1981 American League

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1981 American League
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The 1981 season of the American League was the eighty-first season of the league.

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Standings

Italics indicates half winner, Bold indicates league champion, Bold/Italics indicates World Series champion

Total Standings

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS (RS/G)	RA (RA/G)	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	FPCT
Eastern Division
1	Milwaukee Brewers	109	62	47	0	.569	-.-	493 (4.52)	459 (4.21)	0.257	0.312	0.391	3.91	0.982
2	Baltimore Orioles	105	59	46	0	.562	1.0	429 (4.09)	437 (4.16)	0.251	0.328	0.379	3.70	0.983
3	New York Yankees	107	59	48	0	.551	2.0	421 (3.93)	343 (3.21)	0.252	0.327	0.391	2.90	0.982
4	Detroit Tigers	109	60	49	0	.550	2.0	427 (3.92)	404 (3.71)	0.256	0.331	0.368	3.53	0.985
5	Boston Red Sox	108	59	49	0	.546	2.5	519 (4.81)	481 (4.45)	0.275	0.341	0.399	3.81	0.979
6	Cleveland Indians	103	52	51	0	.505	7.0	431 (4.18)	442 (4.29)	0.263	0.329	0.351	3.88	0.978
7	Toronto Blue Jays	106	37	69	0	.349	23.5	329 (3.10)	466 (4.40)	0.226	0.284	0.330	3.82	0.974
Western Division
1	Oakland Athletics	109	64	45	0	.587	-.-	458 (4.20)	403 (3.70)	0.247	0.312	0.379	3.30	0.980
2	Texas Rangers	105	57	48	0	.543	5.0	452 (4.30)	389 (3.70)	0.270	0.326	0.369	3.40	0.984
3	Chicago White Sox	106	54	52	0	.509	8.5	476 (4.49)	423 (3.99)	0.272	0.331	0.387	3.47	0.979
4	Kansas City Royals	103	50	53	0	.485	11.0	397 (3.85)	405 (3.93)	0.267	0.325	0.383	3.56	0.982
5	California Angels	110	51	59	0	.464	13.5	476 (4.33)	453 (4.12)	0.256	0.328	0.380	3.70	0.977
6	Seattle Mariners	110	44	65	1	.400	20.0	426 (3.87)	521 (4.74)	0.251	0.311	0.368	4.23	0.979
7	Minnesota Twins	110	41	68	1	.373	23.0	378 (3.44)	486 (4.42)	0.240	0.293	0.338	3.98	0.978

Half Standings

First Half

Season from April 9 - June 11

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB		Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB
Eastern Division									Western Division
1	New York Yankees	56	34	22	0	.607	-.-		1	Oakland Athletics	60	37	23	0	.617	-.-
2	Baltimore Orioles	54	31	23	0	.574	2.0		2	Texas Rangers	55	33	22	0	.600	1.5
3	Milwaukee Brewers	56	31	25	0	.554	3.0		3	Chicago White Sox	53	31	22	0	.585	2.5
4	Detroit Tigers	57	31	26	0	.544	3.5		4	California Angels	60	31	29	0	.517	6
5	Boston Red Sox	56	30	26	0	.536	4.0		5	Kansas City Royals	50	20	30	0	.400	12
6	Cleveland Indians	50	26	24	0	.520	5.0		6	Seattle Mariners	58	21	36	1	.368	14.5
7	Toronto Blue Jays	58	16	42	0	.276	19.0		7	Minnesota Twins	57	17	39	1	.304	18

Second Half

Season from August 10 - October 5

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB		Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB
Eastern Division									Western Division
1	Milwaukee Brewers	53	31	22	0	.585	-.-		1	Kansas City Royals	53	30	23	0	.566	-.-
2	Boston Red Sox	52	29	23	0	.558	1.5		2	Oakland Athletics	49	27	22	0	.551	1.0
2	Detroit Tigers	52	29	23	0	.558	1.5		3	Texas Rangers	50	24	26	0	.480	4.5
4	Baltimore Orioles	51	28	23	0	.549	2.0		4	Minnesota Twins	53	24	29	0	.453	6.0
5	Cleveland Indians	53	26	27	0	.491	5.0		5	Seattle Mariners	52	23	29	0	.442	6.5
6	New York Yankees	51	25	26	0	.490	5.0		6	Chicago White Sox	53	23	30	0	.434	7.0
7	Toronto Blue Jays	48	21	27	0	.438	7.5		7	California Angels	50	20	30	0	.400	8.5

League leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Tony Armas Rick Burleson Lou Whitaker	Oakland Athletics California Angels Detroit Tigers	109
At Bats	Jim Rice	Boston Red Sox	451
Runs Scored	Rickey Henderson	Oakland Athletics	89
Hits	Rickey Henderson	Oakland Athletics	135
Doubles	Cecil Cooper	Milwaukee Brewers	35
Triples	John Castino	Minnesota Twins	9
Home Runs	Tony Armas Dwight Evans Bobby Grich Eddie Murray	Oakland Athletics Boston Red Sox California Angels Baltimore Orioles	22
Total Bases	Dwight Evans	Boston Red Sox	215
Runs Batted In	Eddie Murray	Baltimore Orioles	78
Stolen Bases	Rickey Henderson	Oakland Athletics	56
Caught Stealing	Rickey Henderson	Oakland Athletics	22
Walks	Dwight Evans	Boston Red Sox	85
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Willie Aikens	Kansas City Royals	12
Hit by Pitch	Chet Lemon	Chicago White Sox	13
Strikeouts	Tony Armas	Oakland Athletics	115
Sacrifice Hits	Alan Trammell	Detroit Tigers	16
Sacrifice Flies	Buddy Bell	Texas Rangers	10
Grounded into Double Plays	Ken Singleton	Baltimore Orioles	21
Batting Average	Carney Lansford	Boston Red Sox	0.336
On-Base Percentage	Mike Hargrove	Cleveland Indians	0.424
Slugging Percentage	Bobby Grich	California Angels	0.543
On-Base plus Slugging	Dwight Evans	Boston Red Sox	0.937
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Bobby Grich	California Angels	164

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Dennis Martinez Steve McCatty Jack Morris Pete Vuckovich	Baltimore Orioles Oakland Athletics Detroit Tigers Milwaukee Brewers	14
Losses	Juan Berenguer Jerry Koosman Luis Leal	Kansas City Royals/Toronto Blue Jays Minnesota Twins/Chicago White Sox Toronto Blue Jays	13
Win-Loss Percentage	Steve Comer	Texas Rangers	0.800
Appearances	Doug Corbett	Minnesota Twins	54
Games Started	Dennis Leonard	Kansas City Royals	26
Complete Games	Rick Langford	Oakland Athletics	18
Shutouts	Richard Dotson Ken Forsch Steve McCatty Doc Medich	Chicago White Sox California Angels Oakland Athletics Texas Rangers	4
Games Finished	Doug Corbett	Minnesota Twins	45
Saves	Rollie Fingers	Milwaukee Brewers	28
Innings Pitched	Dennis Leonard	Kansas City Royals	201.2
Batters Faced	Dennis Leonard	Kansas City Royals	837
Hits Allowed	Dennis Leonard	Kansas City Royals	202
Home Runs Allowed	Mike Caldwell Geoff Zahn	Milwaukee Brewers California Angels	18
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Jack Morris	Detroit Tigers	78
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Doug Corbett	Minnesota Twins	13
Hit Batsmen	Dave Stieb Mike Witt	Toronto Blue Jays California Angels	11
Strikeouts	Len Barker	Cleveland Indians	127
Wild Pitches	Mike Norris	Oakland Athletics	14
Balks	Roger Erickson Mike Norris	Minnesota Twins Oakland Athletics	5
Runs Allowed	Geoff Zahn	California Angels	93
Earned Runs Allowed	Geoff Zahn	California Angels	79
Earned Run Average	Sammy Stewart	Baltimore Orioles	2.32
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Ron Guidry	New York Yankees	0.992

All-Star Game

The American League lost the fifty-second midsummer classic at Cleveland Stadium in Cleveland, OH on Sunday, August 9, 1981 by a score of 5 to 4. The league's manager was Jim Frey.

Postseason

The 1981 American League playoffs featured the champions of the first half and second half in each of the league's two divisions. The teams competed in a best-of-five Division Series, followed by a best-of-five League Championship Series. The winner of the League Championship Series represented the league in the World Series.

