1981 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1981 Pittsburgh Pirates
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record First half: 25–23 (.521)
Second half: 21–33 (.389)
Divisional place First half: 4th
Second half: 6th
Other information
Owner(s) John W. Galbreath (majority shareholder); Thomas P. Johnson (minority shareholder)
General manager(s) Harding "Pete" Peterson
Manager(s) Chuck Tanner
Local television KDKA-TV
Lanny Frattare, Jim Rooker, John Sanders
Action-TV
Bob Prince, Ray Scott
Local radio KDKA
Lanny Frattare, Jim Rooker
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The 1981 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 100th season of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise; their 95th in the National League. The Pirates finished fourth in the National League East in the first half of the season with a record of 25–23 and sixth in the second half with a record of 21–33.

Regular season

Officials of the Louisiana Superdome met with Pirates management in April 1981 about moving the club to New Orleans when the Pirates were unhappy with their lease at Three Rivers Stadium.[2]

Season standings

NL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
St. Louis Cardinals 5943 0.578 — 32–21 27–22
Montreal Expos 6048 0.556 2 38–18 22–30
Philadelphia Phillies 5948 0.551 2½ 36–19 23–29
Pittsburgh Pirates 4656 0.451 13 22–28 24–28
New York Mets 4162 0.398 18½ 24–27 17–35
Chicago Cubs 3865 0.369 21½ 27–30 11–35



NL East
First Half Standings		 W L Pct.
Philadelphia Phillies3421.618
St. Louis Cardinals3020.600
Montreal Expos3025.545
Pittsburgh Pirates2523.521
New York Mets1734.333
Chicago Cubs1537.288
NL East
Second Half Standings		 W L Pct.
Montreal Expos3023.566
St. Louis Cardinals2923.558
Philadelphia Phillies2527.481
New York Mets2428.462
Chicago Cubs2328.451
Pittsburgh Pirates2133.389

Record vs. opponents

1981 National League Records

Sources:
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta—3–2–16–54–87–73–73–34–52–39–65–74–3
Chicago2–3–1—1–51–66–44–75–8–12–104–103–35–55–4–1
Cincinnati5–65–1—8–48–85–47–35–24–210–29–50–5
Houston8–46–14–8—4–85–26–34–62–411–39–62–4
Los Angeles 7–74–68–88–4—5–25–13–35–16–57–55–5
Montreal7–37–44–52–52–5—9–37–410–34–22–56–9
New York3–38–5–13–73–61–53–9—7–73–6–12–52–46–5
Philadelphia5-410–22–56–43–34–77–7—7–54–24–37–6
Pittsburgh3–210–42–44–21–53–106–3–15–7—6–43–73–8
San Diego6–93–32–103–115–62–45–22–44–6—6–73–7
San Francisco7–55–55–96–95–75–24–23–47–37–6—2–3
St. Louis3–44–5–15–04–25–59–65–66–78–37–33–2—

Game log

1981 Game Log: 46–56 (Home: 22–28; Away: 24–28)
Legend:           = Win           = Loss           = Tie
Bold = Pirates team member

Roster

1981 Pittsburgh Pirates
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

Opening Day lineup

  • CF – Omar Moreno
  • SS – Tim Foli
  • RF – Dave Parker
  • 1B – Jason Thompson
  • LF – Mike Easler
  • 3B – Bill Madlock
  • 2B – Dale Berra
  •  C – Steve Nicosia
  •  P – Jim Bibby

Player stats

Batting
Pitching

Awards and honors

1981 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Transactions

  • October 22, 1980 – Jesse Jefferson granted Free Agency.
  • October 22, 1980 – John Milner granted Free Agency.
  • October 29, 1980 – Traded a player to be named later and cash to the Seattle Mariners. Received Odell Jones. The Pittsburgh Pirates sent Larry Andersen (October 29, 1980) to the Seattle Mariners to complete the trade.
  • December 9, 1980 – Traded Bert Blyleven and Manny Sanguillén to the Cleveland Indians. Received Gary Alexander, Victor Cruz, Bob Owchinko and Rafael Vasquez.
  • January 13, 1981 – Drafted John Kruk in the 3rd round of the 1981 amateur draft (January), but did not sign the player.
  • January 19, 1981 – Signed Larvell Blanks as a free agent.
  • January 20, 1981 – Signed Rusty Torres as a free agent.
  • January 23, 1981 – Signed John Milner as a free agent.
  • February 23, 1981 – Signed Luis Tiant as a free agent.
  • April 1, 1981 – Traded Mickey Mahler and Ed Ott to the California Angels. Received Jason Thompson.
  • April 5, 1981 – Purchased Jim Smith from the Baltimore Orioles.
  • April 5, 1981 – Traded Dave Dravecky to the San Diego Padres. Received Bobby Mitchell (minors).
  • April 6, 1981 – Traded Bob Owchinko to the Oakland Athletics. Received a player to be named later and cash. The Oakland Athletics sent Ernie Camacho (April 10, 1981) to the Pittsburgh Pirates to complete the trade.
  • May 4, 1981 – Signed Willie Horton as a free agent.
  • June 8, 1981 – Drafted Ray Krawczyk in the 1st round (4th pick) of the 1981 amateur draft (June Secondary).
  • June 8, 1981 – Drafted Jim Winn in the 1st round (14th pick) of the 1981 amateur draft.
  • June 8, 1981 – Drafted Lee Tunnell in the 2nd round of the 1981 amateur draft.
  • June 8, 1981 – Drafted Bip Roberts in the 5th round of the 1981 amateur draft, but did not sign the player.
  • June 8, 1981 – Drafted Scott Bankhead in the 17th round of the 1981 amateur draft, but did not sign the player.
  • June 8, 1981 – Drafted Chris Bosio in the 29th round of the 1981 amateur draft, but did not sign the player.
  • June 8, 1981 – Drafted Lance Johnson in the 30th round of the 1981 amateur draft, but did not sign the player.
  • June 25, 1981 – Signed Denny González as an amateur free agent.
  • July 11, 1981 – Signed Bobby Bonilla as an amateur free agent.
  • August 20, 1981 – Traded John Milner to the Montreal Expos. Received Willie Montañez.
  • August 31, 1981 – Traded Phil Garner to the Houston Astros. Received players to be named later and Johnny Ray. The Houston Astros sent Randy Niemann (September 9, 1981) and Kevin Houston (minors) (September 9, 1981) to the Pittsburgh Pirates to complete the trade.
  • September 1, 1981 – Sold Grant Jackson to the Montreal Expos for $50,000.
  • October 5, 1981 – Released Luis Tiant.
  • October 23, 1981 – Purchased Manny Sarmiento from the Boston Red Sox.
  • October 26, 1981 – Released Kurt Bevacqua.

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Portland Beavers Pacific Coast League Pete Ward
AA Buffalo Bisons Eastern League Johnny Lipon
A Alexandria Pirates Carolina League Mike Toomey
A Greenwood Pirates South Atlantic League Joe Frisina
Rookie GCL Pirates Gulf Coast League Woody Huyke

Notes

  1. ↑ From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.
  2. ↑ Associated Press (April 24, 1981). "Pirates Considering New Orleans Move". Ellensburg Daily Record. Retrieved June 19, 2009.
  3. ↑ "Major League Baseball Stats | pirates.com: Stats". Pittsburgh Pirates.
  4. ↑ "Major League Baseball Stats | pirates.com: Stats". Pittsburgh Pirates.

References

  • 1981 Pittsburgh Pirates at Baseball Reference
  • 1981 Pittsburgh Pirates at Baseball Almanac
  • Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-1-932391-17-6.
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