1977 American League

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1977 American League
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The 1977 season of the American League was the seventy-seventh 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	New York Yankees	162	100	62	0	.617	-.-	831 (5.13)	651 (4.02)	0.281	0.344	0.444	3.61	0.979
2	Baltimore Orioles	161	97	64	0	.602	2.5	719 (4.47)	653 (4.06)	0.261	0.329	0.393	3.74	0.983
3	Boston Red Sox	161	97	64	0	.602	2.5	859 (5.34)	712 (4.42)	0.281	0.344	0.465	4.11	0.978
4	Detroit Tigers	162	74	88	0	.457	26.0	714 (4.41)	751 (4.64)	0.264	0.319	0.410	4.13	0.978
5	Cleveland Indians	161	71	90	0	.441	28.5	676 (4.20)	739 (4.59)	0.269	0.333	0.380	4.10	0.979
6	Milwaukee Brewers	162	67	95	0	.414	33.0	639 (3.94)	765 (4.72)	0.258	0.313	0.389	4.32	0.978
7	Toronto Blue Jays	161	54	107	0	.335	45.5	605 (3.76)	822 (5.11)	0.252	0.315	0.365	4.57	0.974
Western Division
1	Kansas City Royals	162	102	60	0	.630	-.-	822 (5.07)	651 (4.02)	0.277	0.339	0.436	3.52	0.978
2	Texas Rangers	162	94	68	0	.580	8.0	767 (4.73)	657 (4.06)	0.270	0.341	0.405	3.56	0.982
3	Chicago White Sox	162	90	72	0	.556	12.0	844 (5.21)	771 (4.76)	0.278	0.344	0.444	4.25	0.974
4	Minnesota Twins	161	84	77	0	.522	17.5	867 (5.39)	776 (4.82)	0.282	0.347	0.417	4.36	0.978
5	California Angels	162	74	88	0	.457	28.0	675 (4.17)	695 (4.29)	0.255	0.323	0.386	3.72	0.976
6	Seattle Mariners	162	64	98	0	.395	38.0	624 (3.85)	855 (5.28)	0.256	0.310	0.381	4.83	0.976
7	Oakland Athletics	161	63	98	0	.391	38.5	605 (3.76)	749 (4.65)	0.240	0.306	0.352	4.04	0.970

League leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Al Cowens Hal McRae	Kansas City Royals Kansas City Royals	162
At Bats	Rick Burleson	Boston Red Sox	663
Runs Scored	Rod Carew	Minnesota Twins	128
Hits	Rod Carew	Minnesota Twins	239
Doubles	Hal McRae	Kansas City Royals	54
Triples	Rod Carew	Minnesota Twins	16
Home Runs	Jim Rice	Boston Red Sox	39
Total Bases	Jim Rice	Boston Red Sox	382
Runs Batted In	Larry Hisle	Minnesota Twins	119
Stolen Bases	Freddie Patek	Kansas City Royals	53
Caught Stealing	Bert Campaneris	Texas Rangers	20
Walks	Toby Harrah	Texas Rangers	109
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Rod Carew	Minnesota Twins	15
Hit by Pitch	Hal McRae	Kansas City Royals	13
Strikeouts	Butch Hobson	Boston Red Sox	162
Sacrifice Hits	Bert Campaneris	Texas Rangers	40
Sacrifice Flies	Alan Bannister Carl Yastrzemski	Chicago White Sox Boston Red Sox	11
Grounded into Double Plays	Rusty Staub	Detroit Tigers	27
Batting Average	Rod Carew	Minnesota Twins	0.388
On-Base Percentage	Rod Carew	Minnesota Twins	0.449
Slugging Percentage	Jim Rice	Boston Red Sox	0.593
On-Base plus Slugging	Rod Carew	Minnesota Twins	1.019
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Rod Carew	Minnesota Twins	178

