1981 Milwaukee Brewers season
The Milwaukee Brewers' 1981 season involved the Brewers' finishing 1st in American League East during the second half of the split schedule with an overall record of 62 wins and 47 losses. They proceeded to lose to the New York Yankees in the ALDS. Rollie Fingers became the first relief pitcher in the history of the American League to win the MVP Award.[1]
1981 Milwaukee Brewers | |
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Major League affiliations | |
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Other information | |
Owner(s) | Bud Selig |
General manager(s) | Harry Dalton |
Manager(s) | Buck Rodgers |
Local television | WVTV (Kent Derdivanis, Mike Hegan, Steve Shannon) SelecTV (Joe Castiglione, Tom Collins) |
Local radio | WISN (AM) (Lorn Brown, Bob Uecker) |
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Offseason
- December 12, 1980: Sixto Lezcano, David Green, Lary Sorensen and Dave LaPoint were traded by the Brewers to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ted Simmons, Rollie Fingers and Pete Vuckovich.[2]
- January 13, 1981: Ernest Riles was drafted by the Brewers in the 3rd round of the 1981 Major League Baseball draft (Secondary phase).[3]
- February 21, 1981: Paul Hartzell was signed as a free agent by the Brewers.[4]
- March 20, 1981: Bob Galasso was released by the Brewers.[5]
Regular season
Season standings
AL East | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
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Milwaukee Brewers | 62 | 47 | 0.569 | — | 28–21 | 34–26 |
Baltimore Orioles | 59 | 46 | 0.562 | 1 | 33–22 | 26–24 |
New York Yankees | 59 | 48 | 0.551 | 2 | 32–19 | 27–29 |
Detroit Tigers | 60 | 49 | 0.550 | 2 | 32–23 | 28–26 |
Boston Red Sox | 59 | 49 | 0.546 | 2½ | 30–23 | 29–26 |
Cleveland Indians | 52 | 51 | 0.505 | 7 | 25–29 | 27–22 |
Toronto Blue Jays | 37 | 69 | 0.349 | 23½ | 17–36 | 20–33 |
AL East First Half Standings |
W | L | Pct. | GB |
---|---|---|---|---|
New York Yankees | 34 | 22 | .607 | — |
Baltimore Orioles | 31 | 23 | .574 | 2 |
Milwaukee Brewers | 31 | 25 | .554 | 3 |
Detroit Tigers | 31 | 26 | .544 | 3 1⁄2 |
Boston Red Sox | 30 | 26 | .536 | 4 |
Cleveland Indians | 26 | 24 | .520 | 5 |
Toronto Blue Jays | 16 | 42 | .276 | 19 |
AL East Second Half Standings |
W | L | Pct. | GB |
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Milwaukee Brewers | 31 | 22 | .585 | — |
Boston Red Sox | 29 | 23 | .558 | 1 1⁄2 |
Detroit Tigers | 29 | 23 | .558 | 1 1⁄2 |
Baltimore Orioles | 28 | 23 | .549 | 2 |
Cleveland Indians | 26 | 27 | .491 | 5 |
New York Yankees | 25 | 26 | .490 | 5 |
Toronto Blue Jays | 21 | 27 | .438 | 7 1⁄2 |
Record vs. opponents
1981 American League Records Sources: | ||||||||||||||
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Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
Baltimore | — | 2–2 | 6–6 | 3–6 | 4–2 | 6–7 | 5–3 | 2–4 | 6–0 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 4–2 | 2–1 | 5–2 |
Boston | 2–2 | — | 2–4 | 5–4 | 7–6 | 6–1 | 3–3 | 6–7 | 2–5 | 3–3 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 3–6 | 4–0 |
California | 6–6 | 4–2 | — | 6–7 | 7–5 | 3–3 | 0–6 | 4–3 | 3–3 | 2–2 | 2–8 | 6–4 | 2–4 | 6–6 |
Chicago | 6–3 | 4–5 | 7–6 | — | 2–5 | 3–3 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 2–4 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 3–3 | 2–4 | 7–5 |
Cleveland | 2–4 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 5–2 | — | 1–5 | 4–4 | 3–6 | 2–1 | 7–5 | 3–2 | 8–4 | 2–2 | 4–2 |
Detroit | 7–6 | 1–6 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 5–1 | — | 3–2 | 5–8 | 9–3 | 3–7 | 1–2 | 5–1 | 9–3 | 6–4 |
Kansas City | 3–5 | 3–3 | 6–0 | 0–2 | 4–4 | 2–3 | — | 4–5 | 9–4 | 2–10 | 3–3 | 6–7 | 3–4 | 5–3 |
Milwaukee | 4–2 | 7–6 | 3–4 | 1–4 | 6–3 | 8–5 | 5–4 | — | 9–3 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 2–2 | 4–5 | 6–4 |
Minnesota | 0–6 | 5–2 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 1–2 | 3–9 | 4–9 | 3–9 | — | 3–3 | 2–8 | 3–6–1 | 5–8 | 5–1 |
