1981 Seattle Mariners season

1981 Seattle Mariners
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) Danny Kaye
General manager(s) Dan O'Brien, Sr.
Manager(s) Maury Wills, Rene Lachemann
Local television KING-TV
Local radio KVI 570 AM
(Dave Niehaus, Ken Wilson, Don Poier)
 < Previous season     Next season  >

The Seattle Mariners 1981 season was their fifth since the franchise creation, and ended the season finishing 6th in the American League West, finishing with a record of 44-65. Due to the 1981 player's strike, the division's were split in half, pre-strike and post-strike results. The Mariners finished 6th with a 21-36 record in the first half and 5th with a 23-29 record in the second half.

Offseason

Regular season

Overview

On January 14, 1981, the Mariners' were sold to George Argyros, a California real estate developer, for an estimated $12.5 million.[6] The sale of the team, that needed the approval of 10 out of 14 owners of American League teams, received a unanimous vote of consent.[7] On April 25, 1981, Mariners' manager Maury Wills advised the Kingdome groundskeepers to enlarge the batter's box by a foot. A's manager Billy Martin noticed. Martin showed umpire Bill Kunkel that the batter's box was seven feet long instead of six feet. Martin felt that batters being able to move up a foot in the box could cut at pitches before a curveball broke. Wills was suspended for two games and fined $500.[8] In May, while in Arlington, Texas to play the Texas Rangers, the Mariners' uniforms were stolen. For the May 30 game against the Rangers, the Mariners wore their batting practice jerseys, Milwaukee Brewers' caps, and Rangers' batting helmets.[9] The Mariners purchased the Brewers caps at the Rangers' souvenir-stand; the Rangers did not offer Seattle caps for sale.[10]

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

Roster

1981 Seattle Mariners roster
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

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
2B Cruz, JulioJulio Cruz 94 352 90 .256 2 24
3B Meyer, DanDan Meyer 83 252 66 .262 3 22
DH Zisk, RichieRichie Zisk 94 357 111 .311 16 43

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
Gray, GaryGary Gray 69 208 51 .245 13 31
Serna, PaulPaul Serna 30 94 24 .255 4 9
Auerbach, RickRick Auerbach 38 84 13 .155 1 6
Parsons, CaseyCasey Parsons 36 22 5 .227 1 5
McHenry, VanceVance McHenry 15 18 4 .222 0 2
Walton, ReggieReggie Walton 12 6 0 .000 0 0
Firova, DanDan Firova 13 2 0 .000 0 0

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
Abbott, GlennGlenn Abbott 22 130.1 4 9 3.94 35
Bannister, FloydFloyd Bannister 21 121.1 9 9 4.45 85
Beattie, JimJim Beattie 13 66.2 3 2 2.97 36
Allard, BrianBrian Allard 7 48 3 2 3.75 20
Stoddard, BobBob Stoddard 5 34.2 2 1 2.60 22

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
Clay, KenKen Clay 22 101 2 7 4.63 32
Gleaton, Jerry DonJerry Don Gleaton 20 85.1 4 7 4.75 31

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
Andersen, LarryLarry Andersen 41 3 3 5 2.66 40
Drago, DickDick Drago 39 4 6 5 5.53 27
Galasso, BobBob Galasso 13 1 1 1 4.83 14
Stein, RandyRandy Stein 6 0 1 0 10.61 6

Awards and records

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Spokane Indians Pacific Coast League Rene Lachemann and Ken Pape
AA Lynn Sailors Eastern League Bobby Floyd
A Wausau Timbers Midwest League Bill Plummer
A-Short Season Bellingham Mariners Northwest League Jeff Scott

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Wausau[16]

Notes

  1. ↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/guldebr01.shtml
  2. ↑ Gary Gray page at Baseball Reference
  3. 1 2 Willie Norwood page at Baseball Reference
  4. ↑ Willie Horton page at Baseball Reference
  5. ↑ Dave Heaverlo page at Baseball Reference
  6. ↑ "California Developer Set To Purchase the Mariners". The New York Times. Associated Press. January 15, 1981. Retrieved April 4, 2010.
  7. ↑ "White Sox, Mariners Sales Are Unanimous". Herald-Journal. Associated Press. January 30, 1981. Retrieved April 4, 2010.
  8. ↑ http://espn.go.com/page2/s/list/cheaters/ballplayers.html
  9. ↑ "Rag-tag team happens to be Seattle". Anchorage Daily News. June 2, 1981. Retrieved April 4, 2010.
  10. ↑ "Dressing up". Milwaukee Journal. June 1, 1981. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
  11. ↑ Dick Drago page at Baseball Reference
  12. ↑ Bob Galasso page at Baseball Reference
  13. ↑ Phil Bradley page at Baseball Reference
  14. ↑ Charlie O'Brien page at Baseball Reference
  15. ↑ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.93, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  16. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, January 30, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.