1981 Baltimore Orioles season

The 1981 Baltimore Orioles season was the franchise's 28th season based in Baltimore and 81st overall season as a member of the American League. Games were suspended for 50 days due to the 1981 Major League Baseball strike, causing a split season. The Orioles competed as members of the American League East, finishing second in the first half of the season and fourth in the second half of the season; their overall record was 59 wins and 46 losses. The Orioles hit five grand slams, the most in MLB in 1981.[1]

1981 Baltimore Orioles
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionEast
BallparkMemorial Stadium
CityBaltimore, Maryland
Record
  • 1st half: 31–23 (.574)
  • 2nd half: 28–23 (.549)
  • Overall: 59–46 (.562)
Divisional place
  • 1st half: 2nd (2 GB)
  • 2nd half: 4th (2 GB)
OwnersEdward Bennett Williams
General managersHank Peters
ManagersEarl Weaver
TelevisionWMAR-TV
RadioWFBR
(Chuck Thompson, Bill O'Donnell, Tom Marr)
← 1980 Seasons 1982 →

Offseason

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Regular season

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Notable transactions

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Season standings

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AL East
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Milwaukee Brewers 62 47 .569 28‍–‍21 34‍–‍26
Baltimore Orioles 59 46 .562 1 33‍–‍22 26‍–‍24
New York Yankees 59 48 .551 2 32‍–‍19 27‍–‍29
Detroit Tigers 60 49 .550 2 32‍–‍23 28‍–‍26
Boston Red Sox 59 49 .546 30‍–‍23 29‍–‍26
Cleveland Indians 52 51 .505 7 25‍–‍29 27‍–‍22
Toronto Blue Jays 37 69 .349 23½ 17‍–‍36 20‍–‍33
AL East
First Half Standings
W L Pct. GB
New York Yankees 34 22 .607
Baltimore Orioles 31 23 .574 2
Milwaukee Brewers 31 25 .554 3
Detroit Tigers 31 26 .544 3+12
Boston Red Sox 30 26 .536 4
Cleveland Indians 26 24 .520 5
Toronto Blue Jays 16 42 .276 19
AL East
Second Half Standings
W L Pct. GB
Milwaukee Brewers 31 22 .585
Boston Red Sox 29 23 .558 1+12
Detroit Tigers 29 23 .558 1+12
Baltimore Orioles 28 23 .549 2
Cleveland Indians 26 27 .491 5
New York Yankees 25 26 .490 5
Toronto Blue Jays 21 27 .438 7+12

Record vs. opponents

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Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore 2–2 6–6 3–6 4–2 6–7 5–3 2–4 6–0 7–6 7–5 4–2 2–1 5–2
Boston 2–2 2–4 5–4 7–6 6–1 3–3 6–7 2–5 3–3 7–5 9–3 3–6 4–0
California 6–6 4–2 6–7 7–5 3–3 0–6 4–3 3–3 2–2 2–8 6–4 2–4 6–6
Chicago 6–3 4–5 7–6 2–5 3–3 2–0 4–1 2–4 5–7 7–6 3–3 2–4 7–5
Cleveland 2–4 6–7 5–7 5–2 1–5 4–4 3–6 2–1 7–5 3–2 8–4 2–2 4–2
Detroit 7–6 1–6 3–3 3–3 5–1 3–2 5–8 9–3 3–7 1–2 5–1 9–3 6–4
Kansas City 3–5 3–3 6–0 0–2 4–4 2–3 4–5 9–4 2–10 3–3 6–7 3–4 5–3
Milwaukee 4–2 7–6 3–4 1–4 6–3 8–5 5–4 9–3 3–3 4–2 2–2 4–5 6–4
Minnesota 0–6 5–2 3–3 4–2 1–2 3–9 4–9 3–9 3–3 2–8 3–6–1 5–8 5–1
New York 6–7 3–3 2–2 7–5 5–7 7–3 10–2 3–3 3–3 4–3 2–3 5–4 2–3
Oakland 5–7 5–7 8–2 6–7 2–3 2–1 3–3 2–4 8–2 3–4 6–1 4–2 10–2
Seattle 2–4 3–9 4–6 3–3 4–8 1–5 7–6 2–2 6–3–1 3–2 1–6 5–8 3–3
Texas 1–2 6–3 4–2 4–2 2–2 3–9 4–3 5–4 8–5 4–5 2–4 8–5 6–2
Toronto 2–5 0–4 6–6 5–7 2–4 4–6 3–5 4–6 1–5 3–2 2–10 3–3 2–6


Roster

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1981 Baltimore Orioles roster
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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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
C Rick Dempsey 92 251 54 .215 6 15
1B Eddie Murray 99 378 111 .294 22 78
2B Rich Dauer 96 369 97 .263 4 38
3B Doug DeCinces 100 346 91 .263 13 55
SS Mark Belanger 64 139 23 .165 1 10
LF John Lowenstein 83 189 47 .249 6 20
CF Al Bumbry 101 392 107 .273 1 27
RF Ken Singleton 103 363 101 .278 13 49
DH Terry Crowley 68 134 33 .246 4 25

Other batters

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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 Roenicke 85 219 59 .269 3 20
Lenn Sakata 61 150 34 .227 5 15
Dan Graham 55 142 25 .176 2 11
Jim Dwyer 68 134 30 .224 3 10
Benny Ayala 44 86 24 .279 3 13
José Morales 38 86 21 .244 2 14
Wayne Krenchicki 33 56 12 .214 0 6
Cal Ripken Jr. 23 39 5 .128 0 0
Bobby Bonner 10 27 8 .296 0 2
Mark Corey 10 8 0 .000 0 0
Willie Royster 4 4 0 .000 0 0
Dallas Williams 2 2 1 .500 0 0
John Shelby 7 2 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Dennis Martínez 25 179.0 14 5 3.32 88
Scott McGregor 24 160.0 13 5 3.26 82
Jim Palmer 22 127.1 7 8 3.75 35
Mike Flanagan 20 116.0 9 6 4.19 72
Steve Stone 15 62.2 4 7 4.60 30

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Sammy Stewart 29 112.1 4 8 2.32 57
Dave Ford 15 40.0 1 2 6.53 12

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Tippy Martinez 37 3 3 11 2.90 50
Tim Stoddard 31 4 2 7 3.86 32
Jeff Schneider 11 0 0 1 4.88 17
Steve Luebber 7 0 0 0 7.56 12
Mike Boddicker 2 0 0 0 4.76 2

Awards and honors

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All-Star Game

Farm system

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Level Team League Manager
AAA Rochester Red Wings International League Doc Edwards
AA Charlotte O's Southern League Mark Wiley
A Hagerstown Suns Carolina League Grady Little
A Miami Orioles Florida State League Minnie Mendoza
Rookie Bluefield Orioles Appalachian League Lance Nichols

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Hagerstown

Notes

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  1. ^ "Team Batting Event Finder: 1981, All Teams, Home Runs, With Runners on 123". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  2. ^ Paul Hartzell page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Joe Kerrigan page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ "Cal Ripken Jr. Stats".
  5. ^ Chris Bourjos page at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Jeff Schaefer page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Cecil Fielder page at Baseball Reference

References

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