1981 Seattle Mariners season

The Seattle Mariners 1981 season was their fifth since the franchise creation, and were 6th in the American League West at 44–65 (.404). Due to the 1981 player's strike, the season was split in half, with pre-strike and post-strike results. The Mariners were sixth in the division in the first half at 21–36 (.368), and fifth in the second half at 23–29 (.442). The strike began on June 12 and regular season play resumed on August 10.[1]

1981 Seattle Mariners
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)George Argyros
General manager(s)Dan O'Brien, Sr.
Manager(s)Maury Wills - (6–18)
Rene Lachemann - (38–47)
Local televisionKING-TV
Local radioKVI 570 AM
(Dave Niehaus, Ken Wilson,
Don Poier)
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Manager Maury Wills was fired on May 6 with a 6–18 (.250) record, the M's worst start yet;[2] he was succeeded by 36-year-old Rene Lachemann, the manager at Triple-A Spokane.[2][3][4]

Offseason
Ken Clay was traded to the Mariners during the off-season

Regular season

Overview

On January 14, 1981, the Mariners' were sold to George Argyros, a California real estate developer, for an estimated $12.5 million.[10][11] The sale of the team, which needed the approval of 10 of 14 owners of American League teams, received a unanimous vote of consent on January 29.[12]

Tom Paciorek hit .326 and then was traded

On April 25, Mariners' manager Maury Wills advised the Kingdome groundskeepers to enlarge the batter's box by a foot (0.3 m), and A's manager Billy Martin noticed. He showed umpire Bill Kunkel that the batter's box was seven feet (2.1 m) in length (instead of six). Martin felt that batters being able to move up a foot in the box could cut at pitches before a curveball broke. Wills was suspended for two games and fined $500;[13][14] he was fired on May 6.[2]

While in Arlington in late May to play the Texas Rangers, the Mariners' uniforms were stolen. For the May 30 game against the Rangers, Seattle wore their batting practice jerseys, Milwaukee Brewers' caps, and Rangers' batting helmets.[15] The Mariners purchased the Brewers caps at the Rangers' souvenir-stand; the Rangers did not offer Seattle caps for sale.[16]

Journeyman Tom Paciorek put together a career season with the M's in 1981. Playing full-time for the only time in his career at age 34, he batted .326, second in the American League,[17] and was fourth in the AL in slugging percentage. Paciorek earned his only appearance to an All-Star team in 1981 and was tenth in the AL MVP race. After a request for increased compensation and a three-year contract,[17] the Mariners traded him in December 1981 to the Chicago White Sox for three players,[18] none of whom made an impact with Seattle. Paciorek hit over .300 his first two years with the Sox, and was part of Chicago's division championship team in 1983.

Season standings
AL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Oakland Athletics 6445 0.587 — 35–21 29–24
Texas Rangers 5748 0.543 5 32–24 25–24
Chicago White Sox 5452 0.509 8½ 25–24 29–28
Kansas City Royals 5053 0.485 11 19–28 31–25
California Angels 5159 0.464 13½ 26–28 25–31
Seattle Mariners 4465 0.404 20 20–37 24–28
Minnesota Twins 4168 0.376 23 24–36 17–32
AL West
First Half Standings		 W L Pct. GB
Oakland Athletics3723.617—
Texas Rangers3322.600​1 1⁄2
Chicago White Sox3122.585​2 1⁄2
California Angels3129.5176
Kansas City Royals2030.40012
Seattle Mariners2136.368​14 1⁄2
Minnesota Twins1739.30418
AL West
Second Half Standings		 W L Pct. GB
Kansas City Royals3023.566—
Oakland Athletics2722.5511
Texas Rangers2426.480​4 1⁄2
Minnesota Twins2429.4536
Seattle Mariners2329.442​6 1⁄2
Chicago White Sox2330.4347
California Angels2030.400​8 1⁄2

