1981 Detroit Tigers season

1981 Detroit Tigers
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
East Division (since 1969)
Location
Tiger Stadium (since 1912)
Detroit, Michigan (since 1901)
Other information
Owner(s)	John Fetzer
General manager(s)	Jim Campbell
Manager(s)	Sparky Anderson
Local television	WDIV-TV (George Kell, Al Kaline) ONTV (Larry Adderley, Hank Aguirre, Norm Cash)
Local radio	WJR (Ernie Harwell, Paul Carey)
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The 1981 Detroit Tigers finished in fourth place in the American League East with a record of 31-26 (.544) in the first half of the season, and in third place with a record of 29-23 (.558) in the second half, for an overall record of 60-49. They outscored their opponents 427 to 404. The Tigers drew 1,149,144 fans to Tiger Stadium in 1981, ranking 5th of the 14 teams in the American League.

Offseason

• December 12, 1980: Dave Stegman was traded by the Tigers to the San Diego Padres for Dennis Kinney.^[1]
• January 13, 1981: Mike Sharperson was drafted by the Tigers in the 4th round of the 1981 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.^[2]
• March 29, 1981: Jim Lentine was released by the Tigers.^[3]

Regular season

Season standings

AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
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.
New York Yankees	34	22	.607
Baltimore Orioles	31	23	.574
Milwaukee Brewers	31	25	.554
Detroit Tigers	31	26	.544
Boston Red Sox	30	26	.536
Cleveland Indians	26	24	.520
Toronto Blue Jays	16	42	.276

AL East Second Half Standings	W	L	Pct.
Milwaukee Brewers	31	22	.585
Boston Red Sox	29	23	.558
Detroit Tigers	29	23	.558
Baltimore Orioles	28	23	.549
Cleveland Indians	26	27	.491
New York Yankees	25	26	.490
Toronto Blue Jays	21	27	.438

Record vs. opponents

1981 American League Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	2–2	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 3, 1981: Chris Codiroli was released by the Tigers.^[4]
• April 3, 1981: Chuck Hensley was released by the Tigers.^[5]
• August 23, 1981: The Tigers traded a player to be named later to the Minnesota Twins for Ron Jackson. The Tigers completed the deal by sending Tim Corcoran to the Twins on September 4.^[6]

Roster

1981 Detroit Tigers roster
Roster
Pitchers 60 Howard Bailey 41 George Cappuzzello 29 Aurelio López 47 Jack Morris 46 Dan Petry 42 Larry Rothschild 19 Dave Rozema 49 Dave Rucker 31 Kevin Saucier 36 Dan Schatzeder 45 Dave Tobik 28 Jerry Ujdur 39 Milt Wilcox		Catchers 15 Duffy Dyer 17 Bill Fahey 13 Lance Parrish Infielders 16 Tom Brookens 12 Marty Castillo  2 Richie Hebner 15 Ron Jackson 18 Mick Kelleher  7 Rick Leach  9 Stan Papi  3 Alan Trammell  1 Lou Whitaker		Outfielders 34 Darrell Brown 10 Al Cowens 23 Kirk Gibson 35 Lynn Jones 33 Steve Kemp 32 Rick Peters Other batters 24 Champ Summers 14 John Wockenfuss		Manager 11 Sparky Anderson Coaches 26 Gates Brown 50 Billy Consolo 38 Roger Craig 51 Alex Grammas 53 Dick Tracewski

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
C	Parrish, LanceLance Parrish	96	348	85	.244	10	46
1B	Hebner, RichieRichie Hebner	78	226	51	.226	5	28
2B	Whitaker, LouLou Whitaker	109	335	88	.263	5	36
3B	Brookens, TomTom Brookens	71	239	58	.243	4	25
SS	Trammell, AlanAlan Trammell	105	392	101	.258	2	31
LF	Kemp, SteveSteve Kemp	105	372	103	.277	9	49
CF	Cowens, AlAl Cowens	85	253	66	.261	1	18
RF	Gibson, KirkKirk Gibson	83	290	95	.328	9	40
DH	Wockenfuss, JohnJohn Wockenfuss	70	172	37	.215	9	25

