 | 10–2 | 6–6 | 14–4 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 7–11 | 8–4 | 7–5 | — |

### Notable transactions

* June 8, 1971: 1971 Major League Baseball draft
** Paul Siebert was drafted by the Astros in the 3rd round.
** Rich Troedson was drafted by the Astros in the 1st round (8th pick) of the Secondary Phase, but did not sign.

### Roster
## Player stats
### 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 | Johnny Edwards | 106 | 317 | 74 | .233 | 1 | 23 |
| 1B | Denis Menke | 146 | 475 | 117 | .246 | 1 | 43 |
| 2B | Joe Morgan | 160 | 583 | 149 | .256 | 13 | 56 |
| SS | Roger Metzger | 150 | 562 | 132 | .235 | 0 | 26 |
| 3B | Doug Rader | 135 | 484 | 118 | .244 | 12 | 56 |
| LF | Bob Watson | 129 | 468 | 135 | .288 | 9 | 67 |
| CF | César Cedeño | 161 | 611 | 161 | .264 | 10 | 81 |
| RF | Jimmy Wynn | 123 | 404 | 82 | .203 | 7 | 45 |

#### 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 |
| Jesús Alou | 122 | 433 | 121 | .279 | 2 | 40 |
| Jack Hiatt | 69 | 174 | 48 | .276 | 1 | 16 |
| John Mayberry | 46 | 137 | 25 | .182 | 7 | 14 |
| Rich Chiles | 67 | 119 | 27 | .227 | 2 | 15 |
| César Gerónimo | 94 | 82 | 18 | .220 | 1 | 6 |
| Norm Miller | 45 | 74 | 19 | .257 | 2 | 10 |
| Larry Howard | 24 | 64 | 15 | .234 | 2 | 14 |
| Marty Martínez | 32 | 62 | 16 | .258 | 0 | 4 |
| Ray Busse | 10 | 34 | 5 | .147 | 0 | 4 |
| Derrel Thomas | 5 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Jay Schlueter | 7 | 3 | 1 | .333 | 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 |
| Don Wilson | 35 | 268.0 | 16 | 10 | 2.45 | 180 |
| Jack Billingham | 33 | 228.1 | 10 | 16 | 3.39 | 139 |
| Ken Forsch | 33 | 188.1 | 8 | 8 | 2.53 | 131 |
| Larry Dierker | 24 | 159.0 | 12 | 6 | 2.72 | 91 |
| Wade Blasingame | 30 | 158.1 | 9 | 11 | 4.60 | 93 |
| Ron Cook | 5 | 25.2 | 0 | 4 | 4.91 | 10 |
| J.R. Richard | 4 | 21.0 | 2 | 1 | 3.43 | 29 |

#### 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 |
| Tom Griffin | 10 | 37.2 | 0 | 6 | 4.78 | 29 |
| Scipio Spinks | 5 | 29.1 | 1 | 0 | 3.68 | 26 |
| Bill Greif | 7 | 16.0 | 1 | 1 | 5.06 | 14 |

#### 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 |
| Fred Gladding | 48 | 4 | 5 | 12 | 2.10 | 17 |
| George Culver | 59 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 2.64 | 57 |
| Jim Ray | 47 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 2.12 | 46 |
| Denny Lemaster | 42 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3.45 | 28 |
| Buddy Harris | 20 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6.46 | 21 |
| Skip Guinn | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 3 |
| Larry Yount | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Oklahoma City 89ers | American Association | Jimmy Williams |
| AA | Columbus Astros | Southern League | Clifford Davis |
| A | Cocoa Astros | Florida State League | Tony Pacheco |
| A | Sumter Astros | Western Carolinas League | Jackie Brandt |
| Rookie | Covington Astros | Appalachian League | Billy Smith |