Record vs. opponents
1981 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —2–26–63–64–26–75–32–46–07–67–54–22–15–2
Boston 2–2—2–45–47–66–13–36–72–53–37–59–33–64–0
California 6–64–2—6–77–53–30–64–33–32–22–86–42–46–6
Chicago 6–34–57–6—2–53–32–04–12–45–77–63–32–47–5
Cleveland 2–46–75–75–2—1–54–43–62–17–53–28–42–24–2
Detroit 7–61–63–33–35–1—3–25–89–33–71–25–19–36–4
Kansas City 3–53–36–00–24–42–3—4–59–42–103–36–73–45–3
Milwaukee 4–27–63–41–46–38–55–4—9–33–34–22–24–56–4
Minnesota 0–65–23–34–21–23–94–93–9—3–32–83–6–15–85–1
New York 6–73–32–27–55–77–310–23–33–3—4–32–35–42–3
Oakland 5–75–78–26–72–32–13–32–48–23–4—6–14–210–2
Seattle 2–43–94–63–34–81–57–62–26–3–13–21–6—5–83–3
Texas 1–26–34–24–22–23–94–35–48–54–52–48–5—6–2
Toronto 2–50–46–65–72–44–63–54–61–53–22–103–32–6—

Notable transactions

Roster
1981 Seattle Mariners roster
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

  • 12 Tommy Davis (Hitting)

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
2BJulio Cruz9435290.256224
3BDan Meyer8325266.262322
DHRichie Zisk94357111.3111643

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
Gary Gray6920851.2451331
Paul Serna309424.25549
Rick Auerbach388413.15516
Casey Parsons36225.22715
Vance McHenry15184.22202
Reggie Walton1260.00000
Dan Firova1320.00000

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
Glenn Abbott22130.1493.9435
Floyd Bannister21121.1994.4585
Jim Beattie1366.2322.9736
Brian Allard748323.7520
Bob Stoddard534.2212.6022

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
Ken Clay22101274.6332
Jerry Don Gleaton2085.1474.7531

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
Larry Andersen413352.6640
Dick Drago394655.5327
Bob Galasso131114.8314
Randy Stein601010.616

Awards and records
  • Julio Cruz, American League record, Most chances accepted in one nine-inning game (18 chances on June 7, 1981) [23]

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Spokane Indians Pacific Coast League Rene Lachemann and Ken Pape
AA Lynn Sailors Eastern League Bobby Floyd
A Wausau Timbers Midwest League Bill Plummer
A-Short Season Bellingham Mariners Northwest League Jeff Scott

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Wausau[24]

Notes
  1. "It's a mixed review for the second season". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Associated Press. August 11, 1981. p. 1C.
  2. "Wills replaced by the Mariners". Eugene Register-Guard. wire services. May 7, 1981. p. 2C.
  3. Blanchette, John (May 7, 1981). "Wills fired; M's turn to 'Lach'". Spokesman-Review. p. 25.
  4. Stewart, Chuck (May 7, 1981). "Oh, beautiful day!". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). p. 37.
  5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/guldebr01.shtml
  6. Gary Gray page at Baseball Reference
  7. Willie Norwood page at Baseball Reference
  8. Willie Horton page at Baseball Reference
  9. Dave Heaverlo page at Baseball Reference
  10. "Agreement reached on Mariners sale". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. January 15, 1981. p. 21.
  11. "California Developer Set To Purchase the Mariners". The New York Times. Associated Press. January 15, 1981. Retrieved April 4, 2010.
  12. "White Sox, Mariners sales are unanimous". Spartanburg Herald. (South Carolina). Associated Press. January 30, 1981. p. B2.
  13. http://espn.go.com/page2/s/list/cheaters/ballplayers.html
  14. "Wills dealt suspension". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). Associated Press. April 28, 1981. p. 20.
  15. "Rag-tag team happens to be Seattle". Anchorage Daily News. June 2, 1981. Retrieved April 4, 2010.
  16. "Dressing up". Milwaukee Journal. June 1, 1981. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
  17. "Baseball: Mariners reject demands by Paciorek". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Associated Press. November 5, 1981. p. 3B.
  18. "Goodbye: Seattle makes Paciorek an offer he could refuse". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Associated Press. December 12, 1981. p. 5B.
  19. Dick Drago page at Baseball Reference
  20. Bob Galasso page at Baseball Reference
  21. Phil Bradley page at Baseball Reference
  22. Charlie O'Brien page at Baseball Reference
  23. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.93, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  24. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

References
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