1981 New York Yankees season

The New York Yankees' 1981 season was the 79th season for the Yankees. In the ALCS, the Yankees swept the Oakland Athletics for their only pennant of the 1980s. However, they lost in the World Series in 6 games to the Los Angeles Dodgers. New York was managed by Gene Michael and Bob Lemon. The Yankees played at Yankee Stadium.

1981 New York Yankees
AL East Champions
American League Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)George Steinbrenner
General manager(s)Gene Michael
Manager(s)Gene Michael, Bob Lemon
Local televisionWPIX
SportsChannel NY (Phil Rizzuto, Frank Messer, Bill White)
Local radioWABC (AM)
(Frank Messer, Phil Rizzuto, Bill White, Fran Healy)
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Offseason

Regular season

The team finished in first place in the American League East for the first half of the season with a 34-22 record, but finished fifth in the second half with a 25-26 record, for an overall record of 59-48. The season was suspended for 50 days due to the infamous 1981 players strike and the league chose as its playoff teams, the division winners from the first and second halves of the season, respectively.

Notable transactions

Draft picks
  • June 8, 1981: 1981 Major League Baseball Draft
    • John Elway was drafted by the Yankees in the 2nd round.[10]
    • Phil Lombardi was drafted by the Yankees in the 3rd round.[11]
    • Eric Plunk was drafted by the Yankees in the 4th round. Player signed June 15, 1981.[12]
    • Fred McGriff was drafted by the Yankees in the 9th round. McGriff signed on June 11, 1981.[13]

Season standings
AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Milwaukee Brewers 6247 0.569 — 28–21 34–26
Baltimore Orioles 5946 0.562 1 33–22 26–24
New York Yankees 5948 0.551 2 32–19 27–29
Detroit Tigers 6049 0.550 2 32–23 28–26
Boston Red Sox 5949 0.546 2½ 30–23 29–26
Cleveland Indians 5251 0.505 7 25–29 27–22
Toronto Blue Jays 3769 0.349 23½ 17–36 20–33
AL East
First Half Standings		 W L Pct. GB
New York Yankees3422.607—
Baltimore Orioles3123.5742
Milwaukee Brewers3125.5543
Detroit Tigers3126.544​3 1⁄2
Boston Red Sox3026.5364
Cleveland Indians2624.5205
Toronto Blue Jays1642.27619
AL East
Second Half Standings		 W L Pct. GB
Milwaukee Brewers3122.585—
Boston Red Sox2923.558​1 1⁄2
Detroit Tigers2923.558​1 1⁄2
Baltimore Orioles2823.5492
Cleveland Indians2627.4915
New York Yankees2526.4905
Toronto Blue Jays2127.438​7 1⁄2

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—

Roster
1981 New York Yankees
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 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 R H Avg. HR RBI SB
CRick Cerone712342357.2442210
1BBob Watson591561533.2126120
2BWillie Randolph933575983.23222414
SSBucky Dent732272054.2387270
3BGraig Nettles1033494685.24415460
LFDave Winfield10538852114.294136811
CFJerry Mumphrey803194498.30763214
RFReggie Jackson943343379.23715540
DHBobby Murcer501171431.2656240

[14]

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
Oscar Gamble8018945.2381027
Larry Milbourne6116351.313112
Lou Piniella6015944.277518
Barry Foote4012526.208610
Dave Revering4511928.23527
Jim Spencer25639.14324
Bobby Brown316214.22606
Dennis Werth34556.10901
Johnny Oates10265.19200
Mike Patterson492.22200

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
Dave Righetti15105.1842.0589

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
Doug Bird1753.1512.7028
Tom Underwood932.2144.4129

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
George Frazier160131.6317
Dave Wehrmeister50005.147

Postseason

ALDS
Main article: 1981 American League Division Series

New York wins series, 3-2.

GameScoreDate
1New York 5, Milwaukee 3October 7
2New York 3, Milwaukee 0October 8
3Milwaukee 5, New York 3October 9
4Milwaukee 2, New York 1October 10
5New York 7, Milwaukee 3October 11

ALCS
Main article: 1981 American League Championship Series

New York Yankees win the Series over the Oakland Athletics, 3-0

GameScoreDateLocationAttendance
1Oakland – 1, New York – 3October 13Yankee Stadium55,740
2Oakland – 3, New York – 13October 14Yankee Stadium48,497
3New York – 4, Oakland – 0October 15Oakland Coliseum47,302

World Series
Main article: 1981 World Series
NL Los Angeles Dodgers (4) vs. AL New York Yankees (2)
Game Score Date Location Attendance Time of Game
1Dodgers – 3, Yankees – 5October 20Yankee Stadium (New York)56,4702:32
2Dodgers – 0, Yankees – 3October 21Yankee Stadium (New York)56,5052:29
3Yankees – 4, Dodgers – 5October 23Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles)56,2363:04
4Yankees – 7, Dodgers – 8October 24Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles)56,2423:32
5Yankees – 1, Dodgers – 2October 25Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles)56,1152:19
6Dodgers – 9, Yankees – 2October 28Yankee Stadium (New York)56,5133:09

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Columbus Clippers International League Frank Verdi
AA Nashville Sounds Southern League Stump Merrill
A Fort Lauderdale Yankees Florida State League Doug Holmquist
A Greensboro Hornets South Atlantic League Bob Schaefer
A-Short Season Oneonta Yankees New York–Penn League Art Mazmanian
Rookie Paintsville Yankees Appalachian League Mike Easom
Rookie GCL Yankees Gulf Coast League Carlos Tosca

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Columbus, Greensboro, Oneonta, Paintsville[15]

Notes
  1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/guldebr01.shtml
  2. Brian Doyle page at Baseball Reference
  3. Dave Winfield page at Baseball Reference
  4. Rafael Santana page at Baseball Reference
  5. Chris Welsh page at Baseball Reference
  6. Johnny Oates page at Baseball Reference
  7. Dave Revering page at Baseball Reference
  8. Rick Reuschel page at Baseball Reference
  9. Pat Tabler page at Baseball Reference
  10. 1981 MLB June Draft Second Round Picks
  11. Phil Lombardi page at Baseball Reference
  12. Eric Plunk page at Baseball Reference
  13. Fred McGriff page at Baseball Reference
  14. https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/1981.shtml
  15. 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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