1981 Baltimore Orioles season explained

Baltimore Orioles
Season:	1981
League:	American League
Division:	East
Ballpark:	Memorial Stadium
City:	Baltimore, Maryland
Owners:	Edward Bennett Williams
General Managers:	Hank Peters
Managers:	Earl Weaver
Television:	WMAR-TV
Radio:	WFBR (Chuck Thompson, Bill O'Donnell, Tom Marr)

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]

Offseason

December 15, 1980: Paul Hartzell was released by the Orioles.^[2]
January 22, 1981: Joe Kerrigan and John Buffamoyer (minors) were traded by the Orioles to the Cincinnati Reds for Mike Grace and John Hale.^[3]

Regular season

August 10, 1981: Cal Ripken Jr. made his major league debut in a game against the Kansas City Royals.^[4]

Notable transactions

April 1, 1981: Kiko Garcia was traded by the Orioles to the Houston Astros for Chris Bourjos and cash.^[5]
June 8, 1981: 1981 Major League Baseball Draft
- Jeff Schaefer was drafted by the Orioles in the 12th round.^[6]
- Cecil Fielder was drafted by the Orioles in the 31st round, but did not sign.^[7]

Record vs. opponents

Roster

1981 Baltimore Orioles roster
Roster
Pitchers	CatchersInfielders	OutfieldersOther batters	ManagerCoaches

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	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	92	251	54	.215	6	15
1B	99	378	111	.294	22	78
2B	96	369	97	.263	4	38
3B	100	346	91	.263	13	55
SS	64	139	23	.165	1	10
LF	83	189	47	.249	6	20
CF	101	392	107	.273	1	27
RF	103	363	101	.278	13	49
DH	68	134	33	.246	4	25

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
85	219	59		.269	3	20
61	150	34	.227	5	15
55	142	25	.176	2	11
68	134	30	.224	3	10
44	86	24	.279	3	13
38	86	21	.244	2	14
33	56	12	.214	0	6
23	39	5	.128	0	0
10	27	8	.296	0	2
10	8	0	.000	0	0
4	4	0	.000	0	0
2	2	1	.500	0	0
7	2	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
25	179.0	14	5	3.32	88
24	160.0	13	5	3.26	82
22	127.1	7	8	3.75	35
20	116.0	9	6	4.19	72
15	62.2	4	7	4.60	30

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
	29	112.1	4	8	2.32	57
	15	40.0	1	2	6.53	12

Relief pitchers

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

G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
37	3	3	11	2.90	50
31	4	2	7	3.86	32
11	0	0	1	4.88	17
7	0	0	0	7.56	12
2	0	0	0	4.76	2

Awards and honors

Dennis Martínez, American League Leader Victories (14)

All-Star Game

Farm system

References

Book: Johnson. Lloyd. Wolff. Miles. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. 2nd. Durham, North Carolina. Baseball America. 1997. 978-0-9637189-8-3.
1981 Baltimore Orioles team page at Baseball Reference
1981 Baltimore Orioles season at baseball-almanac.com

Notes and References

Web site: Team Batting Event Finder: 1981, All Teams, Home Runs, With Runners on 123. Baseball Reference. July 3, 2018.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hartzpa01.shtml Paul Hartzell page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kerrijo01.shtml Joe Kerrigan page at Baseball Reference
Web site: Cal Ripken Jr. Stats.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bourjch01.shtml Chris Bourjos page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/schaeje01.shtml Jeff Schaefer page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/f/fieldce01.shtml Cecil Fielder page at Baseball Reference