	Division Series					Championship Series
	East. (1 h.)	New York Yankees	3
	East. (2 h.)	Milwaukee Brewers	2
						East.	New York Yankees	3
						West.	Oakland Athletics	0
	West. (1 h.)	Oakland Athletics	3
	West. (2 h.)	Kansas City Royals	0

In the World Series, the American League champion New York Yankees were defeated by the National League's Los Angeles Dodgers, 4 games to 2.

Award winners

The winner of the league's Most Valuable Player Award, given its Most Valuable Player, was Rollie Fingers, a pitcher with the Milwaukee Brewers. In the award's voting, he had 319 out of a possible 392 points and 15 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Cy Young Award, given its best pitcher, was Rollie Fingers of the Milwaukee Brewers. In the award's voting, he had 126 out of a possible 140 points and 22 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Rookie of the Year Award, given its best rookie player, was Dave Righetti, a pitcher with the New York Yankees. In the award's voting, he had 127 out of a possible 140 points and 23 first place votes.

Gold Gloves

The following players won the Gold Glove Award, given to the league's best fielders as voted upon by its managers and coaches, at their respective position.

Position	Player	Team
P	Mike Norris	Oakland Athletics
C	Jim Sundberg	Texas Rangers
1B	Mike Squires	Chicago White Sox
2B	Frank White	Kansas City Royals
3B	Buddy Bell	Texas Rangers
SS	Alan Trammell	Detroit Tigers
OF	Dwayne Murphy	Oakland Athletics
	Dwight Evans	Boston Red Sox
	Rickey Henderson	Oakland Athletics

Silver Sluggers

The following players won the Silver Slugger Award, given to the league's best fielders as voted upon by its managers and coaches, at their respective position.

Position	Player	Team
C	Carlton Fisk	Chicago White Sox
1B	Cecil Cooper	Milwaukee Brewers
2B	Bobby Grich	California Angels
3B	Carney Lansford	Boston Red Sox
SS	Rick Burleson	California Angels
OF	Dwight Evans	Boston Red Sox
	Rickey Henderson	Oakland Athletics
	Dave Winfield	New York Yankees
DH	Al Oliver	Texas Rangers

Monthly Awards

• Player of the Month Award
  • April: Ken Singleton, Baltimore Orioles
  • May: Dwight Evans, Boston Red Sox
  • June: none
  • July: none
  • August: Cecil Cooper, Milwaukee Brewers
  • September: Eddie Murray, Baltimore Orioles and Willie Wilson, Kansas City Royals

• Pitcher of the Month Award
  • April: Matt Keough, Oakland Athletics
  • May: Mark Clear, Boston Red Sox
  • June: none
  • July: none
  • August: Ron Guidry, New York Yankees
  • September: Larry Gura, Kansas City Royals and Dennis Martinez, Baltimore Orioles

Hall of Fame Game

The 1981 Hall of Fame Game was scheduled to be played on August 3 at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, NY near the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The game between the Oakland Athletics and the Cincinnati Reds canceled due to the players' strike.

Umpires

• Larry Barnett
• Nick Bremigan
• Joe Brinkman
• Al Clark
• Terry Cooney
• Derryl Cousins
• Don Denkinger
• Lou DiMuro
• Jim Evans
• Dale Ford
• Rich Garcia
• Russ Goetz
• Bill Haller
• Ted Hendry
• Mark Johnson
• Ken Kaiser
• Greg Kosc
• Bill Kunkel
• George Maloney
• Tim McClelland
• Larry McCoy
• Jim McKean
• Durwood Merrill
• Dan Morrison
• Jerry Neudecker
• Steve Palermo
• Dallas Parks
• Dave Phillips
• Rick Reed
• Mike Reilly
• Rocky Roe
• John Shulock
• Marty Springstead
• Vic Voltaggio

Further Reading

• Chris Bumbaca: "Explaining the 1981 MLB season: How baseball survived shortened year", USA Today, March 15, 2020. [1]
• Jeff Katz: Split Season: 1981: Fernandomania, the Bronx Zoo, and the Strike that Saved Baseball, Thomas Dunne Books, New York, NY, 2015. ISBN 978-1-2500-4521-8
• Will Leitch: "A season split in two: Revisiting '81 in baseball", mlb.com, June 24, 2020. [2]