# 1971 Milwaukee Brewers season

The 1971 Milwaukee Brewers season was the 2nd season for the Brewers in Milwaukee, and their 3rd overall. The Brewers' finished sixth in the American League West with a record of 69 wins and 92 losses.

## Offseason

* October 1, 1970: Sixto Lezcano was signed by the Milwaukee Brewers as an amateur free agent.
* October 20, 1970: Jerry McNertney, George Lauzerique, and Jesse Huggins (minors) were traded by the Brewers to the St. Louis Cardinals for Carl Taylor and Jim Ellis.
* October 20, 1970: Larry Bearnarth was purchased by the Brewers from the New York Mets.
* December 2, 1970: Hank Allen, John Ryan (minors) and Paul Click (minors) were traded by the Brewers to the Atlanta Braves for Bob Tillman.
* February 2, 1971: Carl Taylor was traded by the Brewers to the Kansas City Royals for Ellie Rodríguez.
* February 10, 1971: Al Downing was traded by the Brewers to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Andy Kosco.
* March 6, 1971: Oakland Athletics owner Charlie Finley persuaded American League president Joe Cronin to have a preseason game in which a walk was allowed on three pitches rather than four. The Athletics bested the Milwaukee Brewers by a 13–9 tally. Nineteen total walks were issued in the game, and a collective six home runs were hit.

## Regular season
### 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 22, 1971: Ray Peters and Pete Koegel were traded by the Brewers to the Philadelphia Phillies for Johnny Briggs.
* May 11, 1971: Ted Savage was traded by the Brewers to the Kansas City Royals for Tom Matchick.
* June 1, 1971: Floyd Wicker was traded by the Brewers to the San Francisco Giants for Bob Heise.
* June 7, 1971: Danny Walton was traded by the Brewers to the New York Yankees for Frank Tepedino and Bobby Mitchell.
* June 8, 1971: 1971 Major League Baseball draft
** Rob Ellis was drafted by the Brewers in the 1st round.
** Kevin Kobel was drafted by the Brewers in the 10th round.
* July 8, 1971: Phil Roof was traded by the Brewers to the Minnesota Twins for Paul Ratliff.

### 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 | Ellie Rodríguez | 115 | 319 | 67 | .210 | 1 | 30 |
| 1B | Johnny Briggs | 125 | 375 | 99 | .264 | 21 | 59 |
| 2B | Ron Theobald | 126 | 388 | 107 | .276 | 1 | 23 |
| SS | Rick Auerbach | 79 | 236 | 48 | .203 | 1 | 9 |
| 3B | Tommy Matchick | 42 | 114 | 25 | .219 | 1 | 7 |
| LF | Andy Kosco | 98 | 264 | 60 | .227 | 10 | 39 |
| CF | Dave May | 144 | 501 | 139 | .277 | 16 | 65 |
| RF | Bill Voss | 97 | 275 | 69 | .251 | 10 | 30 |

#### 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 |
| Roberto Peña | 113 | 274 | 65 | .237 | 3 | 28 |
| Andy Kosco | 98 | 264 | 60 | .227 | 10 | 39 |
| Ted Kubiak | 89 | 260 | 59 | .227 | 3 | 17 |
| José Cardenal | 53 | 198 | 91 | .258 | 3 | 32 |
| Bob Heise | 68 | 189 | 48 | .254 | 0 | 7 |
| Mike Hegan | 46 | 122 | 27 | .221 | 4 | 11 |
| Phil Roof | 41 | 114 | 22 | .193 | 1 | 10 |
| Rob Ellis | 36 | 111 | 22 | .198 | 0 | 6 |
| Frank Tepedino | 53 | 106 | 21 | .198 | 2 | 7 |
| Darrell Porter | 22 | 70 | 15 | .214 | 2 | 9 |
| Danny Walton | 30 | 69 | 14 | .203 | 2 | 9 |
| Bobby Mitchell | 35 | 55 | 10 | .182 | 2 | 6 |
| Al Yates | 24 | 47 | 13 | .277 | 1 | 4 |
| Paul Ratliff | 23 | 41 | 7 | .171 | 3 | 7 |
| Bernie Smith | 15 | 36 | 5 | .139 | 1 | 3 |
| Gus Gil | 14 | 32 | 5 | .156 | 0 | 3 |
| Ducky Schofield | 23 | 28 | 3 | .107 | 0 | 1 |
| Ted Savage | 14 | 17 | 3 | .176 | 0 | 1 |
| Floyd Wicker | 11 | 8 | 1 | .125 | 0 | 0 |
| Pete Koegel | 2 | 3 | 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 |
| Marty Pattin | 36 | 264.2 | 14 | 14 | 3.13 | 169 |
| Bill Parsons | 36 | 244.2 | 13 | 17 | 3.20 | 139 |
| Skip Lockwood | 33 | 208.0 | 10 | 15 | 3.33 | 115 |
| Jim Slaton | 26 | 147.2 | 10 | 8 | 3.78 | 63 |

#### 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 |
| Lew Krausse Jr. | 43 | 180.1 | 8 | 12 | 2.94 | 92 |
| Marcelino López | 31 | 67.2 | 2 | 7 | 4.66 | 42 |

#### 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 |
| Ken Sanders | 83 | 7 | 12 | 31 | 1.91 | 80 |
| John Morris | 43 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3.72 | 42 |
| Jim Hannan | 21 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5.01 | 17 |
| Floyd Weaver | 21 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7.24 | 12 |
| Dick Ellsworth | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.91 | 10 |
| Jerry Bell | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3.07 | 8 |
| Bob Reynolds | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 | 4 |
| Larry Bearnarth | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18.00 | 2 |
| John Gelnar | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 0 |

## Farm system

The Brewers' farm system consisted of three minor league affiliates in 1971.
| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| Triple-A | Evansville Triplets | American Association | Del Crandall |
| Class A | Danville Warriors | Midwest League | Sandy Johnson |
| Class A Short Season | Newark Co-Pilots | New York–Penn League | Al Widmar |