1971 Boston Red Sox season

1971 Boston Red Sox
Division	Eastern Division
Ballpark	Fenway Park
City	Boston, Massachusetts
Owners	Tom Yawkey
Managers	Eddie Kasko
Television	WHDH-TV, Ch. 5
Radio	WHDH-AM 850 (Ken Coleman, Ned Martin, Johnny Pesky)
Seasons

The 1971 Boston Red Sox season involved the Red Sox finishing 3rd in the American League East with a record of 85 wins and 77 losses.

Regular Season

Season standings

AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Baltimore Orioles	101	57	0.639	—	53–24	48–33
Detroit Tigers	91	71	0.562	12	54–27	37–44
Boston Red Sox	85	77	0.525	18	47–33	38–44
New York Yankees	82	80	0.506	21	44–37	38–43
Washington Senators	63	96	0.396	38½	35–46	28–50
Cleveland Indians	60	102	0.370	43	29–52	31–50

Transactions

May 17 1971: Luis Tiant was signed as a Free Agent with the Boston Red Sox.

Regular season highlights

The second year of Eddie Kasko's management, the Red Sox finished 16 games behind the evenetual American League champions Baltimore Orioles. The Sox did not have a .300 hitter in 1971. Reggie Smith's .283 being their best. Tony Conigliaro, his health still a question, had been traded the previous October to the California Angels for reliever Ken Tatum and rookie infielder Doug Griffin. Conigliaro played in 74 games for the Angels in 1971 but then had to give up baseball, his sight having deteriorated greatly. Tatum was 2-4 with the Red Sox, and Griffin batted a season .244, while becoming the regular second baseman.

Here Comes Carlton Fisk

Highlights of an otherwise forgettable season included the late arrival of a big catcher from Bellows Falls, Vermont, Carlton Fisk, who got into 14 games for the 1971 Sox and hit two home runs. Making a bigger splash was a utility fielder who had been acquired in 1970 from the New York Yankees but came into his own in 1971. John Kennedy hit .272, with five homers and 22 RBIs, and was nicknamed "Super Sub" because it seemed that every time he was called on in a clutch situation he came through with flying colors.

Sonny Siebert shined for the Red Sox

Another bright spot for the Sox in '71 was Jim Lonborg's winning 10 games (and losing 7). But Sonny Siebert, a pitcher acquired ina deal with the Cleveland Indians in 1969, was the top hurler for Boston, winning 16 games. A fiesty left-hander, Sparkly Lyle was 6-4, with 16 saves and a 2.77 ERA.

A Bad Trade

After the 1971 season, the Red Sox management decided on drastic changes. First there was a huge deal with the Milwaukee Brewers. George Scott, now out of favor with the red Sox management, was packaged with Billy Conigliaro (Tony's younger brother), outfielders Joe Lahoud and Don Pavletich, pitchers Ken Brett (George Brett's older brother) and Jim Lonborg and exchanged for pitchers Marty Pattin and Lew Krausse and outfielders Tommy Harper and Pat Skrable. It was a stuniing big deal and, as it turned out a bad one for Boston. Lonborg won 14 games for Milwaukee in 1972, with a 2.83 ERA, and later was trraded to the Philadelphia Phillies, where he won 13, 17, 18, 8 and 11 games during five seasons. Scott batted .263, .266, .306, .281 and .285 in his five seasons with the Brewers, driving in 88, 107, 82, 109, and 77 runs during those same years and clouting an average of 23 homers a season, with 36 in 1975 alone. Meanwhile, although Pattin was 17-13 for Boston in 1972 an 15-15 in 1973, he was then traded away. Harper batted .254 and .281 in his two years with the Sox before being traded. it was a case of the Red Sox deciding to clean house too thoroughly by half.

Roster

1971 Boston Red Sox roster
Roster
Pitchers 26 Bobby Bolin 18 Ken Brett 21 Ray Culp 37 Bill Lee 28 Sparky Lyle 16 Jim Lonborg 29 Roger Moret 15 Mike Nagy 43 Gary Peters 42 Sonny Siebert 41 Ken Tatum 23 Luis Tiant		Catchers 24 Duane Josephson 10 Bob Montgomery 19 Don Pavletich Infielders 11 Luis Aparicio  3 Mike Fiore  2 Doug Griffin 12 John Kennedy  6 Rico Petrocelli  5 George Scott		Outfielders 40 Billy Conigliaro  1 Phil Gagliano 14 Joe Lahoud  7 Reggie Smith  8 Carl Yastrzemski		Manager 30 Eddie Kasko Coaches 34 Doug Camilli 33 Harvey Haddix 31 Don Lenhardt 32 Eddie Popowski

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI

Other batters

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Other pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA

Relief pitchers

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO

Farm system

• Class AAA: Louisville Colonels (International League; Darrell Johnson, manager)
• Class AA: Pawtucket Red Sox (Eastern League; Billy Gardner, manager)
• Class A: Winston-Salem Red Sox (Carolina League; Don Lock, manager)
• Class A: Winter Haven Red Sox (Florida State League; John Butler, manager)
• Class A: Greenville Red Sox (Western Carolinas League; Rac Slider, manager)
• Class SS-A: Williamsport Red Sox (New York-Penn League; Dick Berardino, manager)

References

• 1971 Boston Red Sox team page at Baseball Reference
• 1971 Boston Red Sox season at baseball-almanac.com