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Dave Goltz Dennis Leonard Jim Palmer	Minnesota Twins Kansas City Royals Baltimore Orioles	20
Losses	Vida Blue Wayne Garland Rick Langford	Oakland Athletics Cleveland Indians Oakland Athletics	19
Win-Loss Percentage	Don Gullett	New York Yankees	0.778
Appearances	Sparky Lyle	New York Yankees	72
Games Started	Dave Goltz Jim Palmer	Minnesota Twins Baltimore Orioles	39
Complete Games	Jim Palmer Nolan Ryan	Baltimore Orioles California Angels	22
Shutouts	Frank Tanana	California Angels	7
Games Finished	Bill Campbell Sparky Lyle	Boston Red Sox New York Yankees	60
Saves	Bill Campbell	Boston Red Sox	31
Innings Pitched	Jim Palmer	Baltimore Orioles	319.0
Batters Faced	Nolan Ryan	California Angels	1272
Hits Allowed	Vida Blue Dave Goltz	Oakland Athletics Minnesota Twins	284
Home Runs Allowed	Jerry Garvin	Toronto Blue Jays	33
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Nolan Ryan	California Angels	204
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Adrian Devine Dennis Eckersley Bob Lacey Dick Tidrow	Texas Rangers Cleveland Indians Oakland Athletics New York Yankees	11
Hit Batsmen	Jim Colborn	Kansas City Royals	13
Strikeouts	Nolan Ryan	California Angels	341
Wild Pitches	Nolan Ryan	California Angels	21
Balks	Jim Bibby	Cleveland Indians	4
Runs Allowed	Dave Lemanczyk	Toronto Blue Jays	143
Earned Runs Allowed	Vida Blue Dave Lemanczyk	Oakland Athletics Toronto Blue Jays	119
Earned Run Average	Frank Tanana	California Angels	2.54
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Bert Blyleven	Texas Rangers	1.065

All-Star Game

The American League lost the forty-eighth midsummer classic at Yankee Stadium in New York, NY on Tuesday, July 19, 1977 by a score of 7 to 6. The league's manager was Billy Martin.

Postseason

The American League Championship Series, featured New York Yankees, the Eastern Division winner, and the Kansas City Royals, the Western Division winner. The Yankees defeated the Royals, 3 games to 2.

In the World Series, the American League champion New York Yankees defeated the National League's Los Angeles Dodgers, 4 games to 2.

Award winners

The winner of the league's Most Valuable Player Award, given its Most Valuable Player, was Rod Carew, a first baseman with the Minnesota Twins. In the award's voting, he had 273 out of a possible 392 points and 12 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Cy Young Award, given its best pitcher, was Sparky Lyle of the New York Yankees. In the award's voting, he had 56 out of a possible 140 points and 9 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Rookie of the Year Award, given its best rookie player, was Eddie Murray, a designated hitter with the Baltimore Orioles. In the award's voting, he had 12 out of a possible 28 points and 12 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 Palmer	Baltimore Orioles
C	Jim Sundberg	Texas Rangers
1B	Jim Spencer	Chicago White Sox
2B	Frank White	Kansas City Royals
3B	Graig Nettles	New York Yankees
SS	Mark Belanger	Baltimore Orioles
OF	Carl Yastrzemski	Boston Red Sox
	Juan Beniquez	Texas Rangers
	Al Cowens	Kansas City Royals

Monthly Awards

• Player of the Month Award
  • April: Otto Velez, Toronto Blue Jays
  • May: Frank Tanana, California Angels
  • June: Rod Carew, Minnesota Twins
  • July: Jim Rice, Boston Red Sox
  • August: Graig Nettles, New York Yankees
  • September: Rod Carew, Minnesota Twins

Hall of Fame Game

The thirty-fifth annual Hall of Fame Game was played on August 8 at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, NY near the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In the game, the American League's Minnesota Twins defeated the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League by a score of 8 to 5.

Umpires

• Larry Barnett
• Nick Bremigan
• Joe Brinkman
• Nestor Chylak
• Al Clark
• Terry Cooney
• Bill Deegan
• Don Denkinger
• Lou DiMuro
• Jim Evans
• Dale Ford
• Art Frantz
• Rich Garcia
• Russ Goetz
• Bill Haller
• Ted Hendry
• Ken Kaiser
• Greg Kosc
• Bill Kunkel
• Ron Luciano
• George Maloney
• Larry McCoy
• Jim McKean
• Durwood Merrill
• Jerry Neudecker
• Steve Palermo
• Dave Phillips
• Mike Reilly
• Hank Soar
• Fred Spenn
• Marty Springstead
• Vic Voltaggio