1981 San Francisco Giants season

1981 San Francisco Giants
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1883)
Western Division (since 1969)
Location
Candlestick Park (since 1960)
San Francisco, California (since 1958)
Other information
Owner(s)	Bob Lurie
General manager(s)	Spec Richardson, Tom Haller
Manager(s)	Frank Robinson
Local television	KTVU (Lindsey Nelson, Gary Park, Edgard Martinez)
Local radio	KNBR (Lindsey Nelson, Hank Greenwald, David Glass)
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The 1981 San Francisco Giants season was the Giants' 99th season in Major League Baseball, their 24th season in San Francisco since their move from New York following the 1957 season, and their 22nd at Candlestick Park. Giants manager Frank Robinson became the first black manager in the history of the National League.^[1] Robinson was also the first black manager in the history of the American League.

Offseason

• December 8, 1980: Chris Bourjos and Bob Knepper were traded by the Giants to the Houston Astros for Enos Cabell.^[2]
• December 9, 1980: DeWayne Buice was drafted from the Giants by the Oakland Athletics in the 1980 minor league draft.^[3]
• December 12, 1980: John Montefusco and Craig Landis (minors) were traded by the Giants to the Atlanta Braves for Doyle Alexander.^[4]
• December 12, 1980: Joe Strain and Philip Nastu were traded by the Giants to the Chicago Cubs for Jerry Martin, Jesús Figueroa, and a player to be named later.^[5] The Cubs completed the deal by sending Mike Turgeon (minors) to the Giants on August 11, 1981.^[6]
• February 9, 1981: Joe Morgan was signed as a free agent by the Giants.^[7]
• March 23, 1981: Billy Smith was purchased by the Giants from the Philadelphia Phillies.^[8]
• March 31, 1981: Gorman Heimueller was released by the Giants.^[9]

Regular season

Season standings

NL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cincinnati Reds	66	42	0.611	—	32–22	34–20
Los Angeles Dodgers	63	47	0.573	4	33–23	30–24
Houston Astros	61	49	0.555	6	31–20	30–29
San Francisco Giants	56	55	0.505	11½	29–24	27–31
Atlanta Braves	50	56	0.472	15	22–27	28–29
San Diego Padres	41	69	0.373	26	20–35	21–34

NL West First Half Standings	W	L	Pct.
Los Angeles Dodgers	36	21	.632
Cincinnati Reds	35	21	.625
Houston Astros	28	29	.491
Atlanta Braves	25	29	.463
San Francisco Giants	27	32	.458
San Diego Padres	23	33	.411

NL West Second Half Standings	W	L	Pct.
Houston Astros	33	20	.623
Cincinnati Reds	31	21	.596
San Francisco Giants	29	23	.558
Los Angeles Dodgers	27	26	.509
Atlanta Braves	25	27	.481
San Diego Padres	18	36	.333

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	—

Opening Day starters

• Vida Blue
• Enos Cabell
• Jack Clark
• Darrell Evans
• Larry Herndon
• Johnnie LeMaster
• Milt May
• Joe Morgan
• Billy North^[10]

Notable transactions

• May 17, 1981: Phil Ouellette was signed by the Giants as an amateur free agent.^[11]
• August 3, 1981: Mike Sadek was released by the Giants.^[12]

Roster

1981 San Francisco Giants
Roster
Pitchers 33 Doyle Alexander 14 Vida Blue 48 Fred Breining 43 Tom Griffin 40 Alan Hargesheimer 19 Al Holland 46 Gary Lavelle 38 Greg Minton 17 Randy Moffitt 45 Allen Ripley 28 Mike Rowland 17 Bob Tufts 32 Ed Whitson		Catchers 15 Bob Brenly  7 Milt May  3 Jeff Ransom  3 Mike Sadek Infielders 16 Dave Bergman 23 Enos Cabell 41 Darrell Evans 15 Mike Ivie 10 Johnnie LeMaster  8 Joe Morgan  2 Joe Pettini 21 Billy Smith  6 Rennie Stennett 18 Guy Sularz		Outfielders 22 Jack Clark 30 Chili Davis 31 Larry Herndon 26 Jeffrey Leonard 25 Jerry Martin 36 Billy North 49 Max Venable  1 Jim Wohlford		Manager 20 Frank Robinson Coaches  8 Vern Benson  9 Don Buford (First Base) 12 Jim Davenport (Third Base)  5 Jim Lefebvre (Hitting) 47 Don McMahon (Pitching) 42 John VanOrnum (Bullpen)

