1971 Houston Astros season

Offseason

;Transactions

• January 13, 1971: Doug Konieczny was drafted by the Astros in the 1st round (4th pick) of the 1971 Major League Baseball draft Secondary Phase.

;Exhibition play The Astrodome hosted a 15-inning, exhibition "tripleheader" between Houston, the Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees. For the first five-inning contest, the Astros tripped the Yankees, 2–1. During the middle five, the Twins toppled the Yankees, 4–1, prior to getting ripped by the Astros during the last five frames, 5–3.

Regular season

Summary

April

Hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers for Opening Day on April 5, Denis Menke tripled in runs (RBI) of Joe Morgan and Bob Watson off Los Angeles' Bill Singer for a 2–0 lead. The Astros never looked back, winning 5–2, backed by complete game execution from Larry Dierker. Dierker diffused 10 hits, issued one base on balls and struck out four. Making his third Opening Day start for the Astros, Dierker at the time remained the only pitcher to start more than once on Opening Day for the club.

May

During a doubleheader on May 26 at San Diego Stadium, the Padres started Al Santorini for both contests, though during the first game, Santorini was deployed as an opener. Facing an order assembled with seven lefties, Santorini got the leadoff hitter out and was replaced by Dave Roberts. The Astros won, 2–1, behind Wade Blasingame's effort.

In the May 26 nightcap, Larry Dierker cruised to his first career one-hitter while outpitching Santorini–who, this time, hurled six innings–in an 8–0 Astros triumph. Ollie Brown's broken-bat single in the seventh foiled Dierker's bid for a no-hitter. It was also Dierker's fourth career complete game effort of two hits or fewer.

July

The Astros exploded for a season-high 18 runs on July 7, en route to an 18–4 drubbing of the San Francisco Giants at Candlestick Park. Jimmy Wynn became the first player to attain 1,000 hits as a member the Houston Astros, also the 1,000th hit of his career, with a seventh inning double off left-hander Steve Hamilton. During an all-round memorable day, Wynn was 2-for-4 with 2 runs batted in (RBI), 2 runs scored, one stolen base and one base on balls.

On July 16, the Astros executed the first triple play in franchise history—and first at the Astrodome—during the top of the third inning against New York Mets.

September

On September 2 at the Astrodome, César Cedeño stepped to the plate to face Claude Osteen with the bases loaded in the fifth in a 3–2 deficit to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Cedeño hit a blooper to shallow right field between Bill Buckner and Jim Lefebvre who collided while attempting to make the catch, and the ball dribbled into the corner. Meanwhile, the bases cleared ahead of Cedeño, who raced home for the 170 ft Inside-the-park grand slam. On the day, Cedeño was 3-for-4 with 4 RBI and a double. Astros starter Don Wilson (13–8) went the distance to pick up the victory, a 9–3 score.

Strikeout records in a doubleheader: J. R. Richard's 15-strikeout debut

Astros pitching fired a record performance on September 5 during a doubleheader at Candlestick Park. Making his major league debut during the second game on September 5, J. R. Richard His 15-strikeout effort remained his permanent career-high, while tying a record for a Major League debut first established in 1954 by Karl Spooner of the Brooklyn Dodgers. The 26 combined strikeouts by Billingham and Richard during the twinbill set a new MLB record.

Rest of September

Facing a 4–1 deficit to the Atlanta Braves on September 15, manager Harry Walker inserted right-handed prospect Larry Yount to pitch the ninth inning. His major league debut, Félix Millán was the first batter of the inning. Before he could throw his first pitch, Yount's elbow became sore, whom Walker replaced with veteran Jim Ray. Yount, who never made another major league appearance, became the first to appear in a game without any officially scored plays being completed.

The Astros turned their second triple play of the season on September 17, during the second inning while hosting the Cincinnati Reds.

Performance overview

With a record, Houston terminated the 1971 campaign tied for fourth place in the NL West with the Cincinnati, 11 games behind the division-champion San Francisco Giants.

The Astros played 75 games that were decided by a one run margin, which is an all-time MLB record. In those games, the team had a record of 32–43.

Third baseman Doug Rader, who won his second consecutive Gold Glove Award, became the first Astro to win more than once.

As the Astrodome was reputed for suppressing the home run, three Astros combined to lead the league in extra-base hit categories. With 40 doubles, César Cedeño led the major leagues. He joined Rusty Staub in 1967 as the second Astro to lead both theNatioal League in doubles as well as all of baseball. Meanwhile, Houston's first-ever triples leaders—Roger Metzger and Joe Morgan jointly led the major leagues with 11 each—forged a three-way tie with Freddie Patek of the Kansas City Royals in the American League.

Morgan also became first player in club history to record three 40-stolen base season, all consecutively. This was also the third of a franchise-record nine successive campaigns featuring at least one baserunner with 40 or more stolen bases.

Don Wilson became the first Astros pitcher to lead the NL in hits per nine innings (6.549 H/9).

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

• June 8, 1971: 1971 Major League Baseball draft
  • Paul Siebert was drafted by the Astros in the 3rd round.
  • Rich Troedson was drafted by the Astros in the 1st round (8th pick) of the Secondary Phase, but did not sign.

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

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Awards and achievements

Grand slams

Awards

• Baseball Digest Rookie All-Star—Shortstop: Roger Metzger
• Houston Astros Most Valuable Player (MVP): Don Wilson
• Gold Glove Award—Third baseman: Doug Rader
• MLB All-Star Game
  • Reserve pitcher—Larry Dierker
  • Reserve pitcher—Don Wilson

League leaders

;NL batting leaders

• Doubles: César Cedeño (40—led MLB)
• Triples: Roger Metzger & Joe Morgan (11—tied, led MLB)

; NL pitching leaders

• Hit by pitch: Jack Billingham (16—led MLB)
• Hits per nine innings (H/9): Don Wilson (6.549)

Minor league system

References

;Footnotes

;Sources

References

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2. Hulsey, Bob. "This date in Astros history". Astros Daily.
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6. "Houston Astros Opening Day starters". Baseball-Reference.com.
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11. "For combined seasons, from 1962 to 1971, Playing in the NL, Playing for HOU, in the regular season, sorted by descending Hits.". [[Sports Reference.
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15. "Top performances for J. R. Richard". Retrosheet.
16. Seidel, Jeff. (June 9, 2010). "K street: Strasburg racks up the strikeouts". [[MLB.com]].
17. Blumenau, Kurt. (September 15, 1971). "Larry Yount makes his big-league debut, and farewell, for Astros". [[Society for American Baseball Research]] (SABR).
18. "1971 National League team statistics". Baseball-Reference.com.
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21. Knight, Ray. (October 7, 1986). "The Astrodome is a ballpark you have to play...". [[United Press International]] (UPI).
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24. "Player batting season & career stats finder–baseball". Sports Reference.
25. "Yearly league leaders and records for hits per 9 IP". Baseball-Reference.com.
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28. McTaggart, Brian. (December 21, 2009). "Bourn highlights Astros' awards season". MLB.com.
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