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. This would be the final season that the team wore the vest-style uniforms, they would switch to their Swingin' A's era uniforms the next year.

Offseason January 13, 1971: 1971 Major League Baseball draft (January draft) notable picks:1971 Oakland Athletics Picks in the MLB June Amateur Draft Round 5: Rich Dauer (did not sign) Secondary Phase1971 Oakland Athletics Picks in the MLB January Amateur Draft (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.Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 199, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, He was also the youngest AL player in the 20th century to win the MVP Award.Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 152 During the year, Vida Blue was on the cover of Sports Illustrated and Time magazine.Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.148, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010,

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

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.Darold Knowles page at Baseball Reference May 26, 1971: Rob Gardner was traded by the Athletics to the New York Yankees for Curt Blefary.Curt Blefary page at Baseball Reference June 12, 1971: Champ Summers was signed by the Athletics as an amateur free agent.Champ Summers page at Baseball Reference

Roster 1971 Oakland Athletics Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders

Other batters 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 103 363 92 .253 15 40 1B 104 329 77 .234 18 51 2B 144 475 116 .244 12 49 3B 153 538 146 .271 24 74 SS 134 569 143 .251 5 47 LF 127 513 137 .267 10 52 CF 116 355 87 .245 18 56 RF 150 567 157 .277 32 80 1971 Oakland Athletics at Baseball Reference

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 94 287 82 .286 4 30 79 219 71 .324 3 42 70 189 37 .196 1 9 65 179 49 .274 7 25 42 114 27 .237 0 8 50 101 22 .218 5 12 28 98 22 .239 2 8 65 55 13 .236 0 3 16 37 10 .270 0 3 24 27 3 .111 0 3 14 21 3 .143 1 2 4 9 1 .111 0 1 2 8 2 .250 0 0 23 8 0 .000 0 0 7 5 0 .000 0 0 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 39 312.0 24 8 1.82 301 37 273.2 21 11 2.96 181 30 189.0 15 5 3.81 100 26 146.1 10 8 3.14 81 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 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 48 4 6 17 2.99 98 47 7 2 6 2.86 46 43 5 2 7 3.59 40 31 1 3 1 3.18 30 26 2 2 2 3.38 25 15 1 0 3 1.98 13 8 1 0 0 3.94 4 4 0 0 0 7.94 2 4 0 1 0 11.12 4 1 0 0 0 54.00 0

Awards and honors Vida Blue, P, American League Cy Young AwardAmerican League Cy Young Award winners at Baseball Reference1971 Cy Young Award voting results at Baseball Reference Vida Blue, P, American League Most Valuable Player Award.American League Most Valuable Player Award winners at Baseball Reference1971 Most Valuable Player award voting results at Baseball Reference 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, starter1971 All-Star game at Baseball Reference Dave Duncan, reserve Reggie Jackson, reserve

1971 American League Championship Series

Game 1 Sunday, October 3, 1971, at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland

Game 2 Monday, October 4, 1971, at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland

Game 3 Tuesday, October 5, 1971, at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California

Farm system

References

External links 1971 Oakland Athletics team page at Baseball Reference 1971 Oakland Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com