1973 California Angels season explained

The 1973 California Angels season involved the Angels finishing 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.^[1]

Regular season

1973 was an eventful season for Angels pitcher Nolan Ryan. On May 15, Ryan threw the first no-hitter of his career.^[2] On July 3, he struck out Sal Bando of the Oakland Athletics for the 1000th strikeout in his career.^[3] 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.^[4]

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.^[5] (The all-time record belongs to Matt Kilroy, who struck out 513 batters in 1886).^[5] In the process, he struck out at least 10 batters in 23 different games.^[6]

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.^[7]
• 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.^[8]
• July 16, 1973: Curt Motton was released by the Angels.^[9]

Roster

1973 California Angels
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		ManagerCoaches

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		102	255	56	.220	1	18
1B		91	312	67	.215	8	32
2B		136	470	112	.238	0	28
SS		120	305	68	.223	2	23
3B		110	311	85	.273	0	26
LF		124	466	121	.260	8	57
CF		137	415	118	.284	3	36
RF		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
	99	264	70	.265	3	24
	77	229	75	.328	3	21
	78	130	35	.269	1	25
	61	129	21	.163	3	9
	32	129	45	.349	0	16
	32	126	38	.302	1	13
	60	122	30	.246	1	9
	38	102	23	.225	0	7
	29	87	21	.241	2	11
	24	69	16	.232	0	6
	41	64	8	.125	0	3
	41	49	12	.245	0	2
	17	33	9	.273	1	5
	22	26	4	.154	0	3
	8	21	2	.095	0	1
	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
	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
	16	54.2	4	3	3.62	19
	17	52.2	2	1	4.44	27
	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
	8	0	2	0	4.09	5
	5	0	0	1	10.38	4
	1	0	0	0	81.00	0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

References

• Book: Johnson. Lloyd. Wolff. Miles. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. 2nd. Durham, North Carolina. Baseball America. 1997. 978-0-9637189-8-3.
• 1973 California Angels team at Baseball-Reference
• 1973 California Angels team page at www.baseball-almanac.com

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/robinfr02.shtml Frank Robinson
2. Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p. 12, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC,
3. Web site: The Nolan Ryan Express The Strikeout King . smackbomb.com/nolanryan . July 28, 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110716092407/http://www.smackbomb.com/nolanryan/strikeouts.html . July 16, 2011 . dead . mdy-all .
4. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 139, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York,
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/SO_p_season.shtml Single-Season Leaders & Records for Strikeouts
6. Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p. 32, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC,
7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/e/epstemi01.shtml Mike Epstein
8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kingmbr01.shtml Brian Kingman
9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mottocu01.shtml Curt Motton