1981 Chicago Cubs season

1981 Chicago Cubs
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1876)
Eastern Division (since 1969)
Location
Wrigley Field (since 1916)
Chicago (since 1870)
Other information
Owner(s)	William Wrigley III, Tribune Company
General manager(s)	Bob Kennedy, Herman Franks, Dallas Green
Manager(s)	Joey Amalfitano
Local television	WGN-TV (Jack Brickhouse, Lou Boudreau, Milo Hamilton)
Local radio	WGN (Vince Lloyd, Lou Boudreau)
Stats	ESPN.com BB-reference
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The 1981 Chicago Cubs season was the 110th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 106th in the National League and the 66th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished the first-half in last place at 15-37, 17½ games behind the Philadelphia Phillies, and the second-half in fifth place at 23-28, six games behind the eventual NL East Champion Montreal Expos in the National League East. It was also the final season for the Cubs under the Wrigley family ownership, as the Tribune Company took over the club late in the year.

Offseason

• December 9, 1980: Bruce Sutter was traded by the Cubs to the St. Louis Cardinals for Leon Durham, Ken Reitz, and a player to be named later. The Cardinals completed the deal by sending Tye Waller to the Cubs on December 22.^[1]
• December 12, 1980: Jerry Martin, Jesús Figueroa and a player to be named later was traded by the Cubs to the San Francisco Giants for Joe Strain and Philip Nastu.^[2] The Cubs completed the deal by sending Mike Turgeon (minors) to the Giants on August 11, 1981.^[3]
• February 26, 1981: George Riley was released by the Cubs.^[4]
• March 28, 1981: Dennis Lamp was traded by the Cubs to the Chicago White Sox for Ken Kravec.^[5]

Regular season

Season standings

NL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Cardinals	59	43	0.578	—	32–21	27–22
Montreal Expos	60	48	0.556	2	38–18	22–30
Philadelphia Phillies	59	48	0.551	2½	36–19	23–29
Pittsburgh Pirates	46	56	0.451	13	22–28	24–28
New York Mets	41	62	0.398	18½	24–27	17–35
Chicago Cubs	38	65	0.369	21½	27–30	11–35

NL East First Half Standings	W	L	Pct.
Philadelphia Phillies	34	21	.618
St. Louis Cardinals	30	20	.600
Montreal Expos	30	25	.545
Pittsburgh Pirates	25	23	.521
New York Mets	17	34	.333
Chicago Cubs	15	37	.288

NL East Second Half Standings	W	L	Pct.
Montreal Expos	30	23	.566
St. Louis Cardinals	29	23	.558
Philadelphia Phillies	25	27	.481
New York Mets	24	28	.462
Chicago Cubs	23	28	.451
Pittsburgh Pirates	21	33	.389

Record vs. opponents

1981 National League Records Sources:
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	3–2–1	6–5	4–8	7–7	3–7	3–3	4–5	2–3	9–6	5–7	4–3
Chicago	2–3–1	—	1–5	1–6	6–4	4–7	5–8–1	2–10	4–10	3–3	5–5	5–4–1
Cincinnati	5–6	5–1	—	8–4	8–8	5–4	7–3	5–2	4–2	10–2	9–5	0–5
Houston	8–4	6–1	4–8	—	4–8	5–2	6–3	4–6	2–4	11–3	9–6	2–4
Los Angeles	7–7	4–6	8–8	8–4	—	5–2	5–1	3–3	5–1	6–5	7–5	5–5
Montreal	7–3	7–4	4–5	2–5	2–5	—	9–3	7–4	10–3	4–2	2–5	6–9
New York	3–3	8–5–1	3–7	3–6	1–5	3–9	—	7–7	3–6–1	2–5	2–4	6–5
Philadelphia	5-4	10–2	2–5	6–4	3–3	4–7	7–7	—	7–5	4–2	4–3	7–6
Pittsburgh	3–2	10–4	2–4	4–2	1–5	3–10	6–3–1	5–7	—	6–4	3–7	3–8
San Diego	6–9	3–3	2–10	3–11	5–6	2–4	5–2	2–4	4–6	—	6–7	3–7
San Francisco	7–5	5–5	5–9	6–9	5–7	5–2	4–2	3–4	7–3	7–6	—	2–3
St. Louis	3–4	4–5–1	5–0	4–2	5–5	9–6	5–6	6–7	8–3	7–3	3–2	—

