1971 American League

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The 1971 season of the American League was the seventy-first season of the league.

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Standings

Bold indicates league champion, Italics indicates World Series champion

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS (RS/G)	RA (RA/G)	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	FPCT
Eastern Division
1	Baltimore Orioles	158	101	57	0	.639	-.-	742 (4.70)	530 (3.35)	0.261	0.344	0.398	2.99	0.981
2	Detroit Tigers	162	91	71	0	.562	12.0	701 (4.33)	645 (3.98)	0.254	0.321	0.405	3.63	0.983
3	Boston Red Sox	162	85	77	0	.525	18.0	691 (4.27)	667 (4.12)	0.252	0.321	0.397	3.80	0.981
4	New York Yankees	162	82	80	0	.506	21.0	648 (4.00)	641 (3.96)	0.254	0.327	0.360	3.43	0.981
5	Washington Senators	159	63	96	0	.396	38.5	537 (3.38)	660 (4.15)	0.230	0.306	0.326	3.70	0.977
6	Cleveland Indians	162	60	102	0	.370	43.0	543 (3.35)	747 (4.61)	0.238	0.298	0.342	4.28	0.981
Western Division
1	Oakland Athletics	161	101	60	0	.627	-.-	691 (4.29)	564 (3.50)	0.252	0.319	0.384	3.05	0.981
2	Kansas City Royals	161	85	76	0	.528	16.0	603 (3.75)	566 (3.52)	0.250	0.313	0.353	3.25	0.979
3	Chicago White Sox	162	79	83	0	.488	22.5	617 (3.81)	597 (3.69)	0.250	0.321	0.373	3.12	0.975
4	California Angels	162	76	86	0	.469	25.5	511 (3.15)	576 (3.56)	0.231	0.288	0.329	3.10	0.980
5	Minnesota Twins	160	74	86	0	.463	26.5	654 (4.09)	670 (4.19)	0.260	0.324	0.372	3.81	0.980
6	Milwaukee Brewers	161	69	92	0	.429	32.0	534 (3.32)	609 (3.78)	0.229	0.302	0.329	3.38	0.977

League leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Sandy Alomar	California Angels	162
At Bats	Sandy Alomar	California Angels	689
Runs Scored	Don Buford	Baltimore Orioles	99
Hits	Cesar Tovar	Minnesota Twins	204
Doubles	Reggie Smith	Boston Red Sox	33
Triples	Freddie Patek	Kansas City Royals	11
Home Runs	Bill Melton	Chicago White Sox	33
Total Bases	Reggie Smith	Boston Red Sox	302
Runs Batted In	Harmon Killebrew	Minnesota Twins	119
Stolen Bases	Amos Otis	Kansas City Royals	52
Caught Stealing	Freddie Patek Cesar Tovar	Kansas City Royals Minnesota Twins	14
Walks	Harmon Killebrew	Minnesota Twins	114
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Frank Howard	Washington Senators	20
Hit by Pitch	Mike Epstein	Washington Senators/Oakland Athletics	12
Strikeouts	Reggie Jackson	Oakland Athletics	161
Sacrifice Hits	Ron Theobald	Milwaukee Brewers	19
Sacrifice Flies	Roy White	New York Yankees	17
Grounded into Double Plays	Frank Howard	Washington Senators	29
Batting Average	Tony Oliva	Minnesota Twins	0.337
On-Base Percentage	Bobby Murcer	New York Yankees	0.427
Slugging Percentage	Tony Oliva	Minnesota Twins	0.546
On-Base plus Slugging	Bobby Murcer	New York Yankees	0.970
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Bobby Murcer	New York Yankees	181

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Mickey Lolich	Detroit Tigers	25
Losses	Denny McLain	Washington Senators	22
Win-Loss Percentage	Dave McNally	Baltimore Orioles	0.808
Appearances	Ken Sanders	Milwaukee Brewers	83
Games Started	Mickey Lolich	Detroit Tigers	45
Complete Games	Mickey Lolich	Detroit Tigers	29
Shutouts	Vida Blue	Oakland Athletics	8
Games Finished	Ken Sanders	Milwaukee Brewers	77
Saves	Ken Sanders	Milwaukee Brewers	31
Innings Pitched	Mickey Lolich	Detroit Tigers	376.0
Batters Faced	Mickey Lolich	Detroit Tigers	1538
Hits Allowed	Mickey Lolich	Detroit Tigers	336
Home Runs Allowed	Jim Perry	Minnesota Twins	39
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Sam McDowell	Cleveland Indians	153
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Sam McDowell	Cleveland Indians	13
Hit Batsmen	Jim Lonborg	Boston Red Sox	14
Strikeouts	Mickey Lolich	Detroit Tigers	308
Wild Pitches	Tom Murphy	California Angels	17
Balks	Pete Broberg	Washington Senators	4
Runs Allowed	Jim Perry	Minnesota Twins	135
Earned Runs Allowed	Jim Perry	Minnesota Twins	127
Earned Run Average	Vida Blue	Oakland Athletics	1.82
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Vida Blue	Oakland Athletics	0.952

All-Star Game

The American League won the forty-second midsummer classic at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, MI on Tuesday, July 13, 1971 by a score of 6 to 4. The league's manager was Earl Weaver.

Postseason

The American League Championship Series, featured Baltimore Orioles, the Eastern Division winner, and the Oakland Athletics, the Western Division winner. The Orioles defeated the Athletics, 3 games to 0.

In the World Series, the American League champion Baltimore Orioles were defeated by the National League's Pittsburgh Pirates, 4 games to 3.

Award winners

The winner of the league's Most Valuable Player Award, given its Most Valuable Player, was Vida Blue, a pitcher with the Oakland Athletics. In the award's voting, he had 268 out of a possible 336 points and 14 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Cy Young Award, given its best pitcher, was Vida Blue of the Oakland Athletics. In the award's voting, he had 98 out of a possible 120 points and 14 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Rookie of the Year Award, given its best rookie player, was Chris Chambliss, a first baseman with the Cleveland Indians. In the award's voting, he had 11 out of a possible 24 points and 11 first place votes.

Gold Gloves

The following players won the Gold Glove Award, given to the league's best fielders as voted upon by its managers and coaches, at their respective position.

Position	Player	Team
P	Jim Kaat	Minnesota Twins
C	Ray Fosse	Cleveland Indians
1B	George Scott	Boston Red Sox
2B	Davey Johnson	Baltimore Orioles
3B	Brooks Robinson	Baltimore Orioles
SS	Mark Belanger	Baltimore Orioles
OF	Amos Otis	Kansas City Royals
	Paul Blair	Baltimore Orioles
	Carl Yastrzemski	Boston Red Sox

Hall of Fame Game

The twenty-ninth annual Hall of Fame Game was played on August 9 at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, NY near the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In the game, the American League's Cleveland Indians defeated the Chicago Cubs of the National League by a score of 13 to 5.

Umpires

• Merle Anthony
• Nick Avants
• Larry Barnett
• Nestor Chylak
• Bill Deegan
• Don Denkinger
• Lou DiMuro
• Jim Evans
• Red Flaherty
• Art Frantz
• Russ Goetz
• Bill Haller
• Jim Honochick
• Bill Kunkel
• Ron Luciano
• George Maloney
• Larry McCoy
• Larry Napp
• Jerry Neudecker
• Jim Odom
• Jake O'Donnell
• Dave Phillips
• John Rice
• Hank Soar
• Marty Springstead
• Johnny Stevens
• Frank Umont