1971 Pittsburgh Pirates season

The 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 90th season for the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise; their 85th in the National League. It involved the Pirates finishing first in the National League East with a record of 97 wins and 65 losses. They defeated the [1971 1971 San Francisco Giants season|San Francisco Giants season|San Francisco Giants] three games to one in the [1971 National League (baseball)|National League Championship Series|NLCS] and beat the Baltimore Orioles four games to three in the World Series. The Pirates were managed by Danny Murtaugh, and played their first full season at Three Rivers Stadium, which had opened in July the year before.

Offseason

October 15, 1970: Charlie Sands and 2 minor leaguers were traded to the Pirates by the New York Yankees for 3 minor leaguers.
October 26, 1970: Joe Gibbon released by the Pirates.
December 2, 1970: Freddie Patek, Bruce Dal Canton and Jerry May were traded by the Pirates to the Kansas City Royals for Bob Johnson, Jackie Hernández and Jim Campanis.
January 29, 1971: Matty Alou and George Brunet were traded by the Pirates to the St. Louis Cardinals for Nelson Briles and Vic Davalillo.
February 10, 1971: Danny Rivas was traded by the Pirates to the Mexico City Reds for Ramón Hernández.

Regular season

In 1971, the Pirates became the first Major League Baseball team to field an all-black starting lineup. Taking the field, on September 1, was Rennie Stennett, Gene Clines, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Manny Sanguillén, Dave Cash, Al Oliver, Jackie Hernández, and Dock Ellis.

Notable transactions

June 8, 1971: Craig Reynolds chosen by the Pirates in the 1st round of the 1971 Major League Baseball draft.
August 10, 1971: Bob Miller was traded to the Pirates by the San Diego Padres for Johnny Jeter and Ed Acosta.
August 10, 1971: Mudcat Grant was sold by the Pirates to the Oakland Athletics.

Game log

Detailed records

Month	Games	Won	Lost	Win %
April	22	12	10		84	62
May	26	17	9		129	85
June	30	20	10		175	127
July	28	18	10		149	109
August	31	14	17		140	144
September	25	16	9		111	72
Total	162	97	65		788	599

Composite Box

Sources:

Postseason

National League Championship Series

The Pittsburgh Pirates won the series over the San Francisco Giants, 3–1

World Series

Composite box

1971 World Series : Pittsburgh Pirates over Baltimore Orioles

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

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

Pos	Player	G	AB	R	H	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
C		138	533	61	170	.319	7	81	6
1B		131	469	65	127	.271	26	72	1
2B		123	478	79	138	.289	2	34	13
3B		112	388	50	105	.271	17	67	2
SS		114	348	38	79	.227	6	28	9
CF		143	529	69	149	.282	14	64	4
LF		141	511	104	151	.295	48	125	0
RF		132	522	82	178	.341	13	86	1

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Player	G	AB	R	H	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
	99	295	48	84	.285	1	33	10
	97	273	52	84	.308	1	24	15
	88	233	30	48	.206	3	26	0
	70	193	17	49	.254	1	16	0
	57	158	16	38	.241	5	15	0
	49	126	15	35	.278	6	25	0
	50	153	24	54	.353	1	15	1
	28	25	4	5	.200	1	5	0
	7	15	2	3	.200	1	2	0
	7	12	1	2	.167	0	0	0
	6	4	0	0	.000	0	0	0
	1	0	0	0	----	0	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	BB	SO
	33	240.0	15	8	2.85	68	136
	31	226.2	19	9	3.06	63	137
	31	174.2	9	10	3.45	55	101
	28	159.2	10	8	3.55	53	86

Other pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	BB	SO
	30	140.0	11	7	4.11	35	68
	37	136.0	8	4	3.04	35	76
	18	95.1	6	5	3.40	36	60

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	BB	SO
	58	86.0	5	6	30	2.93	31	55
	42	75.0	5	3	7	3.60	28	22
	37	46.1	6	0	2	6.99	24	40
	17	34.2	2	2	0	2.34	25	11
	16	28.0	1	2	3	1.29	13	13
	10	12.1	0	1	4	0.73	2	7
	2	4.1	0	0	0	0.00	1	1
	1	2.0	0	0	0	0.00	0	0

Awards and honors

Roberto Clemente, Babe Ruth Award
Roberto Clemente, World Series Most Valuable Player Award
Roberto Clemente, Gold Glove Award

League leaders

Willie Stargell, National League home run champion
Dave Giusti, Saves leader

All-Stars

1971 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Dock Ellis, pitcher, starter
Willie Stargell, outfield, starter
Roberto Clemente, reserve
Vic Davalillo, reserve
Manny Sanguillén, reserve