# 1974 California Angels season

The 1974 California Angels season involved the Angels finishing sixth in the American League West with a record of 68 wins and 94 losses. This was the Angels' first last place divisional finish in franchise history.

## Offseason

* October 22, 1973: Clyde Wright, Steve Barber, Ken Berry, Art Kusnyer, and cash were traded by the Angels to the Milwaukee Brewers for Ellie Rodríguez, Ollie Brown, Joe Lahoud, Skip Lockwood, and Gary Ryerson.
* December 6, 1973: Aurelio Monteagudo and Chris Coletta were sent by the Angels to the Philadelphia Phillies for Denny Doyle to complete an earlier deal (the Angels sent Billy Grabarkewitz and players to be named later to the Phillies for a player to be named later) made on August 14, 1973.

## Regular season

On August 25, Nolan Ryan struck out Sandy Alomar for the 1,500th strikeout of his career. Ryan and Alomar had been teammates earlier in the season before Alomar was sold to the Yankees on July 8.

### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Oakland Athletics | 90 | 72 | .556 | — | 49‍–‍32 | 41‍–‍40 |
| Texas Rangers | 84 | 76 | .525 | 5 | 42‍–‍38 | 42‍–‍38 |
| Minnesota Twins | 82 | 80 | .506 | 8 | 48‍–‍33 | 34‍–‍47 |
| Chicago White Sox | 80 | 80 | .500 | 9 | 46‍–‍34 | 34‍–‍46 |
| Kansas City Royals | 77 | 85 | .475 | 13 | 40‍–‍41 | 37‍–‍44 |
| California Angels | 68 | 94 | .420 | 22 | 36‍–‍45 | 32‍–‍49 |

### Record vs. opponents

1974 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | TEX |
| Baltimore | — | 10–8 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 12–6 | 14–4 | 8–4 | 8–10 | 6–6 | 11–7 | 6–6 | 4–8 |
| Boston | 8–10 | — | 4–8 | 8–4 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 4–8 | 10–8 | 6–6 | 11–7 | 8–4 | 5–7 |
| California | 5–7 | 8–4 | — | 10–8–1 | 3–9 | 5–7 | 8–10 | 3–9 | 8–10 | 3–9 | 6–12 | 9–9 |
| Chicago | 7–5 | 4–8 | 8–10–1 | — | 8–4 | 7–5 | 11–7 | 8–4 | 7–11–1 | 4–8 | 7–11 | 9–7–1 |
| Cleveland | 6–12 | 9–9 | 9–3 | 4–8 | — | 9–9 | 8–4 | 10–8 | 6–6 | 7–11 | 5–7 | 4–8 |
| Detroit | 4–14 | 7–11 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 9–9 | — | 7–5 | 9–9 | 3–9 | 11–7 | 5–7 | 5–7 |
| Kansas City | 4–8 | 8–4 | 10–8 | 7–11 | 4–8 | 5–7 | — | 11–1 | 8–10 | 4–8 | 8–10 | 8–10 |
| Milwaukee | 10–8 | 8–10 | 9–3 | 4–8 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 1–11 | — | 6–6 | 9–9 | 5–7 | 7–5 |
| Minnesota | 6–6 | 6–6 | 10–8 | 11–7–1 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 10–8 | 6–6 | — | 4–8 | 5–13 | 9–9 |
| New York | 7–11 | 7–11 | 9–3 | 8–4 | 11–7 | 7–11 | 8–4 | 9–9 | 8–4 | — | 7–5 | 8–4 |
| Oakland | 6–6 | 4–8 | 12–6 | 11–7 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 10–8 | 7–5 | 13–5 | 5–7 | — | 8–10 |
| Texas | 8–4 | 7–5 | 9–9 | 7–9–1 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 10–8 | 5–7 | 9–9 | 4–8 | 10–8 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 30, 1974: Richie Scheinblum was traded by the Angels to the Kansas City Royals for Paul Schaal.
* May 4, 1974: Mike Epstein was released by the Angels.
* June 5, 1974: Greg Harris was drafted by the Angels in the 10th round of the 1974 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.
* June 15, 1974: Rudy May was purchased from the Angels by the New York Yankees.
* July 8, 1974: Sandy Alomar Sr. was purchased from the Angels by the New York Yankees.
* July 28, 1974: Rick Stelmaszek was traded by the Angels to the Chicago Cubs for Horacio Piña.
* September 12, 1974: Frank Robinson was traded by the Angels to the Cleveland Indians for Ken Suarez, Rusty Torres, and cash.

