The Giants play at Candlestick Park, July 1971, with upper deck expansion in progress.
The Giants battled their arch rival, theLos Angeles Dodgers, throughout the season for the NL West Division lead. The Giants led by 8.5 games on September 1. In mid September the Dodgers won 8 in a row, including 5 over the Giants to narrow the gap to one game. On the final day of the season, rookieDave Kingman homered, leading the Giants to a win over theSan Diego Padres to take the division crown, allowingJuan Marichal,Willie Mays, andWillie McCovey to play in the post season for the last time together.
September 5, 1971: In a game against the Giants,J. R. Richard of the Houston Astros struck out 15 batters in his very first game, tying a Major League record first set byKarl Spooner.[2]
^Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed.,The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007