1973 American League

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1973 American League
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The 1973 season of the American League was the seventy-third 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	162	97	65	0	.599	-.-	754 (4.65)	561 (3.46)	0.266	0.343	0.389	3.07	0.981
2	Boston Red Sox	162	89	73	0	.549	8.0	738 (4.56)	647 (3.99)	0.267	0.337	0.401	3.65	0.979
3	Detroit Tigers	162	85	77	0	.525	12.0	642 (3.96)	674 (4.16)	0.254	0.317	0.390	3.90	0.982
4	New York Yankees	162	80	82	0	.494	17.0	641 (3.96)	610 (3.77)	0.261	0.322	0.378	3.34	0.976
5	Milwaukee Brewers	162	74	88	0	.457	23.0	708 (4.37)	731 (4.51)	0.253	0.322	0.388	3.98	0.977
6	Cleveland Indians	162	71	91	0	.438	26.0	680 (4.20)	826 (5.10)	0.256	0.313	0.387	4.58	0.978
Western Division
1	Oakland Athletics	162	94	68	0	.580	-.-	758 (4.68)	615 (3.80)	0.260	0.332	0.389	3.29	0.978
2	Kansas City Royals	162	88	74	0	.543	6.0	755 (4.66)	752 (4.64)	0.261	0.339	0.381	4.19	0.974
3	Minnesota Twins	162	81	81	0	.500	13.0	738 (4.56)	692 (4.27)	0.270	0.341	0.393	3.77	0.978
4	California Angels	162	79	83	0	.488	15.0	629 (3.88)	657 (4.06)	0.253	0.317	0.348	3.53	0.975
5	Chicago White Sox	162	77	85	0	.475	17.0	652 (4.02)	705 (4.35)	0.256	0.322	0.372	3.86	0.977
6	Texas Rangers	162	57	105	0	.352	37.0	619 (3.82)	844 (5.21)	0.255	0.317	0.361	4.64	0.974

League leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Sal Bando Ed Brinkman Bobby Grich Roy White	Oakland Athletics Detroit Tigers Baltimore Orioles New York Yankees	162
At Bats	Roy White	New York Yankees	639
Runs Scored	Reggie Jackson	Oakland Athletics	99
Hits	Rod Carew	Minnesota Twins	203
Doubles	Sal Bando Pedro Garcia	Oakland Athletics Milwaukee Brewers	32
Triples	Al Bumbry Rod Carew	Baltimore Orioles Minnesota Twins	11
Home Runs	Reggie Jackson	Oakland Athletics	32
Total Bases	Sal Bando Dave May George Scott	Oakland Athletics Milwaukee Brewers Milwaukee Brewers	295
Runs Batted In	Reggie Jackson	Oakland Athletics	117
Stolen Bases	Tommy Harper	Boston Red Sox	54
Caught Stealing	Billy North	Oakland Athletics	20
Walks	John Mayberry	Kansas City Royals	122
Intentional Base-on-Balls	John Mayberry	Kansas City Royals	17
Hit by Pitch	Don Baylor	Baltimore Orioles	13
Strikeouts	Bobby Darwin	Minnesota Twins	137
Sacrifice Hits	Mark Belanger	Baltimore Orioles	15
Sacrifice Flies	Jeff Burroughs	Texas Rangers	11
Grounded into Double Plays	Orlando Cepeda	Boston Red Sox	24
Batting Average	Rod Carew	Minnesota Twins	0.350
On-Base Percentage	John Mayberry	Kansas City Royals	0.417
Slugging Percentage	Reggie Jackson	Oakland Athletics	0.531
On-Base plus Slugging	Reggie Jackson	Oakland Athletics	0.914
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Reggie Jackson	Oakland Athletics	161

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Wilbur Wood	Chicago White Sox	24
Losses	Stan Bahnsen	Chicago White Sox	21
Win-Loss Percentage	Roger Moret	Boston Red Sox	0.867
Appearances	John Hiller	Detroit Tigers	65
Games Started	Wilbur Wood	Chicago White Sox	48
Complete Games	Gaylord Perry	Cleveland Indians	29
Shutouts	Bert Blyleven	Minnesota Twins	9
Games Finished	John Hiller	Detroit Tigers	60
Saves	John Hiller	Detroit Tigers	38
Innings Pitched	Wilbur Wood	Chicago White Sox	359.1
Batters Faced	Wilbur Wood	Chicago White Sox	1531
Hits Allowed	Wilbur Wood	Chicago White Sox	381
Home Runs Allowed	Catfish Hunter	Oakland Athletics	39
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Nolan Ryan	California Angels	162
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Bill Gogolewski	Texas Rangers	16
Hit Batsmen	Joe Coleman	Detroit Tigers	10
Strikeouts	Nolan Ryan	California Angels	383
Wild Pitches	Gaylord Perry	Cleveland Indians	17
Balks	Rudy May	California Angels	3
Runs Allowed	Wilbur Wood	Chicago White Sox	166
Earned Runs Allowed	Wilbur Wood	Chicago White Sox	138
Earned Run Average	Jim Palmer	Baltimore Orioles	2.40
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Luis Tiant	Boston Red Sox	1.085

All-Star Game

The American League lost the forty-fourth midsummer classic at Royals Stadium in Kansas City, MO on Tuesday, July 24, 1973 by a score of 7 to 1. The league's manager was Dick Williams.

Postseason

The American League Championship Series, featured Baltimore Orioles, the Eastern Division winner, and the Oakland Athletics, the Western Division winner. The Athletics defeated the Orioles, 3 games to 2.

In the World Series, the American League champion Oakland Athletics defeated the National League's New York Mets, 4 games to 3.

Award winners

The winner of the league's Most Valuable Player Award, given its Most Valuable Player, was Reggie Jackson, an outfielder with the Oakland Athletics. In the award's voting, he had 336 out of a possible 336 points and 24 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Cy Young Award, given its best pitcher, was Jim Palmer of the Baltimore Orioles. In the award's voting, he had 88 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 Al Bumbry, an outfielder with the Baltimore Orioles. In the award's voting, he had 13 out of a possible 24 points and 13 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/Chicago White Sox
C	Thurman Munson	New York Yankees
1B	George Scott	Milwaukee Brewers
2B	Bobby Grich	Baltimore Orioles
3B	Brooks Robinson	Baltimore Orioles
SS	Mark Belanger	Baltimore Orioles
OF	Amos Otis	Kansas City Royals
	Paul Blair	Baltimore Orioles
	Mickey Stanley	Detroit Tigers

Hall of Fame Game

The thirty-first annual Hall of Fame Game was played on August 6 at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, NY near the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In the game, the American League's Texas Rangers defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League by a score of 6 to 4.

Umpires

• Merle Anthony
• Larry Barnett
• Joe Brinkman
• 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
• Hank Morgenweck
• Larry Napp
• Jerry Neudecker
• Jim Odom
• Dave Phillips
• John Rice
• Hank Soar
• Marty Springstead
• Johnny Stevens
• Frank Umont

Further Reading

• John Rosengren: Hammerin' Hank, George Almighty and the Say Hey Kid: The Year That Changed Baseball Forever, Sourcebooks, Inc. Naperville, IL, 2008.
• Matthew Silverman: Swinging '73: Baseball's Wildest Season, Lyons Press, Guilford, CT, 2013. ISBN 978-0-7627-8060-0