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 →

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

Regular season

Notable transactions

Season standings

AL East 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Milwaukee Brewers 62 47 0.569 — 28–21 34–26
Baltimore Orioles 59 46 0.562 1 33–22 26–24
New York Yankees 59 48 0.551 2 32–19 27–29
Detroit Tigers 60 49 0.550 2 32–23 28–26
Boston Red Sox 59 49 0.546 2½ 30–23 29–26
Cleveland Indians 52 51 0.505 7 25–29 27–22
Toronto Blue Jays 37 69 0.349 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+1⁄2
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+1⁄2
Detroit Tigers 29 23 .558 1+1⁄2
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+1⁄2

Record vs. opponents

1981 American League record

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

1981 Baltimore Orioles roster
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

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 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

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

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
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

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

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

All-Star Game

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
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

  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


Categories