1981 Milwaukee Brewers season

1981 Milwaukee Brewers
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1969)
East Division (since 1972)
Location
Milwaukee County Stadium (since 1970)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin (since 1970)
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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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]

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
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 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]
• July 8, 1981: Paul Hartzell was released by the Brewers.^[4]

Roster

1981 Milwaukee Brewers roster
Roster
Pitchers 46 Jerry Augustine 47 Dwight Bernard 48 Mike Caldwell 25 Reggie Cleveland 49 Frank DiPino 28 Jamie Easterly 34 Rollie Fingers 30 Moose Haas 45 Rickey Keeton 35 Randy Lerch 10 Bob McClure 26 Donnie Moore 51 Willie Mueller 43 Chuck Porter 41 Jim Slaton 50 Pete Vuckovich		Catchers 22 Charlie Moore 23 Ted Simmons  5 Ned Yost Infielders  6 Sal Bando 15 Cecil Cooper 17 Jim Gantner 13 Roy Howell  7 Don Money 11 Ed Romero 19 Robin Yount		Outfielders 27 Thad Bosley 29 Mark Brouhard 16 Marshall Edwards  4 Paul Molitor 24 Ben Oglivie 20 Gorman Thomas Other batters  9 Larry Hisle		Manager 37 Buck Rodgers Coaches 12 Larry Haney (Bullpen) 18 Ron Hansen (First Base) 32 Harvey Kuenn (Hitting) 38 Cal McLish (Pitching) 36 Harry Warner (Third Base)

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	Simmons, TedTed 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
Molitor, PaulPaul Molitor	64	251	67	.267	2	19
Bosley, ThadThad Bosley	42	105	24	.229	0	3

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
Caldwell, MikeMike Caldwell	24	144.1	11	9	3.93	41
Vuckovich, PetePete 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
Augustine, JerryJerry 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
Fingers, RollieRollie Fingers	47	6	3	28	1.04	61
Cleveland, ReggieReggie Cleveland	35	2	3	1	5.15	18
Keeton, RickeyRickey Keeton	17	1	0	0	5.09	9
Bernard, DwightDwight Bernard	6	0	0	0	3.60	1
Porter, ChuckChuck Porter	3	0	0	0	4.15	1

ALDS

New York wins series, 3-2.

Game	Score	Date
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

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Vancouver Canadians	Pacific Coast League	Lee Sigman
AA	El Paso Diablos	Texas League	Tony Muser
A	Stockton Ports	California League	Duane Espy
A	Burlington Bees	Midwest League	Terry Bevington
Rookie	Butte Copper Kings	Pioneer League	Ken Richardson

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Butte

Notes

1. 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
2. Ted Simmons at Baseball-Reference
3. Ernest Riles at Baseball-Reference
4. Paul Hartzell at Baseball-Reference
5. Bob Galasso at Baseball-Reference
6. John Poff at Baseball-Reference
7. Bill Lyons at Baseball-Reference
8. Dan Boitano at Baseball-Reference

References

• 1981 Milwaukee Brewers team at Baseball-Reference
• 1981 Milwaukee Brewers at Baseball Almanac