The 1971 Minnesota Twins season was the 11th season for the Minnesota Twins franchise in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, their 11th season at Metropolitan Stadium and the 71st overall in the American League.
The Twins finished 74–86, fifth in the American League West. 940,858 fans attended Twins games, the fifth-highest total in the American League, the first time the Twins failed to attract over one million fans since moving to Minnesota.
Regular season Five Twins made the All-Star Game: first baseman Harmon Killebrew, second baseman Rod Carew, shortstop Leo Cárdenas, outfielder Tony Oliva, and pitcher Jim Perry.
On August 10, at Metropolitan Stadium, slugger Harmon Killebrew hit his 500th career home run, in the first inning off the Baltimore Orioles' Mike Cuellar. He followed that in the sixth inning with his 501st, also off Cuellar.
Lead off batter César Tovar led the AL with 204 hits and was second with 94 runs. Tony Oliva won his third batting title with a .337 average and led the AL with a .546 slugging percentage. Harmon Killebrew hit 28 HR and 119 RBI. Rod Carew hit .307.
Jim Perry (17–17), Bert Blyleven (16–15), and Jim Kaat (13–14) were the Twins' best pitchers. Kaat won his tenth Gold Glove Award.
Shortstop Leo Cárdenas topped the AL with a .985 fielding percentage—the highest for an American League shortstop since records began in 1901.
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Notable transactions April 9, 1971: Dave Boswell was released by the Twins.Dave Boswell at Baseball Reference June 8, 1971: 1971 Major League Baseball draft Dave Edwards was drafted by the Twins in the 7th round.Dave Edwards at Baseball Reference Future NFL quarterback Joe Theismann was drafted by the Twins in the 39th round. Glenn Borgmann was drafted by the Twins in the 1st round of the secondary phase.Glenn Borgmann at Baseball Reference July 8, 1971: Paul Ratliff was traded by the Twins to the Milwaukee Brewers for Phil Roof.Phil Roof at Baseball Reference
Roster 1971 Minnesota Twins Roster Pitchers Catchers
Infielders Outfielders Manager
Coaches
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 George Mitterwald 125 388 97 .250 13 44 1B 147 500 127 .254 28 119 2B Rod Carew 147 577 177 .307 2 48 SS 153 554 146 .264 18 75 3B Steve Braun 128 343 87 .254 5 35 LF 157 657 204 .311 1 45 CF Jim Holt 126 340 88 .259 1 29 RF 126 487 164 .337 22 81
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 Rich Reese 120 329 72 .219 10 39 Jim Nettles 70 168 42 .250 6 24 Brant Alyea 79 158 28 .177 2 15 Steve Brye 28 107 24 .224 3 11 Phil Roof 31 87 21 .241 0 6 Eric Soderholm 21 64 10 .156 1 4 48 57 15 .263 0 7 Rick Renick 27 45 10 .222 1 8 21 44 7 .159 2 6 Paul Powell 20 31 5 .161 1 2 George Thomas 23 30 8 .267 0 2 Tom Tischinski 21 23 3 .130 0 2 Charlie Manuel 18 16 2 .125 0 1 Rick Dempsey 6 13 4 .308 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 38 278.1 16 15 2.81 224 40 270.0 17 17 4.23 126 39 260.1 13 14 3.32 137
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 52 140.1 8 11 4.10 83 48 129.2 4 7 3.33 137 18 68.0 2 5 5.03 35 Pete Hamm 13 44.0 2 4 6.75 16 4 11.2 1 0 6.17 4 Tom Hall led the Twins in saves with 9.
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 Ron Perranoski 36 1 4 5 6.75 21 Stan Williams 46 4 5 4 4.15 47 Hal Haydel 31 4 2 1 4.28 29 Jim Strickland 24 1 0 1 1.44 21 17 1 2 0 3.00 13 6 0 0 0 4.15 2
Awards and honors Harmon Killebrew, Lou Gehrig Award
All-Star Game Rod Carew, Second Base, Starter Harmon Killebrew, First Base, Reserve Jim Perry, Pitcher, Reserve Tony Olivia, Outfield, Injured, Did not play
Farm system
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Charlotte, St. Cloud
Notes
References Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com Team info from www.baseball-almanac.com