1981 Detroit Tigers season explained

Detroit Tigers
Season:	1981
League:	American League
Division:	East
Ballpark:	Tiger Stadium
City:	Detroit, Michigan
Owners:	John Fetzer
General Managers:	Jim Campbell
Managers:	Sparky Anderson
Television:	WDIV-TV (George Kell, Al Kaline) ONTV (Larry Adderley, Hank Aguirre, Norm Cash)
Radio:	WJR (Ernie Harwell, Paul Carey)

The 1981 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 81st 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 Tigers finished the first half of the season in fourth place in the American League East, and the second half of the season tied for second place. Their overall record was 60 wins and 49 losses, and they outscored their opponents 427 to 404. The Tigers drew 1,149,144 fans to their home games at Tiger Stadium, ranking fifth of the 14 teams in the American League.

Offseason

December 12, 1980: Dave Stegman was traded by the Tigers to the San Diego Padres for Dennis Kinney.^[1]
January 13, 1981: Mike Sharperson was drafted by the Tigers in the 4th round of the 1981 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.^[2]
March 29, 1981: Jim Lentine was released by the Tigers.^[3]

Regular season

Notable transactions

April 3, 1981: Chris Codiroli was released by the Tigers.^[4]
April 3, 1981: Chuck Hensley was released by the Tigers.^[5]
August 23, 1981: The Tigers traded a player to be named later to the Minnesota Twins for Ron Jackson. The Tigers completed the deal by sending Tim Corcoran to the Twins on September 4.^[6]

Roster

1981 Detroit Tigers 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	96	348	85	.244	10	46
1B	78	226	51	.226	5	28
2B	109	335	88	.263	5	36
3B	71	239	58	.243	4	25
SS	105	392	101	.258	2	31
LF	105	372	103	.277	9	49
CF	85	253	66	.261	1	18
RF	83	290	95	.328	9	40
DH	70	172	37	.215	9	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
83	290	95	.328	9	40
63	207	53	.256	0	15
71	174	45	.259	2	19
64	165	42	.255	3	21
31	95	27	.284	1	12
40	93	19	.204	3	12
54	83	16	.193	1	11
61	77	17	.221	0	6
27	67	17	.254	1	9
16	4	1	.250	0	0
2	0	0	----	0	0

Note: pitchers' batting statistics not included

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	198.0	14	7	3.05	97
24	166.1	12	9	3.03	79
23	141.0	10	9	3.00	79
17	71.1	6	8	6.06	20
4	14.0	0	0	6.43	5

Other pitchers

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

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
28	104.0	5	5	3.63	46
9	36.2	1	4	7.36	17
18	33.2	1	1	3.48	19

Relief pitchers

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

G	W	L	SV	GF	ERA	SO
38	4	2	13	23	1.65	23
29	5	2	3	19	3.64	53
27	2	2	1	9	2.69	32
6	0	0	0	0	9.82	3
5	0	0	1	2	1.59	1
2	0	0	0	2	6.75	2

Awards and honors

Kirk Gibson, Tiger of the Year Award, from Detroit baseball writers
Alan Trammell, AL Gold Glove Award, shortstop

1981 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Jack Morris, starter, pitcher

League top ten finishers

Kirk Gibson

#3 in AL in batting average (.328)
#4 in AL in Power/Speed Number (11.8)

Steve Kemp

#4 in AL in on-base percentage (.389)
#3 in AL in bases on balls (70)
#3 in AL in times on base (174)

Jack Morris

MLB leader in wins (14) (tied with four others)
MLB leader in bases on balls allowed (78)
#2 in MLB in innings pitched (198)
#2 in MLB in games started (25)
#3 in AL in hits allowed per 9 innings pitched (6.95)
#3 in MLB in complete games (15)
#3 in MLB in batters faced (798)
#6 in AL in home runs allowed (14)
#9 in AL in earned runs allowed (67)

Lance Parrish

#3 in AL in times grounded into double plays (16)

Kevin Saucier

#5 in AL in saves (13)

Alan Trammell

AL leader in sacrifice hits (16)

Lou Whitaker

AL leader in games played (109)
AL leader in games at second base (108)
AL leader in innings at second base (918-1/3)
AL leader in assists by a second baseman (354)

Milt Wilcox

#5 in AL in games started (24)
#5 in AL in hit batsmen (6)

Players ranking among top 100 all time at position

The following members of the 1981 Detroit Tigers are among the Top 100 of all time at their position, as ranked by The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract:

Lance Parrish: 19th best catcher of all time
Lou Whitaker: 13th best second baseman of all time
Alan Trammell: 9th best shortstop of all time
Kirk Gibson: 36th best left fielder of all time

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 Detroit Tigers Regular Season Statistics at Baseball Reference

Notes and References

https://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kinnede01.shtml Dennis Kinney
https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sharpmi01.shtml Mike Sharperson
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lentiji01.shtml Jim Lentine
https://www.baseball-reference.com/c/codirch01.shtml Chris Codiroli
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/henslch01.shtml Chuck Hensley
https://www.baseball-reference.com/j/jacksro02.shtml Ron Jackson