1974 Boston Red Sox season

Offseason

• October 24, 1973: Marty Pattin was traded by the Red Sox to the Kansas City Royals for Dick Drago.
• October 26, 1973: Reggie Smith was traded by the Red Sox with Ken Tatum to the St. Louis Cardinals for Bernie Carbo and Rick Wise.
• December 7, 1973: Juan Marichal was purchased by the Red Sox from the San Francisco Giants.
• December 7, 1973: Lynn McGlothen, John Curtis, and Mike Garman were traded by the Red Sox to the St. Louis Cardinals for Diego Seguí, Reggie Cleveland and Terry Hughes.
• March 26, 1974: Orlando Cepeda was released by the Red Sox.

Regular season

Season summary

The injury bug struck Boston

Two calamities befell the Red Sox in 1974, and they would work to make the year a disappointing one and let the team get the nickname of "chokers". First Carlton Fisk, who appeared to be ready for greatness, tore up his left knee while blocking the plate in a June 28 game against the Cleveland Indians at Cleveland. He had surgery and was out for the rest of the season. Catching, meant to be a Sox strongpoint, became a weak one instead. Then Rick Wise, who was expected to join with Luis Tiant and Bill Lee to give the Sox a solid 1–2–3 punch on the mound, missed much of the early part of the season with a shoulder injury, and when he was coming back from that he broke a finger when his wife accidentally closed a door on his hand. He ended up at 3–4 with Boston in 1974.

Falling short again

Despite the injuries, the team persevered, actually holding a seven-game lead as of August 23. After that, the Sox went into an incredible slump, losing 24 of the final 38 games and dropping all the way to third. As late as August 29, they were still up on the second place New York Yankees by 5 and the Baltimore Orioles by 8. Boston lost 8 in a row, including an infamous Labor Day doubleheader to the streaking Orioles, both games by the score of 1–0. Boston finished the season seven games behind the division-winning Orioles and five behind second-place New York. They went 5–13 in one and two run games during the slump, including several 1–0 losses to either Baltimore or New York.

As a team they batted .203 over their last 33 games. Boston fans were livid, and some said that the Sox had been playing over their heads all along and that it had finally caught up with them, especially when they lacked Fisk and Wise. Boston licked its wounds, taking some consolation from Carl Yastrzemski's .301 average, with 15 homers and 79 RBIs. Dwight Evans had a .281 average, 10 homers and 70 RBIs. There were 22 wins for Tiant and 17 for Bill Lee. Twice in three years, the Red Sox fans thought they had the pennant, and twice the team had failed them.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Opening Day lineup

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Roster

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases; BB = Walks; AVG = Batting average; SLG = Slugging average

Source:https://baseball-reference.com/teams/BOS/1974-batting.shtml

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts

Source:https://baseball-reference.com/teams/BOS/1974-pitching.shtml

Statistical leaders

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Batting

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Pitching

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Farm system

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References

References

1. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/d/dragodi01.shtml Dick Drago page at Baseball Reference]
2. "Reggie Smith Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More".
3. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/maricju01.shtml Juan Marichal page at Baseball Reference]
4. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/seguidi01.shtml Diego Seguí page at Baseball Reference]
5. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cepedor01.shtml Orlando Cepeda page at Baseball Reference]
6. "The 1974 Boston Red Sox".
7. "Events of Tuesday, April 30, 1974".
8. "Events of Friday, May 31, 1974".
9. "Events of Sunday, June 30, 1974".
10. "Events of Wednesday, July 31, 1974".
11. "Events of Saturday, August 31, 1974".
12. "Events of Monday, September 30, 1974".
13. "Events of Wednesday, October 2, 1974".
14. (April 5, 1974). "Boston Red Sox 9, Milwaukee Brewers 8".
15. "1974 Boston Red Sox Statistics".
16. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., ''The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball'', 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
17. (1974). "Boston Red Sox Official Yearbook".