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)
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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 6445 0.587 — 35–21 29–24
Texas Rangers 5748 0.543 5 32–24 25–24
Chicago White Sox 5452 0.509 8½ 25–24 29–28
Kansas City Royals 5053 0.485 11 19–28 31–25
California Angels 5159 0.464 13½ 26–28 25–31
Seattle Mariners 4465 0.404 20 20–37 24–28
Minnesota Twins 4168 0.376 23 24–36 17–32


AL West
First Half Standings		 W L Pct.
Oakland Athletics3723.617
Texas Rangers3322.600
Chicago White Sox3122.585
California Angels3129.517
Kansas City Royals2030.400
Seattle Mariners2136.368
Minnesota Twins1739.304
AL West
Second Half Standings		 W L Pct.
Kansas City Royals3023.566
Oakland Athletics2722.551
Texas Rangers2426.480
Minnesota Twins2429.453
Seattle Mariners2329.442
Chicago White Sox2330.434
California Angels2030.400

Record vs. opponents

1981 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —2–26–63–64–26–75–32–46–07–67–54–22–15–2
Boston 2–2—2–45–47–66–13–36–72–53–37–59–33–64–0
California 6–64–2—6–77–53–30–64–33–32–22–86–42–46–6
Chicago 6–34–57–6—2–53–32–04–12–45–77–63–32–47–5
Cleveland 2–46–75–75–2—1–54–43–62–17–53–28–42–24–2
Detroit 7–61–63–33–35–1—3–25–89–33–71–25–19–36–4
Kansas City 3–53–36–00–24–42–3—4–59–42–103–36–73–45–3
Milwaukee 4–27–63–41–46–38–55–4—9–33–34–22–24–56–4
Minnesota 0–65–23–34–21–23–94–93–9—3–32–83–6–15–85–1
New York 6–73–32–27–55–77–310–23–33–3—4–32–35–42–3
Oakland 5–75–78–26–72–32–13–32–48–23–4—6–14–210–2
Seattle 2–43–94–63–34–81–57–62–26–3–13–21–6—5–83–3
Texas 1–26–34–24–22–23–94–35–48–54–52–48–5—6–2
Toronto 2–50–46–65–72–44–63–54–61–53–22–103–32–6—

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
2BJulio Cruz9435290.256224
3BDan Meyer8325266.262322
DHRichie Zisk94357111.3111643

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
Gary Gray6920851.2451331
Paul Serna309424.25549
Rick Auerbach388413.15516
Casey Parsons36225.22715
Vance McHenry15184.22202
Reggie Walton1260.00000
Dan Firova1320.00000

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
Glenn Abbott22130.1493.9435
Floyd Bannister21121.1994.4585
Jim Beattie1366.2322.9736
Brian Allard748323.7520
Bob Stoddard534.2212.6022

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
Ken Clay22101274.6332
Jerry Don Gleaton2085.1474.7531

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
Larry Andersen413352.6640
Dick Drago394655.5327
Bob Galasso131114.8314
Randy Stein601010.616

Awards and records

  • Julio Cruz, American League record, Most chances accepted in one nine-inning game (18 chances on June 7, 1981) [15]

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. ↑ https://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

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