# 1971 Oakland Athletics season

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.

## Offseason

* January 13, 1971: 1971 Major League Baseball draft (January draft) notable picks:
       Round 5: Rich Dauer (did not sign)
    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. He was also the youngest AL player in the 20th century to win the MVP Award. During the year, Vida Blue was on the cover of Sports Illustrated and Time magazine.

### 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 | — |

### 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.
* May 26, 1971: Rob Gardner was traded by the Athletics to the New York Yankees for Curt Blefary.
* June 12, 1971: Champ Summers was signed by the Athletics as an amateur free agent.

### 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 | Dave Duncan | 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 |

#### 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 | 79 | 219 | 71 | .324 | 3 | 42 |
| Larry Brown | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 Award
* Vida Blue, P, American League Most Valuable Player Award. Sal Bando, second in American League MVP voting
* Dick Williams, Associated Press AL Manager of the Year

### All-Stars

1971 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
* Vida Blue, pitcher, starter
* Dave Duncan, reserve
* Reggie Jackson, reserve

## 1971 American League Championship Series
### Game 1

Sunday, October 3, 1971, at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Oakland | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 0 |
| Baltimore | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | X | 5 | 7 | 1 |
| WP: Dave McNally (1–0) LP: Vida Blue (0–1) Sv: Eddie Watt (1) |||||||||||||

### Game 2

Monday, October 4, 1971, at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Oakland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Baltimore | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | X | 5 | 7 | 0 |
| WP: Mike Cuellar (1–0) LP: Catfish Hunter (0–1) Home runs: OAK: None BAL: Brooks Robinson (1), Boog Powell 2 (2), Elrod Hendricks (1) |||||||||||||

### Game 3

Tuesday, October 5, 1971, at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Baltimore | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 12 | 0 |
| Oakland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| WP: Jim Palmer (1–0) LP: Diego Seguí (0–1) Home runs: BAL: None OAK: Reggie Jackson 2 (2), Sal Bando (1) |||||||||||||

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| 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 |