1973 California Angels season

The 1973 California Angels season was the 13th season of the Angels franchise in the American League, the 8th in Anaheim, and their 8th season playing their home games at Anaheim Stadium. The Angels finished the season fourth in the American League West with a record of 79 wins and 83 losses.

Offseason

November 28, 1972: Andy Messersmith and Ken McMullen were traded by the Angels to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Frank Robinson, Billy Grabarkewitz, Bill Singer, Mike Strahler, and Bobby Valentine.

Regular season

1973 was an eventful season for Angels pitcher Nolan Ryan. On May 15, Ryan threw the first no-hitter of his career. On July 3, he struck out Sal Bando of the Oakland Athletics for the 1000th strikeout in his career. Twelve days later, Ryan threw a second no-hitter, becoming the fifth pitcher in major league history to throw two no-hitters in one season.
For the year, Ryan set what is, as of 2022, the post-1900 Major League Baseball record for most strikeouts in a season with 383, topping Sandy Koufax's 1965 mark by one.. In the process, he struck out at least 10 batters in 23 different games.

Notable transactions

May 20, 1973: Jim Spencer and Lloyd Allen were traded by the Angels to the Texas Rangers for Mike Epstein, Rich Hand and Rick Stelmaszek.
June 5, 1973: Brian Kingman was drafted by the Angels in the 12th round of the 1973 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.
July 16, 1973: Curt Motton was released by the Angels.

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	Jeff Torborg	102	255	56	.220	1	18
1B	Mike Epstein	91	312	67	.215	8	32
2B		136	470	112	.238	0	28
SS	Rudy Meoli	120	305	68	.223	2	23
3B	Al Gallagher	110	311	85	.273	0	26
LF		124	466	121	.260	8	57
CF	Ken Berry	137	415	118	.284	3	36
RF	Leroy Stanton	119	306	72	.235	8	34
DH		147	534	142	.266	30	97

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
	151	544	144	.265	18	89
Tom McCraw	99	264	70	.265	3	24
Richie Scheinblum	77	229	75	.328	3	21
Winston Llenas	78	130	35	.269	1	25
	61	129	21	.163	3	9
	32	129	45	.349	0	16
	32	126	38	.302	1	13
John Stephenson	60	122	30	.246	1	9
Billy Parker	38	102	23	.225	0	7
Jim Spencer	29	87	21	.241	2	11
Dave Chalk	24	69	16	.232	0	6
Art Kusnyer	41	64	8	.125	0	3
Jerry DaVanon	41	49	12	.245	0	2
Charlie Sands	17	33	9	.273	1	5
Rick Stelmaszek	22	26	4	.154	0	3
Doug Howard	8	21	2	.095	0	1
Bobby Brooks	4	7	1	.143	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
	41	326.0	21	16	2.87	383
	40	315.2	20	14	3.22	241
	37	257.0	11	19	3.68	65
	34	185.0	7	17	4.38	134
Frank Tanana	4	26.1	2	2	3.08	22

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
Rich Hand	16	54.2	4	3	3.62	19
Dick Lange	17	52.2	2	1	4.44	27
Andy Hassler	7	31.2	0	4	3.69	19

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
	51	7	2	10	3.71	25
	50	3	2	4	3.53	58
	15	2	1	3	4.20	8
Ron Perranoski	8	0	2	0	4.09	5
	5	0	0	1	10.38	4
Terry Wilshusen	1	0	0	0	81.00	0