1973 Los Angeles Dodgers season

The 1973 Los Angeles Dodgers season was the 84th season for the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise in Major League Baseball, their 16th season in Los Angeles, California, and their 12th season playing their home games at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles California. The Dodgers finished the season in second place in the National League West with a record of 95–66.
From June 17 through September 2, the Dodgers held first place in their division. At one point, on July 17, LA had an 8.5 game lead over the Reds. On September 4, they relinquished their lead to the Reds, and despite winning their last five contests of the season in a row, the Dodgers finished 3.5 games behind.

Offseason

October 26, 1972: Larry Hisle was traded by the Dodgers to the St. Louis Cardinals for Rudy Arroyo and Greg Milliken.
November 28, 1972: Frank Robinson, Bill Singer, Mike Strahler, Billy Grabarkewitz and Bobby Valentine were traded by the Dodgers to the California Angels for Andy Messersmith and Ken McMullen.
March 26, 1973: George Culver was purchased by the Dodgers from the Houston Astros.
March 27, 1973: Dick Dietz was purchased from the Dodgers by the Atlanta Braves.

Regular season

Notable transactions

April 24, 1973: Tim Johnson was traded by the Dodgers to the Milwaukee Brewers for Rick Auerbach.
August 10, 1973: George Culver was purchased from the Dodgers by the Philadelphia Phillies.

Memorable events

On June 13 in a game versus the Philadelphia Phillies at Veterans Stadium, Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Ron Cey and Bill Russell play together as an infield for the Dodgers for first time, going on to set the record of Dodger [infield of Garvey, Lopes, Russell and Cey|staying together for 8½ years].

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		136	487	128	.263	25	88
1B		140	575	158	.275	8	46
2B		142	535	147	.275	6	37
SS		162	615	163	.265	4	56
3B		152	507	124	.245	15	80
LF		89	293	92	.314	0	23
CF		152	599	171	.285	16	77
RF		145	457	135	.295	14	66

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
	114	349	106	.304	8	50
	96	195	51	.262	5	18
	75	159	40	.252	2	17
	57	135	28	.207	0	8
	54	134	34	.254	2	10
	42	85	21	.247	5	18
	17	21	4	.190	0	3
	10	19	4	.211	0	2
	10	9	2	.222	0	0
	4	4	1	.250	0	0
	2	1	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
	33	256.1	18	10	2.42	200
	33	249.2	14	10	2.70	177
	33	236.2	16	11	3.31	86
	36	218.0	16	7	3.10	116
	30	193.0	9	9	3.31	124

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
	6	13.1	1	0	1.35	9

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
	56	6	8	20	3.01	56
	39	3	3	7	3.18	31
	37	4	2	5	2.76	70
	31	4	2	3	3.96	51
	28	4	4	2	3.00	23
	7	0	0	1	3.45	11
	4	0	0	0	7.11	6
	1	0	0	0	4.50	1

Awards and honors

Gold Glove Award
*Willie Davis
Major League Baseball [Player of the Month Award|NL Player of the Month]
*Willie Crawford
NL Player of the Week
*Andy Messersmith
*Willie Crawford
*Willie Davis

1973 Major League Baseball draft

This was the ninth year of a Major League Baseball draft. The Dodgers drafted 22 players in the June draft and nine in the January draft.
The most notable player from this draft class was outfielder Joe Simpson, who played from 1975 to 1983 but made his mark primarily as a broadcaster for the Atlanta Braves. The Dodgers first round pick was catcher Ted Farr of Shadle Park High School in Spokane, Washington. He played 339 games from 1973 to 1977 in the Dodgers farm system, hitting.235.

January draft

Round	Name	Position	School	Signed	Career span	Highest level
1	Wes Moore	RHP	Yavapai College	Yes	1973–1975	A
2	Michael Boyd	OF	Chipola College	No
3	Bob McClure	LHP	College of San Mateo	No Royals-1973	1973–1993	MLB
4	Jeff Moore	1B	Middle Georgia College	No
5	Jeff Hill	OF	Phoenix College	No
6	Terry Nance	P	Monterey Peninsula College	No

January secondary phase

Round	Name	Position	School	Signed	Career span	Highest level
1	Guy Todd	RHP	Blinn College	Yes	1973–1976	AA
2	Bob Purkey	RHP	Gulf Coast Community College	No
3	Craig Minetto	LHP	San Joaquin Delta College	No Expos-1974	1974–1984	MLB

June draft

Round	Name	Position	School	Signed	Career span	Highest level
1	Ted Farr	C	Shadle Park High School	Yes	1973–1977	AAA
2	Mike Paciorek	SS	St. Mary's High School	Yes	1973–1977	A
3	Joe Simpson	OF	University of Oklahoma	Yes	1973–1984	MLB
4	Richard Hance	3B	California State University, Fresno	Yes	1973–1977	AA
5	Thomas Steinmetz	SS	Canevin Catholic High School	No Expos-1978	1978	A-
6	Mike Dimmel	OF	Logansport High School	Yes	1973–1980	MLB
7	David Richards	C	Proviso East High School	Yes	1973–1982	AAA
8	Bradford Drysdale	RHP	Brawley Union High School	No Orioles – 1974	1974–1975	Rookie
9	Bob Stanley	RHP	Kearny High School	No Red Sox-1974	1974–1989	MLB
10	Mark Wilson	OF	Ashland High School	No Twins	1975	A
11	Charles Barrett	RHP	Rancho High School	Yes	1973–1978	AAA
12	William Collins	RHP	University of South Alabama	Yes	1973	A
13	Daniel Smith	RHP	Covina High School	Yes	1973–1980	AAA
14	James Mitchell	SS	Cardinal Mooney High School	Yes	1974–1978	A
15	Kelly Snider	1B	Hillcrest High School	No Dodgers-1976	1976–1982	AAA
16	Edward Davis	3B	West [Jefferson High School (Louisiana)\|West Jefferson High School]	Yes	1973	Rookie
17	Robert Arceneaux	C	Manual Arts High School	No
18	Tom Dixon	RHP	William R. Boone High School	No Cardinals-1974	1974–1983	MLB
19	Charles James	OF	Manual Arts High School	No Orioles-1974	1974–1976	A
20	George Kunkler	LHP	Lindbergh High School	No Dodgers-1976	1976–1977	AA
21	Russell Holland	RHP	Parksley High School	Yes	1973	Rookie

June secondary phase

Round	Name	Position	School	Signed	Career span	Highest level
1	William Meyer	SS	University of Michigan	Yes	1973–1976	AA