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
Peters, RickRick Peters	63	207	53	.256	0	15
Jones, LynnLynn Jones	71	174	45	.259	2	19
Summers, ChampChamp Summers	64	165	42	.255	3	21
Jackson, RonRon Jackson	31	95	27	.284	1	12
Papi, StanStan Papi	40	93	19	.204	3	12
Leach, RickRick Leach	54	83	16	.193	1	11
Kelleher, MickMick Kelleher	61	77	17	.221	0	6
Brown, DarrellDarrell Brown	16	4	1	.250	0	0
Dyer, DuffyDuffy Dyer	2	0	0	----	0	0

Note: pitchers' batting statistics not included

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
Morris, JackJack Morris	25	198	14	7	3.05	97
Wilcox, MiltMilt Wilcox	24	166.1	12	9	3.03	79
Petry, DanDan Petry	23	141	10	9	3.00	79
Schatzeder, DanDan Schatzeder	17	71.1	6	8	6.06	20
Ujdur, JerryJerry Ujdur	4	14	0	0	6.43	5

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
Rozema, DaveDave Rozema	28	104	5	5	3.63	46
Bailey, HowardHoward Bailey	9	36.2	1	4	7.36	17
Cappuzzello, GeorgeGeorge Cappuzzello	18	33.2	1	1	3.48	19

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W= Wins; L= Losses; SV = Saves; GF = Games finished; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	GF	ERA	SO
Saucier, KevinKevin Saucier	38	4	2	13	23	1.65	23
Tobik, DaveDave Tobik	27	2	2	1	9	2.69	32
López, AurelioAurelio López	29	5	2	3	19	3.64	53
Kinney, DennisDennis Kinney	6	0	0	0	0	9.82	3

Awards and honors

• Kirk Gibson, Tiger of the Year Award, from Detroit baseball writers
• Alan Trammell, AL Gold Glove Award, shortstop

1981 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

• Jack Morris, starter, pitcher

League top ten finishers

Kirk Gibson

• #3 in AL in batting average (.328)
• #4 in AL in Power/Speed Number (11.8)

Steve Kemp

• #4 in AL in on-base percentage (.389)
• #3 in AL in bases on balls (70)
• #3 in AL in times on base (174)

Jack Morris

• MLB leader in wins (14) (tied with four others)
• MLB leader in bases on balls allowed (78)
• #2 in MLB in innings pitched (198)
• #2 in MLB in games started (25)
• #3 in AL in hits allowed per 9 innings pitched (6.95)
• #3 in MLB in complete games (15)
• #3 in MLB in batters faced (798)
• #6 in AL in home runs allowed (14)
• #9 in AL in earned runs allowed (67)

Lance Parrish

• #3 in AL in times grounded into double plays (16)

Kevin Saucier

• #5 in AL in saves (13)

Alan Trammell

• AL leader in sacrifice hits (16)

Lou Whitaker

• AL leader in games played (109)
• AL leader in games at second base (108)
• AL leader in innings at second base (918-1/3)
• AL leader in assists by a second baseman (354)

Milt Wilcox

• #5 in AL in games started (24)
• #5 in AL in hit batsmen (6)

Players ranking among top 100 all time at position

The following members of the 1981 Detroit Tigers are among the Top 100 of all time at their position, as ranked by The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract:

• Lance Parrish: 19th best catcher of all time
• Lou Whitaker: 13th best second baseman of all time
• Alan Trammell: 9th best shortstop of all time
• Kirk Gibson: 36th best left fielder of all time

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Evansville Triplets	American Association	Jim Leyland
AA	Birmingham Barons	Southern League	Roy Majtyka
A	Lakeland Tigers	Florida State League	Ted Brazell
A	Macon Peaches	South Atlantic League	Tom Kotchman
Rookie	Bristol Tigers	Appalachian League	Joe Lewis

Notes

1. Dennis Kinney at Baseball Reference
2. Mike Sharperson at Baseball Reference
3. Jim Lentine at Baseball Reference
4. Chris Codiroli at Baseball Reference
5. Chuck Hensley at Baseball Reference
6. Ron Jackson 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 Detroit Tigers Regular Season Statistics