1971 Washington Senators season

Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox baseball team season The 1971 Washington Senators season involved the Senators finishing fifth in the American League East with a record of 63 wins and 96 losses (Template:Winpct). This was the Senators' 11th and last season in Washington, D.C.; they moved to Arlington, Texas, and became the Texas Rangers in 1972. The previous Senators (now Minnesota Twins) were in Washington from 1901 through 1960.

The move to Texas left Washington without a Major League Baseball team for 33 seasons, until the Montreal Expos of the National League relocated there in 2005 and became the current Washington Nationals.

Offseason

File:Washington Senators baseball team standing on the field on opening day, Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, Washington, D.C. 04926v.jpg

Opening Day 1971

• October 9, 1970: Ed Brinkman, Aurelio Rodríguez, Joe Coleman, and Jim Hannan were traded by the Senators to the Detroit Tigers for Denny McLain, Elliott Maddox, Norm McRae, and Don Wert.
• November 3, 1970: Greg Goossen and Gene Martin were traded by the Senators to the Philadelphia Phillies for Curt Flood and a player to be named. The Phillies completed the deal by sending Jeff Terpko to the Senators on April 10, 1971.
• November 30, 1970: Joe Foy was drafted by the Washington Senators from the New York Mets in the 1970 rule 5 draft.
• March 29, 1971: Ed Stroud was traded by the Senators to the Chicago White Sox for Tommy McCraw.

Regular season

The acquisition of former Cy Young Award winner Denny McLain did not pay dividends for the franchise. Amid constant run-ins with no-nonsense Washington manager Ted Williams, McLain lost 22 games in 1971.

Relocation to Texas

By the end of the 1970 season, Senators owner Bob Short had issued an ultimatum: unless someone was willing to buy the Senators for $12 million, he would not renew his lease at RFK Stadium and move elsewhere. Several parties offered to buy the team, but all fell short of Short's asking price.

Short was especially receptive to an offer from Arlington mayor Tom Vandergriff, who had been trying to get a major league team to play in the Metroplex for over a decade. Years earlier, Charlie Finley, the owner of the Kansas City Athletics, sought to move his team to Dallas, but the idea was rebuffed by the other AL team owners.

Arlington's hole card was Turnpike Stadium, a 10,000-seat park which opened in 1965 to house the AA Dallas–Fort Worth Spurs of the Texas League. Built to major league specifications, it was located in a natural bowl, and only minor excavations were necessary to expand the park to major-league size.

After Vandergriff offered a multimillion-dollar up-front payment, Short finally decided to pull up stakes and move. On September 20, 1971, he got his wish, receiving approval from AL owners to move the franchise to Arlington for the 1972 season.

Washington fans were outraged, leaving public relations director Ted Rodgers with the unenviable task of putting a positive spin on such events as fans unfurling a giant banner that contained Short's name, preceded by a popular four-letter invective. A photo of the banner appeared on the front page of a DC newspaper the following day.

Fan enmity came to a head in the team's last game in Washington, on September 30. Thousands of fans simply walked in without paying because the security guards left early in the game, swelling the paid attendance of 14,460 to around 25,000. The Senators led 7–5 with two outs in the top of the ninth. Just then, fans poured onto the field, thinking the final out had already been made. A teenager scooped up first base and ran away. With no security guards in sight, the game was forfeited to the Yankees, 9–0.

Opening Day starters

• Dick Bosman
• Paul Casanova
• Tim Cullen
• Mike Epstein
• Curt Flood
• Joe Foy
• Toby Harrah
• Frank Howard
• Elliott Maddox

Notable transactions

• May 8: Darold Knowles and Mike Epstein were traded to the Oakland Athletics for Frank Fernández, Don Mincher, Paul Lindblad, and cash.
• June 8: 1971 Major League Baseball draft
  • Stan Thomas was selected in the 27th round.
  • Mike Cubbage was selected in the second round of the secondary phase.
• July 16: Joe Foy was released.
• September 27: Jim French was released.

Roster

1971 Washington Senators
Roster
Pitchers 27 Dick Bosman 18 Pete Broberg 23 Jackie Brown 29 Casey Cox 13 Bill Gogolewski 31 Joe Grzenda 26 Gerry Janeski 32 Darold Knowles 32 Paul Lindblad 17 Denny McLain 28 Horacio Piña 19 Denny Riddleberger 16 Jim Shellenback 24 Mike Thompson		Catchers  8 Dick Billings  5 Paul Casanova 10 Bill Fahey 10 Jim French 20 Rick Stelmaszek Infielders  7 Bernie Allen  1 Tim Cullen  6 Mike Epstein 14 Joe Foy 11 Toby Harrah 14 Jim Mason  6 Don Mincher 15 Dave Nelson 15,21 Tom Ragland  2 Len Randle  2 Don Wert		Outfielders  4 Larry Biittner 20 Jeff Burroughs 25 Frank Fernández 21 Curt Flood 33 Frank Howard 37 Elliott Maddox  3 Tommy McCraw 35 Richie Scheinblum 30 Del Unser		Manager  9 Ted Williams Coaches 40 Joe Camacho 42 Nellie Fox 41 Sid Hudson 43 George Susce 44 Wayne Terwilliger 45 Al Zarilla

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Paul Casanova	94	311	63	.203	5	26
1B	Don Mincher	100	323	94	.291	10	45
2B	Tim Cullen	125	403	77	.191	2	26
SS	Toby Harrah	127	383	88	.230	2	22
3B		85	329	92	.280	5	33
LF	Frank Howard	153	549	153	.279	26	83
CF	Del Unser	153	581	148	.255	9	41
RF		66	171	44	.257	0	16

Other batters

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
Dick Billings	116	349	86	.246	6	48
	128	258	56	.217	1	18
Bernie Allen	97	229	61	.266	4	22
Lenny Randle	75	215	47	.219	2	13
	122	207	44	.213	7	25
Jeff Burroughs	59	181	42	.232	5	25
Joe Foy	41	128	30	.234	0	11
Mike Epstein	24	85	21	.247	1	9
Richie Scheinblum	27	49	7	.143	0	4
Jim French	14	41	6	.146	0	4
	20	40	2	.050	0	2
	13	35	7	.200	0	2
Frank Fernández	18	30	3	.100	0	4
Tom Ragland	10	23	4	.174	0	0
	3	9	3	.333	0	0
Rick Stelmaszek	6	9	0	.000	0	0
Bill Fahey	2	8	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	35	236.2	12	16	3.73	113
	33	216.2	10	22	4.28	103
	18	124.2	5	9	3.47	89
Mike Thompson	16	66.2	1	6	4.86	41

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	54	124.1	5	7	3.98	43
	27	124.1	6	5	2.75	70
Jim Shellenback	40	120.0	3	11	3.53	47
	23	61.2	1	5	4.96	19
	14	47.0	3	4	5.94	21

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Paul Lindblad	43	6	4	8	2.58	50
Denny Riddleberger	57	3	1	1	3.23	56
	56	1	1	2	3.59	38
	46	5	2	5	1.92	56
	12	2	2	2	3.52	16

Farm system

Template:MLB Farm SystemLEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Denver

References

• 1971 Washington Senators team page at Baseball Reference
• 1971 Washington Senators team page at www.baseball-almanac.com