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

= Indicates team leader

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	May, MiltMilt May	97	316	98	.310	2	33
1B	Cabell, EnosEnos Cabell	96	396	101	.255	2	36
2B	Morgan, JoeJoe Morgan	90	308	74	.240	8	31
3B	Evans, DarrellDarrell Evans	102	357	92	.258	12	48
SS	LeMaster, JohnnieJohnnie LeMaster	104	324	82	.253	0	28
LF	Clark, JackJack Clark	99	385	103	.268	17	53
CF	Herndon, LarryLarry Herndon	96	364	105	.288	5	41
RF	Martin, JerryJerry Martin	72	241	58	.241	4	25

Other batters

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Bergman, DaveDave Bergman	63	145	37	.255	3	13
North, BillyBilly North	46	131	29	.221	1	12
Leonard, JeffreyJeffrey Leonard	37	127	39	.307	4	26
Stennett, RennieRennie Stennett	38	87	20	.230	1	7
Wohlford, JimJim Wohlford	50	68	11	.162	1	7
Smith, BillyBilly Smith	36	61	11	.180	1	5
Brenly, BobBob Brenly	19	45	15	.333	1	4
Sadek, MikeMike Sadek	19	36	6	.167	0	3
Venable, MaxMax Venable	18	32	6	.188	0	1
Pettini, JoeJoe Pettini	35	29	2	.069	0	2
Sularz, GuyGuy Sularz	10	20	4	.200	0	2
Ivie, MikeMike Ivie	7	17	5	.294	0	3
Davis, ChiliChili Davis	8	15	2	.133	0	0
Ransom, JeffJeff Ransom	5	15	4	.267	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Alexander, DoyleDoyle Alexander	24	152.3	11	7	2.89	77
Griffin, TomTom Griffin	22	129.3	8	8	3.76	83
Whitson, EdEd Whitson	22	123.0	6	9	4.02	65
Blue, VidaVida Blue	18	124.7	8	6	2.45	63
Ripley, AllenAllen Ripley	19	90.7	4	4	4.07	47

Other pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Hargesheimer, AlanAlan Hargesheimer	6	18.7	1	2	4.34	6

Relief pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Minton, GregGreg Minton	55	84.1	4	5	21	2.88	29
Breining, FredFred Breining	45	77.2	5	2	1	2.55	37
Holland, AlAl Holland	47	100.2	7	5	7	2.41	78
Lavelle, GaryGary Lavelle	34	65.2	2	6	4	3.84	45
Tufts, BobBob Tufts	11	15.1	0	0	0	3.52	12
Rowland, MikeMike Rowland	9	15.2	0	1	0	3.45	8
Moffitt, RandyRandy Moffitt	10	11.1	0	0	0	7.94	11

Awards and honors

• 1981 Larry Herndon LF, Willie Mac Award

All-Star Game

• Vida Blue, reserve

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Phoenix Giants	Pacific Coast League	Rocky Bridges
AA	Shreveport Captains	Texas League	Jack Mull
A	Fresno Giants	California League	Wayne Cato
A	Clinton Giants	Midwest League	Wendell Kim
Rookie	Great Falls Giants	Pioneer League	Ernie Rodriguez

References

1. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.198, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
2. Chris Bourjos at Baseball Reference
3. DeWayne Buice at Baseball Reference
4. Doyle Alexander at Baseball Reference
5. "Giants trade twice on final day". Lakeland, Florida: The Ledger. Associated Press (AP). December 13, 1980. p. 3D. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
6. Joe Strain at Baseball Reference
7. Joe Morgan at Baseball Reference
8. Billy Smith at Baseball Reference
9. Gorman Heimueller at Baseball Reference
10. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1981&t=SFN
11. Phil Ouellette at Baseball Reference
12. Mike Sadek at Baseball Reference

External links

• 1981 San Francisco Giants at Baseball Reference
• 1981 San Francisco Giants at Baseball Almanac