| 1973 MLB season | |
| League: | Major League Baseball |
| Sport: | Baseball |
| Duration: | April 5 – October 21, 1973 |
| No Of Games: | 162 |
| No Of Teams: | 24 |
| Tv: | NBC |
| Draft: | Draft |
| Draft Link: | 1973 Major League Baseball draft |
| Top Pick: | David Clyde |
| Top Pick Link: | List of first overall MLB draft picks |
| Picked By: | Texas Rangers |
| Season: | Regular season |
| Mvp: | AL Reggie Jackson (OAK) |
| Mvp Link: | Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award |
| Playoffs: | Postseason |
| Playoffs Link: | 1973 Major League Baseball postseason |
| Conf1: | AL |
| Conf1 Link: | 1973 American League Championship Series |
| Conf1 Champ: | Oakland Athletics |
| Conf1 Runner-Up: | Baltimore Orioles |
| Conf2: | NL |
| Conf2 Link: | 1973 National League Championship Series |
| Conf2 Champ: | New York Mets |
| Conf2 Runner-Up: | Cincinnati Reds |
| Finals: | World Series |
| Finals Link: | 1973 World Series |
| Finals Champ: | Oakland Athletics |
| Finals Runner-Up: | New York Mets |
| World Series Mvp: | Reggie Jackson (OAK) |
| World Series Mvp Link: | World Series Most Valuable Player Award |
| Seasonslist: | List of MLB seasons |
| Seasonslistnames: | MLB |
| Prevseason Link: | 1972 Major League Baseball season |
| Prevseason Year: | 1972 |
| Nextseason Link: | 1974 Major League Baseball season |
| Nextseason Year: | 1974 |
The 1973 Major League Baseball season was the first season of the designated hitter rule in the American League.[1]
American League umpires began wearing burgundy blazers with blue pants, a change from the navy blue coats and gray pants worn the previous five seasons (–). The burgundy blazers were worn through .
California Angels ace Nolan Ryan broke Sandy Koufax's strikeout record of 382 when he struck out 383 batters during the season.
The Oakland Athletics won their second straight World Series championship in seven games over the New York Mets.
The Kansas City Royals moved from Municipal Stadium to the new Royals Stadium (adjacent to the Chiefs' football facility) and also hosted the All-Star Game on July 24 with the NL defeating the AL, 7 - 1.
The New York Yankees played their final season at the original Yankee Stadium; it was closed for remodeling during the 1974 and 1975 seasons.
In California on June 19, Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds and Willie Davis of the Los Angeles Dodgers both collected their 2000th career hit. Rose singled against the San Francisco Giants while Davis hit a home run against the Atlanta Braves.[2] [3]
A lockout in the offseason (February 8–25) did not result in any regular season games being canceled, but the start of spring training was delayed.[4]
See also: 1973 MLB Postseason.
| Statistic | American League | National League | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rod Carew MIN | .350 | Pete Rose CIN | .338 | ||
| Reggie Jackson OAK | 32 | Willie Stargell PIT | 44 | ||
| Reggie Jackson OAK | 117 | Willie Stargell PIT | 119 | ||
| Wilbur Wood CWS | 24 | Ron Bryant SF | 24 | ||
| Jim Palmer BAL | 2.40 | Tom Seaver NYM | 2.08 | ||
| Nolan Ryan CAL | 383 | Tom Seaver NYM | 251 | ||
| John Hiller DET | 38 | Mike Marshall MTL | 31 | ||
| Tommy Harper BOS | 54 | Lou Brock STL | 70 | ||
| Team name | Wins | Home attendance | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles Dodgers[5] | 95 | 11.8% | 2,136,192 | 14.8% | 26,373 | |
| Cincinnati Reds[6] | 99 | 4.2% | 2,017,601 | 25.2% | 24,909 | |
| New York Mets[7] | 82 | −1.2% | 1,912,390 | −10.4% | 23,610 | |
| Detroit Tigers[8] | 85 | −1.2% | 1,724,146 | −8.9% | 21,286 | |
| St. Louis Cardinals[9] | 81 | 8.0% | 1,574,046 | 31.5% | 19,433 | |
| Boston Red Sox[10] | 89 | 4.7% | 1,481,002 | 2.7% | 18,284 | |
| Philadelphia Phillies[11] | 71 | 20.3% | 1,475,934 | 9.9% | 18,221 | |
| Houston Astros[12] | 82 | −2.4% | 1,394,004 | −5.1% | 17,210 | |
| Chicago Cubs[13] | 77 | −9.4% | 1,351,705 | 4.0% | 16,896 | |
| Kansas City Royals[14] | 88 | 15.8% | 1,345,341 | 90.1% | 16,609 | |
| Pittsburgh Pirates[15] | 80 | −16.7% | 1,319,913 | −7.5% | 16,295 | |
| Chicago White Sox[16] | 77 | −11.5% | 1,302,527 | 10.6% | 16,081 | |
| New York Yankees[17] | 80 | 1.3% | 1,262,103 | 30.6% | 15,582 | |
| Montreal Expos[18] | 79 | 12.9% | 1,246,863 | 9.2% | 15,393 | |
| Milwaukee Brewers[19] | 74 | 13.8% | 1,092,158 | 81.9% | 13,483 | |
| California Angels[20] | 79 | 5.3% | 1,058,206 | 42.2% | 13,064 | |
| Oakland Athletics[21] | 94 | 1.1% | 1,000,763 | 8.6% | 12,355 | |
| Baltimore Orioles[22] | 97 | 21.3% | 958,667 | 6.5% | 11,835 | |
| Minnesota Twins[23] | 81 | 5.2% | 907,499 | 13.7% | 11,204 | |
| San Francisco Giants[24] | 88 | 27.5% | 834,193 | 28.8% | 10,299 | |
| Atlanta Braves[25] | 76 | 8.6% | 800,655 | 6.3% | 9,885 | |
| Texas Rangers[26] | 57 | 5.6% | 686,085 | 3.5% | 8,470 | |
| Cleveland Indians[27] | 71 | −1.4% | 615,107 | −1.8% | 7,594 | |
| San Diego Padres[28] | 60 | 3.4% | 611,826 | −5.0% | 7,553 |
NBC was the exclusive national TV broadcaster of MLB, airing the weekend Game of the Week, Monday Night Baseball, the All-Star Game, both League Championship Series, and the World Series.