# 1971 Cincinnati Reds season

The 1971 Cincinnati Reds season was the 102nd season for the franchise in Major League Baseball, and their 2nd and 1st full season at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. The Reds finished in a fourth place tie with the 1971 Houston Astros season in the National League West, with a record of 79 wins and 83 losses, 11 games behind the National League West champion 1971 San Francisco Giants season. The Reds were managed by Sparky Anderson, and played their first full season of home games at Riverfront Stadium, which had opened at mid-season in the previous year. This was the team's only losing season of the 1970s.

## Offseason

* October 20, 1970: Sonny Ruberto was sent to the Reds by the San Diego Padres in a conditional deal.
* March 31, 1971: Stan Swanson was traded by the Reds to the Montreal Expos for Jim Qualls.

## Regular season
### 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

* May 29, 1971: Frank Duffy and Vern Geishert were traded by the Reds to the San Francisco Giants for George Foster.
* June 8, 1971: Dave Revering was drafted by the Reds in the 7th round of the 1971 Major League Baseball Draft.

### 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 Bench | 149 | 562 | 134 | .238 | 27 | 61 |
| 1B | Lee May | 147 | 553 | 154 | .278 | 39 | 98 |
| 2B | Tommy Helms | 150 | 547 | 141 | .258 | 3 | 52 |
| SS | Dave Concepción | 130 | 327 | 67 | .205 | 1 | 20 |
| 3B | Tony Pérez | 158 | 609 | 164 | .269 | 25 | 91 |
| LF | Bernie Carbo | 106 | 310 | 68 | .219 | 5 | 20 |
| CF | George Foster | 104 | 368 | 86 | .234 | 10 | 50 |
| RF | Pete Rose | 160 | 632 | 192 | .304 | 13 | 44 |

#### 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 |
| Hal McRae | 99 | 337 | 89 | .264 | 9 | 34 |
| Woody Woodward | 136 | 273 | 66 | .242 | 0 | 18 |
| Buddy Bradford | 79 | 100 | 20 | .200 | 2 | 12 |
| Ty Cline | 69 | 97 | 19 | .196 | 0 | 1 |
| Pat Corrales | 40 | 94 | 17 | .181 | 0 | 6 |
| Jimmy Stewart | 80 | 82 | 19 | .232 | 0 | 9 |
| Willie Smith | 31 | 55 | 9 | .164 | 1 | 4 |
| Al Ferrara | 32 | 33 | 6 | .182 | 1 | 5 |
| Darrel Chaney | 10 | 24 | 3 | .125 | 0 | 1 |
| Bill Plummer | 10 | 19 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Frank Duffy | 13 | 16 | 3 | .188 | 0 | 1 |
| Ángel Bravo | 5 | 5 | 1 | .200 | 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 |
| Gary Nolan | 35 | 244.2 | 12 | 15 | 3.16 | 146 |
| Don Gullett | 35 | 217.2 | 16 | 6 | 2.65 | 107 |
| Jim McGlothlin | 30 | 170.2 | 8 | 12 | 3.22 | 93 |
| Ross Grimsley | 26 | 161.1 | 10 | 7 | 3.57 | 67 |
| Wayne Simpson | 22 | 117.1 | 4 | 7 | 4.76 | 61 |

#### 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 |
| Jim Merritt | 28 | 107.0 | 1 | 11 | 4.37 | 38 |
| Tony Cloninger | 28 | 97.1 | 3 | 6 | 3.38 | 51 |
| Milt Wilcox | 18 | 43.1 | 2 | 2 | 3.32 | 21 |
| Greg Garrett | 2 | 8.2 | 0 | 1 | 1.04 | 2 |

#### 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 |
| Clay Carroll | 61 | 10 | 4 | 15 | 2.50 | 64 |
| Wayne Granger | 70 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 3.33 | 51 |
| Joe Gibbon | 50 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 2.94 | 34 |
| Ed Sprague Sr. | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 7 |
| Pedro Borbón | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.15 | 4 |
| Steve Blateric | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 4 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Indianapolis Indians | American Association | Vern Rapp |
| AA | Trois-Rivières Aigles | Eastern League | Jim Snyder |
| A | Tampa Tarpons | Florida State League | Russ Nixon |
| A-Short Season | Sioux Falls Packers | Northern League | Dave Pavlesic |
| Rookie | GCL Reds | Gulf Coast League | Ron Plaza |