1981 Kansas City Royals season

1981 Kansas City Royals
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1969)
West Division (since 1969)
Location
Royals Stadium (since 1973)
Kansas City, Missouri (since 1969)
Other information
Owner(s)	Ewing Kauffman
General manager(s)	Joe Burke
Manager(s)	Jim Frey and Dick Howser
Local television	WDAF-TV (Al Wisk, Denny Trease)
Local radio	WIBW (AM) (Denny Matthews, Fred White)
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The 1981 Kansas City Royals season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Royals finishing 4th in the American League West with a record of 50 wins and 53 losses. The season was suspended for 50 days due to the infamous 1981 players strike and the league chose as its playoff teams, the division winners from the first and second halves of the season, respectively. Because of this, despite a losing record and a 4th place overall finish, the Royals, having won the AL West in the second half of the season, qualified for the postseason, becoming the only team in MLB history to do so with a losing record.

Offseason

• January 6, 1981: Derek Botelho was signed as a Free Agent with the Kansas City Royals.^[1]

Regular season

• August 10, 1981: Cal Ripken, Jr. made his major league debut for the Baltimore Orioles in a game against the Royals.^[2]

Season standings

AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Oakland Athletics	64	45	0.587	—	35–21	29–24
Texas Rangers	57	48	0.543	5	32–24	25–24
Chicago White Sox	54	52	0.509	8½	25–24	29–28
Kansas City Royals	50	53	0.485	11	19–28	31–25
California Angels	51	59	0.464	13½	26–28	25–31
Seattle Mariners	44	65	0.404	20	20–37	24–28
Minnesota Twins	41	68	0.376	23	24–36	17–32

AL West First Half Standings	W	L	Pct.
Oakland Athletics	37	23	.617
Texas Rangers	33	22	.600
Chicago White Sox	31	22	.585
California Angels	31	29	.517
Kansas City Royals	20	30	.400
Seattle Mariners	21	36	.368
Minnesota Twins	17	39	.304

AL West Second Half Standings	W	L	Pct.
Kansas City Royals	30	23	.566
Oakland Athletics	27	22	.551
Texas Rangers	24	26	.480
Minnesota Twins	24	29	.453
Seattle Mariners	23	29	.442
Chicago White Sox	23	30	.434
California Angels	20	30	.400

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: Bombo Rivera was signed as a free agent by the Royals.^[3]
• June 8, 1981: 1981 Major League Baseball Draft
  • Dave Leeper was drafted by the Royals in the 1st round (23rd pick). Player signed June 10, 1981.^[4]
  • David Cone was drafted by the Royals in the 3rd round. Player signed June 10, 1981.^[5]

Roster

1981 Kansas City Royals roster
Roster
Pitchers 37 Juan Berenguer 25 Ken Brett 38 Rich Gale 32 Larry Gura 33 Atlee Hammaker 40 Mike Jones 22 Dennis Leonard 27 Renie Martin 28 Bill Paschall 29 Dan Quisenberry 31 Jeff Schattinger 34 Paul Splittorff 21 Jim Wright		Catchers 15 Jerry Grote 39 Greg Keatley  9 Jamie Quirk 12 John Wathan Infielders 24 Willie Aikens  5 George Brett  7 Dave Chalk  2 Onix Concepción 17 Tim Ireland 14 Lee May 18 Rance Mulliniks 16,52 Ken Phelps 30 U L Washington 20 Frank White		Outfielders 45 Danny Garcia 23 César Gerónimo 10 Clint Hurdle  4 Darryl Motley 26 Amos Otis 37 Pat Sheridan  6 Willie Wilson Other batters 11 Hal McRae		Manager 41 Jim Frey 21 Dick Howser Coaches 36 Billy Connors 43 Gordon Mackenzie 42 José Martínez 44 Jimmie Schaffer

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
SS	U L Washington	98	339	77	.227	2	29
1B	Willie Aikens	101	349	93	.266	17	53

Other batters

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
César Gerónimo	59	118	29	.246	2	13
Jamie Quirk	46	100	25	.250	0	10
Tim Ireland	4	0	0	.---	0	0
Onix Concepción	2	0	0	.---	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Mike Jones	12	75.2	6	3	3.21	29

Other pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Relief pitchers

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Bill Paschall	2	0	0	0	4.50	1

ALDS

Oakland wins series, 3-0.

Game	Score	Date
1	Oakland 4, Kansas City 0	October 6
2	Oakland 2, Kansas City 1	October 7
3	Oakland 4, Kansas City 1	October 9

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Omaha Royals	American Association	Joe Sparks
AA	Jacksonville Suns	Southern League	Gene Lamont
A	Fort Myers Royals	Florida State League	Brian Murphy
A	Charleston Royals	South Atlantic League	Rick Mathews
Rookie	GCL Royals Blue	Gulf Coast League	Joe Jones
Rookie	GCL Royals Gold	Gulf Coast League	Roy Tanner

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: GCL Royals Gold

Notes

1. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/botelde01.shtml
2. Cal Ripken, Jr. page at Baseball Reference
3. Bombo Rivera page at Baseball Reference
4. Dave Leeper page at Baseball Reference
5. David Cone page 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.

External links

• 1981 Kansas City Royals team page at Baseball Reference
• 1981 Kansas City Royals team page at www.baseball-almanac.com