1973 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1973 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1973 in baseball.

The 1973 Major League Baseball season was the first season of the designated hitter rule in the American League.^[1]

1973 MLB season
League	Major League Baseball
Sport	Baseball
Duration	April 5 – October 21, 1973
Number of games	162
Number of teams	24
TV partner(s)	NBC
Draft
Top draft pick	David Clyde
Picked by	Texas Rangers
Regular season
Season MVP	AL: Reggie Jackson (OAK) NL: Pete Rose (CIN)
Postseason
AL champions	Oakland Athletics
AL runners-up	Baltimore Orioles
NL champions	New York Mets
NL runners-up	Cincinnati Reds
World Series
Champions	Oakland Athletics
Runners-up	New York Mets
World Series MVP	Reggie Jackson (OAK)

Angels

White Sox

Royals

Twins

     Athletics

Rangers

Orioles

Red Sox

Indians

Tigers

Brewers

Yankees

Locations of teams for the 1973 American League season
West   East

Braves

Reds

Astros

Dodgers

Padres

  Giants

Cubs

Expos

Mets

     Phillies

Pirates  

Cardinals

Locations of teams for the 1971–1976 National League seasons
West   East

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 (1968–1972). The burgundy blazers were worn through 1979.

California Angels ace Nolan Ryan broke Sandy Koufax's 1965 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]

Awards and honors

• Baseball Hall of Fame
  • Roberto Clemente
  • Billy Evans
  • Monte Irvin
  • George Kelly
  • Warren Spahn
  • Mickey Welch
• Most Valuable Player
  • Reggie Jackson (AL) Oakland Athletics
  • Pete Rose (NL) Cincinnati Reds
• Cy Young Award
  • Jim Palmer (AL) Baltimore Orioles
  • Tom Seaver (NL) New York Mets
• Rookie of the Year
  • Al Bumbry (AL) Baltimore Orioles
  • Gary Matthews (NL) San Francisco Giants
• Gold Glove Award
  • George Scott (1B) (AL)
  • Bobby Grich (2B) (AL)
  • Brooks Robinson (3B) (AL)
  • Mark Belanger (SS) (AL)
  • Paul Blair (OF) (AL)
  • Amos Otis (OF) (AL)
  • Mickey Stanley (OF) (AL)
  • Thurman Munson (C) (AL)
  • Jim Kaat (P) (AL)

Standings

American League

• v
• t
• e

AL East

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Baltimore Orioles	97	65	.599	—	50‍–‍31	47‍–‍34
Boston Red Sox	89	73	.549	8	48‍–‍33	41‍–‍40
Detroit Tigers	85	77	.525	12	47‍–‍34	38‍–‍43
New York Yankees	80	82	.494	17	50‍–‍31	30‍–‍51
Milwaukee Brewers	74	88	.457	23	40‍–‍41	34‍–‍47
Cleveland Indians	71	91	.438	26	34‍–‍47	37‍–‍44

• v
• t
• e

AL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Oakland Athletics	94	68	.580	—	50‍–‍31	44‍–‍37
Kansas City Royals	88	74	.543	6	48‍–‍33	40‍–‍41
Minnesota Twins	81	81	.500	13	37‍–‍44	44‍–‍37
California Angels	79	83	.488	15	43‍–‍38	36‍–‍45
Chicago White Sox	77	85	.475	17	40‍–‍41	37‍–‍44
Texas Rangers	57	105	.352	37	35‍–‍46	22‍–‍59

National League

• v
• t
• e

NL East

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Mets	82	79	.509	—	43‍–‍38	39‍–‍41
St. Louis Cardinals	81	81	.500	1½	43‍–‍38	38‍–‍43
Pittsburgh Pirates	80	82	.494	2½	41‍–‍40	39‍–‍42
Montreal Expos	79	83	.488	3½	43‍–‍38	36‍–‍45
Chicago Cubs	77	84	.478	5	41‍–‍39	36‍–‍45
Philadelphia Phillies	71	91	.438	11½	38‍–‍43	33‍–‍48

• v
• t
• e

NL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cincinnati Reds	99	63	.611	—	50‍–‍31	49‍–‍32
Los Angeles Dodgers	95	66	.590	3½	50‍–‍31	45‍–‍35
San Francisco Giants	88	74	.543	11	47‍–‍34	41‍–‍40
Houston Astros	82	80	.506	17	41‍–‍40	41‍–‍40
Atlanta Braves	76	85	.472	22½	40‍–‍40	36‍–‍45
San Diego Padres	60	102	.370	39	31‍–‍50	29‍–‍52

Postseason

Bracket

	League Championship Series (ALCS, NLCS)					World Series
	East	Baltimore	2
	West	Oakland	3
						AL	Oakland	4
						NL	NY Mets	3
	East	NY Mets	3
	West	Cincinnati	2

Statistical leaders

Statistic	American League		National League
AVG	Rod Carew MIN	.350	Pete Rose CIN	.338
HR	Reggie Jackson OAK	32	Willie Stargell PIT	44
RBI	Reggie Jackson OAK	117	Willie Stargell PIT	119
Wins	Wilbur Wood CWS	24	Ron Bryant SF	24
ERA	Jim Palmer BAL	2.40	Tom Seaver NYM	2.08
SO	Nolan Ryan1 CAL	383	Tom Seaver NYM	251
SV	John Hiller DET	38	Mike Marshall MTL	31
SB	Tommy Harper BOS	54	Lou Brock STL	70

¹ Modern (1901–present) single-season strikeouts record

Home field attendance

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
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

Television coverage

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.