New York | 6–7 | 3–3 | 2–2 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 7–3 | 10–2 | 3–3 | 3–3 | — | 4–3 | 2–3 | 5–4 | 2–3 |
Oakland | 5–7 | 5–7 | 8–2 | 6–7 | 2–3 | 2–1 | 3–3 | 2–4 | 8–2 | 3–4 | — | 6–1 | 4–2 | 10–2 |
Seattle | 2–4 | 3–9 | 4–6 | 3–3 | 4–8 | 1–5 | 7–6 | 2–2 | 6–3–1 | 3–2 | 1–6 | — | 5–8 | 3–3 |
Texas | 1–2 | 6–3 | 4–2 | 4–2 | 2–2 | 3–9 | 4–3 | 5–4 | 8–5 | 4–5 | 2–4 | 8–5 | — | 6–2 |
Toronto | 2–5 | 0–4 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 2–4 | 4–6 | 3–5 | 4–6 | 1–5 | 3–2 | 2–10 | 3–3 | 2–6 | — |
Notable transactions
- April 1, 1981: John Poff was traded by the Brewers to the Chicago White Sox for Thad Bosley.[6]
- April 4, 1981: Bill Lyons was released by the Brewers.[7]
- April 5, 1981: Dan Boitano was purchased from the Brewers by the New York Mets from the Milwaukee Brewers.[8]
- June 8, 1981: Bryan Clutterbuck was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 7th round of the 1981 amateur draft. [9]
- July 8, 1981: Paul Hartzell was released by the Brewers.[4]
Roster
1981 Milwaukee Brewers roster | |||||||||
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Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
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Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
Other batters |
Manager
Coaches
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Player stats
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 |
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C | Ted Simmons | 100 | 380 | 82 | .216 | 14 | 61 |
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 |
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Paul Molitor | 64 | 251 | 67 | .267 | 2 | 19 |
Thad Bosley | 42 | 105 | 24 | .229 | 0 | 3 |
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 |
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Mike Caldwell | 24 | 144.1 | 11 | 9 | 3.93 | 41 |
Pete Vuckovich | 24 | 149.2 | 14 | 4 | 3.55 | 84 |
Other 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 |
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Jerry Augustine | 27 | 61.1 | 2 | 2 | 4.26 | 26 |
Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
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Rollie Fingers | 47 | 6 | 3 | 28 | 1.04 | 61 |
Reggie Cleveland | 35 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5.15 | 18 |
Rickey Keeton | 17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.09 | 9 |
Dwight Bernard | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.60 | 1 |
Chuck Porter | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.15 | 1 |
ALDS
New York wins series, 3-2.
Game | Score | Date |
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1 | New York 5, Milwaukee 3 | October 7 |
2 | New York 3, Milwaukee 0 | October 8 |
3 | Milwaukee 5, New York 3 | October 9 |
4 | Milwaukee 2, New York 1 | October 10 |
5 | New York 7, Milwaukee 3 | October 11 |
Awards and honors
- Cecil Cooper, Silver Slugger Award
- Rollie Fingers, American League Cy Young Award
- Rollie Fingers, American League MVP
Farm system
The Brewers' farm system consisted of five minor league affiliates in 1981.[10] The Butte Copper Kings won the Pioneer League championship.[11]
Notes
- Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 152, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
- Ted Simmons at Baseball-Reference
- Ernest Riles at Baseball-Reference
- Paul Hartzell at Baseball-Reference
- Bob Galasso at Baseball-Reference
- John Poff at Baseball-Reference
- Bill Lyons at Baseball-Reference
- Dan Boitano at Baseball-Reference
- "Bryan Clutterbuck: Career Statistics". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
- "1981 Milwaukee Brewers Minor League Affiliates". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
- "Pioneer League Champions". Pioneer League. Minor League Baseball. Archived from the original on December 31, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
References
- 1981 Milwaukee Brewers team at Baseball-Reference
- 1981 Milwaukee Brewers at Baseball Almanac