### 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 | 140 | 395 | 100 | .253 | 7 | 36 |
| 1B | John Doherty | 74 | 223 | 57 | .256 | 3 | 15 |
| 2B | Denny Doyle | 147 | 511 | 133 | .260 | 1 | 34 |
| 3B | Paul Schaal | 53 | 165 | 41 | .248 | 2 | 20 |
| SS | Dave Chalk | 133 | 465 | 117 | .252 | 5 | 31 |
| LF | Bobby Valentine | 117 | 371 | 97 | .261 | 3 | 39 |
| CF | Mickey Rivers | 118 | 466 | 133 | .285 | 3 | 31 |
| RF | Leroy Stanton | 118 | 415 | 111 | .267 | 11 | 62 |
| DH | Frank Robinson | 129 | 427 | 107 | .251 | 20 | 63 |

#### 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 |
| Bob Oliver | 110 | 359 | 89 | .248 | 8 | 55 |
| Joe Lahoud | 127 | 325 | 88 | .271 | 13 | 44 |
| Bruce Bochte | 57 | 196 | 53 | .270 | 5 | 26 |
| Morris Nettles | 56 | 175 | 48 | .274 | 0 | 8 |
| Winston Llenas | 72 | 138 | 36 | .261 | 2 | 17 |
| Tommy McCraw | 56 | 119 | 34 | .286 | 3 | 17 |
| Tom Egan | 43 | 94 | 11 | .117 | 0 | 4 |
| Rudy Meoli | 36 | 90 | 22 | .244 | 0 | 3 |
| Orlando Ramírez | 31 | 86 | 14 | .163 | 0 | 7 |
| Charlie Sands | 43 | 83 | 16 | .193 | 4 | 13 |
| Bob Heise | 29 | 75 | 20 | .267 | 0 | 6 |
| Mike Epstein | 18 | 62 | 10 | .161 | 4 | 6 |
| Sandy Alomar Sr. | 46 | 54 | 12 | .222 | 0 | 1 |
| John Balaz | 14 | 42 | 10 | .238 | 1 | 5 |
| Doug Howard | 22 | 39 | 9 | .231 | 0 | 5 |
| Richie Scheinblum | 10 | 26 | 4 | .154 | 0 | 2 |

### 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 |
| Nolan Ryan | 42 | 332.2 | 22 | 16 | 2.89 | 367 |
| Frank Tanana | 39 | 268.2 | 14 | 19 | 3.12 | 180 |
| Andy Hassler | 23 | 162.0 | 7 | 11 | 2.61 | 76 |
| Dick Lange | 21 | 113.2 | 3 | 8 | 3.80 | 57 |
| Bill Singer | 14 | 108.2 | 7 | 4 | 2.98 | 77 |
| Bill Stoneman | 13 | 58.2 | 1 | 8 | 6.14 | 33 |
| Chuck Dobson | 5 | 30.0 | 2 | 3 | 5.70 | 16 |

#### 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 |
| Ed Figueroa | 25 | 105.1 | 2 | 8 | 3.67 | 49 |

#### 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 |
| Skip Lockwood | 37 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 4.32 | 39 |
| Dave Sells | 20 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3.69 | 14 |
| Rudy May | 18 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7.00 | 12 |
| Dick Selma | 18 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5.09 | 15 |
| Luis Quintana | 18 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4.26 | 11 |
| John Cumberland | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.74 | 12 |
| Barry Raziano | 13 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6.48 | 9 |
| Horacio Piña | 11 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2.31 | 6 |
| Ken Sanders | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.79 | 4 |
| Orlando Peña | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.00 | 5 |
| Don Kirkwood | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.59 | 4 |
| Bill Gilbreth | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Salt Lake City Angels | Pacific Coast League | Norm Sherry |
| AA | El Paso Diablos | Texas League | Dave Garcia |
| A | Salinas Packers | California League | Jim Saul |
| A | Quad Cities Angels | Midwest League | Jimy Williams |
| Rookie | Idaho Falls Angels | Pioneer League | Larry Himes |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Idaho Falls