1972 California Angels season

California Angels
	1972 California Angels;
	Major league affiliations
	American League (since 1961) West Division (since 1969); ;
	Location
	Anaheim Stadium (since 1966); Anaheim, California (since 1966);
	1972 information
Owner(s)	Gene Autry
Manager(s)	Del Rice
Local television	KTLA
Local radio	KMPC; (Dick Enberg, Don Wells, Dave Niehaus)
	Previous season Next season

The 1972 California Angels season involved the Angels finishing 5th in the American League West with a record of 75 wins and 80 losses.

Offseason

October 27, 1971: Tony González was released by the Angels.¹
December 10, 1971: Jim Fregosi was traded by the Angels to the New York Mets for Nolan Ryan, Don Rose, Leroy Stanton, and Frank Estrada.²
January 26, 1972: Tommie Reynolds was traded by the Angels to the Milwaukee Brewers for Andy Kosco.³

Regular season

April 18, 1972: Nolan Ryan struck out Charlie Manuel for the 500th strikeout of his career.⁴

Opening Day starters

Season standings

AL West	W	L	GB	Pct.
Oakland Athletics	93	62	--	.600
Chicago White Sox	87	67	5.5	.565
Minnesota Twins	77	77	15.5	.500
Kansas City Royals	76	78	16.5	.494
California Angels	75	80	18	.484
Texas Rangers	54	100	38.5	.351

Notable transactions

May 2, 1972: Billy Cowan was released by the Angels.⁶
May 16, 1972: Steve Barber was signed as a free agent by the Angels.⁷
May 26, 1972: Archie Reynolds was traded by the Angels to the Milwaukee Brewers for Curt Motton.⁸
July 28, 1972: Joe Azcue and Syd O'Brien were traded by the Angels to the Milwaukee Brewers for Ron Clark and Paul Ratliff.⁹
August 1, 1972: Fred Kuhaulua was signed as an amateur free agent by the Angels.¹⁰
August 15, 1972: Andy Kosco was traded by the Angels to the Boston Red Sox for Chris Coletta.³
August 17, 1972: Eddie Fisher was traded by the California Angels to the Chicago White Sox for a player to be named later and Bruce Miller. The Chicago White Sox sent Bruce Kimm (September 1, 1972) to the California Angels to complete the trade. ¹¹

Roster

1972 California Angels

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

14 Billy Cowan
6 Roger Repoz

Manager

7 Del Rice

Coaches

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
1B	Oliver, BobBob Oliver	134	509	137	.269	19	70
2B	Alomar, SandySandy Alomar	155	610	146	.239	1	25
3B	McMullen, KenKen McMullen	137	472	127	.269	9	34
SS	Cárdenas, LeoLeo Cárdenas	150	551	123	.223	6	42
LF	Pinson, VadaVada Pinson	136	484	133	.275	7	49
CF	Berry, KenKen Berry	119	409	118	.289	5	39
RF	Stanton, LeroyLeroy Stanton	127	402	101	.251	12	39

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
Spencer, JimJim Spencer	82	212	47	.222	1	14
Rivers, MickeyMickey Rivers	58	159	34	.214	0	7
Torborg, JeffJeff Torborg	59	153	32	.209	0	8
Kosco, AndyAndy Kosco	49	142	34	.239	6	13

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
Ryan, NolanNolan Ryan	39	284	19	16	2.28	329
Wright, ClydeClyde Wright	35	251	18	11	2.98	87
May, RudyRudy May	35	205.1	12	11	2.94	169
Messersmith, AndyAndy Messersmith	25	169.2	8	11	2.81	142

Other pitchers