1973 California Angels season

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 2010, 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]

Season standings

Notable transactions

• May 20, 1973: Jim Spencer and Lloyd Allen was 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

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

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Farm system

Notes

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, N.C.: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3. 
• 1973 California Angels team page at Baseball Reference
• 1973 California Angels team page at www.baseball-almanac.com

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