1981 Chicago Cubs season explained

Chicago Cubs
Season:	1981
League:	National League
Division:	East
Ballpark:	Wrigley Field
City:	Chicago
Owners:	William Wrigley III, Tribune Company
General Managers:	Bob Kennedy, Herman Franks, Dallas Green
Managers:	Joey Amalfitano
Television:	WGN-TV (Jack Brickhouse, Lou Boudreau, Milo Hamilton)
Radio:	WGN (Vince Lloyd, Lou Boudreau)
Espntn:	chc
Brtn:	CHC

The 1981 Chicago Cubs season was the 110th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 106th in the National League and the 66th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished the first-half in last place at 15–37, 17½ games behind the Philadelphia Phillies, and the second-half in fifth place at 23–28, six games behind the eventual NL East Champion Montreal Expos in the National League East. It was also the final season for the Cubs under the Wrigley family ownership, as the Tribune Company took over the club late in the year.

Offseason

• December 9, 1980: Bruce Sutter was traded by the Cubs to the St. Louis Cardinals for Leon Durham, Ken Reitz, and a player to be named later. The Cardinals completed the deal by sending Tye Waller to the Cubs on December 22.^[1]
• December 12, 1980: Jerry Martin, Jesús Figueroa and a player to be named later was traded by the Cubs to the San Francisco Giants for Joe Strain and Philip Nastu.^[2] The Cubs completed the deal by sending Mike Turgeon (minors) to the Giants on August 11, 1981.^[3]
• February 26, 1981: George Riley was released by the Cubs.^[4]
• March 28, 1981: Dennis Lamp was traded by the Cubs to the Chicago White Sox for Ken Kravec.^[5]

Regular season

Notable transactions

• April 6, 1981: Butch Benton was acquired by the Cubs from the New York Mets as part of a conditional deal.^[6]
• June 8, 1981: Joe Carter was drafted by the Cubs in the 1st round (2nd pick) of the 1981 Major League Baseball draft. Player signed June 12, 1981.^[7]
• June 12, 1981: Rick Reuschel was traded by the Cubs to the New York Yankees for Doug Bird, a player to be named later, and $400,000. The Yankees completed the trade by sending Mike Griffin on August 5.^[8]
• August 19, 1981: The Cubs traded players to be named later to the New York Yankees for Pat Tabler. The Cubs completed the trade by sending Bill Caudill to the Yankees on April 1, 1982, and Jay Howell to the Yankees on August 2, 1982.^[9]

Roster

1981 Chicago Cubs
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	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C		56	180	46	.256	4	21
1B		106	421	131	.311	10	75
2B		35	101	19	.188	1	5
SS		106	403	78	.194	0	13
3B		82	260	56	.215	2	28
LF		82	287	84	.293	5	35
CF		84	245	70	.286	1	25
RF		87	328	95	.290	10	35

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
	45	163	35	.215	6	19
	58	158	37	.234	1	11
	53	119	26	.218	2	11
	57	115	19	.165	0	8
	53	109	25	.229	7	15
	50	92	17	.185	2	8
	25	74	14	.189	0	1
	30	71	19	.268	3	13
	45	63	15	.238	0	5
	41	58	14	.241	2	7
	19	46	10	.217	0	1
	9	22	0	.000	0	1
	7	14	1	.071	0	2
	10	11	1	.091	1	2
	7	5	2	.400	0	0
	1	0	0	----	0	0

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
	25	144.1	9	9	3.68	101
	13	85.2	4	7	3.47	53
	12	75.1	4	5	3.58	34

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
	33	107.2	5	7	3.68	32
	24	78.1	1	6	5.06	50
	30	71.0	1	5	5.83	45
	20	54.2	1	4	4.77	26
	16	52.0	2	5	4.50	20
	10	22.1	2	0	4.84	10
	11	16.0	2	0	0.56	7

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
	51	3	10	9	5.06	39
	42	1	0	0	3.18	28
	40	3	6	1	3.51	50
	30	0	1	1	2.28	24
	12	0	0	2	3.95	13

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

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 Chicago Cubs season at Baseball Reference

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/suttebr01.shtml Bruce Sutter
2. News: Giants trade twice on final day. December 22, 2014. Associated Press (AP). The Ledger. December 13, 1980. Lakeland, Florida. 3D.
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/straijo01.shtml Joe Strain
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rileyge01.shtml George Riley
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/l/lampde01.shtml
6. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bentobu01.shtml Butch Benton
7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/c/cartejo01.shtml Joe Carter
8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/reuscri01.shtml Rick Reuschel
9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/t/tablepa01.shtml Pat Tabler