Notable transactions

• April 6, 1981: Butch Benton was acquired by the Cubs from the New York Mets as part of a conditional deal.^[6]
• June 8, 1981: Joe Carter was drafted by the Cubs in the 1st round (2nd pick) of the 1981 Major League Baseball draft. Player signed June 12, 1981.^[7]
• June 12, 1981: Rick Reuschel was traded by the Cubs to the New York Yankees for Doug Bird, a player to be named later, and $400,000. The Yankees completed the trade by sending Mike Griffin on August 5.^[8]
• August 19, 1981: The Cubs traded players to be named later to the New York Yankees for Pat Tabler. The Cubs completed the trade by sending Bill Caudill to the Yankees on April 1, 1982, and Jay Howell to the Yankees on August 2, 1982.^[9]

Roster

1981 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers 47 Doug Bird 35 Doug Capilla 36 Bill Caudill 49 Rawly Eastwick 40 Dave Geisel 50 Mike Griffin 38 Willie Hernández 45 Jay Howell 37 Ken Kravec 39 Mike Krukow 34 Randy Martz 40 Lynn McGlothen 48 Rick Reuschel 46 Lee Smith 41 Dick Tidrow		Catchers  9 Tim Blackwell  7 Jody Davis  8 Barry Foote 16 Bill Hayes Infielders 22 Bill Buckner 27 Héctor Cruz 11 Iván DeJesús 15 Steve Dillard 20 Scott Fletcher 44 Ken Reitz 20 Joe Strain 19 Pat Tabler 18 Mike Tyson 21 Tye Waller		Outfielders 25 Bobby Bonds 10 Leon Durham 32 Mel Hall 28 Steve Henderson 30 Carlos Lezcano 33 Mike Lum 24 Jerry Morales 25,29 Scot Thompson 23 Jim Tracy Other batters 47 Gene Krug		Manager  5 Joey Amalfitano Coaches  3 Gene Clines  4 Jack Hiatt  2 Peanuts Lowrey  6 Les Moss  1 Cookie Rojas

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
3B	Reitz, KenKen Reitz	82	260	56	.215	2	28
RF	Durham, LeonLeon Durham	87	328	95	.290	10	35

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
Waller, TyeTye Waller	30	71	19	.268	3	13

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Bird, DougDoug Bird	12	75.1	4	5	3.58	34

Other pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Geisel, DaveDave Geisel	11	16	2	0	0.56	7

Relief pitchers

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Iowa Cubs	American Association	Randy Hundley and Roy Hartsfield
AA	Midland Cubs	Texas League	Roy Hartsfield and George Enright
A	Quad Cities Cubs	Midwest League	Rich Morales
A-Short Season	Geneva Cubs	New York–Penn League	Bob Hartsfield
Rookie	GCL Cubs	Gulf Coast League	Hugh Yancy

Notes

1. Bruce Sutter at Baseball Reference
2. "Giants trade twice on final day". Lakeland, Florida: The Ledger. Associated Press (AP). December 13, 1980. p. 3D. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
3. Joe Strain at Baseball Reference
4. George Riley at Baseball Reference
5. at Baseball Reference
6. Butch Benton at Baseball Reference
7. Joe Carter at Baseball Reference
8. Rick Reuschel at Baseball Reference
9. Pat Tabler at Baseball Reference

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
• 1981 Chicago Cubs season at Baseball Reference