1981 New York Yankees season

The 1981 New York Yankees season was the franchise's 79th season. Games were suspended for 50 days due to the 1981 Major League Baseball strike, causing a split season. The Yankees competed as members of the American League East, finishing first in the first half of the season, and tying for fifth in the second half of the season; overall, they won 59 games while losing 48. The team advanced to the postseason due to their first-half first-place finish, where they defeated the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League Division Series and the Oakland Athletics in the American League Championship Series, capturing the Yankees' only pennant of the 1980s. The Yankees then lost the World Series in six games to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Yankees played their home games at Yankee Stadium and were managed by Gene Michael until September 5, and by Bob Lemon thereafter.

1981 New York Yankees
AL East Champions
American League Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record
  • 1st half: 34–22 (.607)
  • 2nd half: 25–26 (.490)
  • Overall: 59–48 (.551)
Divisional place
  • 1st half: 1st
  • 2nd half: 5th (tied; 5 GB)
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
  • November 18, 1980: Brad Gulden was traded by the New York Yankees with $150,000 to the Seattle Mariners for a player to be named later and Larry Milbourne. The Seattle Mariners sent back Brad Gulden (May 18, 1981) to the New York Yankees to complete the trade.[1] In effect, Brad Gulden was traded for himself.
  • December 8, 1980: Brian Doyle was drafted from the Yankees by the Oakland Athletics in the 1980 rule 5 draft.[2]
  • December 15, 1980: Dave Winfield was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.[3]
  • February 16, 1981: Rafael Santana was traded by the Yankees to the St. Louis Cardinals for a player to be named later. The Cardinals completed the deal by sending George Frazier to the Yankees on June 7.[4]
  • March 31, 1981: Chris Welsh, Ruppert Jones, Joe Lefebvre, and Tim Lollar were traded by the Yankees to the San Diego Padres for Jerry Mumphrey and John Pacella.[5]

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
  • April 6, 1981: Johnny Oates was signed as a free agent by the Yankees.[6]
  • May 20, 1981: Jim Spencer and Tom Underwood were traded by the Yankees to the Oakland Athletics for Dave Revering, Mike Patterson, and Chuck Dougherty (minors).[7]
  • June 12, 1981: Doug Bird, a player to be named later, and $400,000 were traded by the Yankees to the Chicago Cubs for Rick Reuschel. The Yankees completed the deal by sending Mike Griffin to the Cubs on August 5.[8]
  • August 19, 1981: Pat Tabler was traded by the Yankees to the Chicago Cubs for players to be named later. The Cubs completed the deal by sending Bill Caudill to the Yankees on April 1, 1982, and Jay Howell to the Yankees on August 2.[9]

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 Tigers3126.5443+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 Sox2923.5581+1⁄2
Detroit Tigers2923.5581+1⁄2
Baltimore Orioles2823.5492
Cleveland Indians2627.4915
New York Yankees2526.4905
Toronto Blue Jays2127.4387+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

Game log

First half
1981 regular season game log: 34–22 (Home: 19–7; Away: 15–15)
April: 11–6 (Home: 6–3; Away: 5–3)
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/
Streak		GB
May: 14–14 (Home: 7–4; Away: 7–10)
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/
Streak		GB
June: 9–2 (Home: 6–0; Away: 3–2)
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/
Streak		GB
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement
Bold = Yankees team member

Second half
1981 regular season game log: 25–26 (Home: 13–12; Away: 12–14)
August: 11–10 (Home: 6–6; Away: 5–4)
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/
Streak		GB
–August 91981 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Cleveland Stadium in Cleveland
September: 13–14 (Home: 7–6; Away: 6–8)
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/
Streak		GB
October: 1–2 (Home: 0–0; Away: 1–2)
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/
Streak		GB
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement
Bold = Yankees team member

Postseason Game log
1981 Postseason game log: 8–6 (Home: 5–3; Away: 3–3)
AL Division Series: vs. Milwaukee Brewers 3–2 (Home: 1–2; Away: 2–0)
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/
Streak
AL Championship Series: vs. Oakland Athletics 3–0 (Home: 2–0; Away: 1–0)
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/
Streak
World Series: vs. Los Angeles Dodgers 2–4 (Home: 2–1; Away: 1–3)
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/
Streak
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement
Bold = Yankees team member

Player stats

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
Aurelio Rodriguez275218.34628
Johnny Oates10265.19200
Andre Robertson10195.26300
Mike Patterson492.22200
Steve Balboni472.28602
Tucker Ashford300----00

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
Rudy May27147.26114.1479
Tommy John20140.1982.6350
Ron Guidry23127.01152.76104
Dave Righetti15105.1842.0589
Rick Reuschel1270.2442.6722
Gene Nelson839.1314.8116

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
Rich Gossage3232200.7748
Ron Davis434562.7183
Dave LaRoche264102.4924
George Frazier160131.6317
Bill Castro111103.794
Dave Wehrmeister50005.147
Andy McGaffigan20002.572
Mike Griffin20002.084

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. "Brad Gulden Stats".
  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. "1981 New York Yankees Statistics".
  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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