1981 Cincinnati Reds | |
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Major League affiliations | |
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Location | |
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Results | |
Record | 66–42 (.611) |
Divisional place | 1st |
Other information | |
Owner(s) | William & James Williams |
General manager(s) | Dick Wagner |
Manager(s) | John McNamara |
Local television | WLWT (Ray Lane, Bill Brown, Dick Carlson) |
Local radio | WLW (Marty Brennaman, Joe Nuxhall) |
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The 1981 Cincinnati Reds season consisted of the Reds finishing with an overall record of 66–42, giving them the best win–loss record in all of Major League Baseball. However, due to a split-season format caused by a mid-season players' strike, they failed to make the MLB playoffs because they did not finish first in either half of the season; they finished in second place in both halves by scant margins. The Reds finished the first half of the season in second place with a record of 35–21, just one-half game behind the eventual world champion Los Angeles Dodgers, and one-and-a-half games behind the Houston Astros in the second half, in which the Reds were 31–21, good for second place, again. Before the final game of the season against the Atlanta Braves, the team unveiled a banner which said "Cincinnati Reds: Baseball's best record 1981". The Reds were managed by John McNamara and played their home games at Riverfront Stadium.
NL West | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
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Cincinnati Reds | 66 | 42 | 0.611 | — | 32–22 | 34–20 |
Los Angeles Dodgers | 63 | 47 | 0.573 | 4 | 33–23 | 30–24 |
Houston Astros | 61 | 49 | 0.555 | 6 | 31–20 | 30–29 |
San Francisco Giants | 56 | 55 | 0.505 | 11½ | 29–24 | 27–31 |
Atlanta Braves | 50 | 56 | 0.472 | 15 | 22–27 | 28–29 |
San Diego Padres | 41 | 69 | 0.373 | 26 | 20–35 | 21–34 |
NL West First Half Standings |
W | L | Pct. | GB |
---|---|---|---|---|
Los Angeles Dodgers | 36 | 21 | .632 | — |
Cincinnati Reds | 35 | 21 | .625 | 1⁄2 |
Houston Astros | 28 | 29 | .491 | 8 |
Atlanta Braves | 25 | 29 | .463 | 9+1⁄2 |
San Francisco Giants | 27 | 32 | .458 | 10 |
San Diego Padres | 23 | 33 | .411 | 12+1⁄2 |
NL West Second Half Standings |
W | L | Pct. | GB |
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Houston Astros | 33 | 20 | .623 | — |
Cincinnati Reds | 31 | 21 | .596 | 1+1⁄2 |
San Francisco Giants | 29 | 23 | .558 | 3+1⁄2 |
Los Angeles Dodgers | 27 | 26 | .509 | 6 |
Atlanta Braves | 25 | 27 | .481 | 7+1⁄2 |
San Diego Padres | 18 | 36 | .333 | 15+1⁄2 |
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] | |||||||||||||||||
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Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL | |||||
Atlanta | — | 3–2–1 | 6–5 | 4–8 | 7–7 | 3–7 | 3–3 | 4–5 | 2–3 | 9–6 | 5–7 | 4–3 | |||||
Chicago | 2–3–1 | — | 1–5 | 1–6 | 6–4 | 4–7 | 5–8–1 | 2–10 | 4–10 | 3–3 | 5–5 | 5–4–1 | |||||
Cincinnati | 5–6 | 5–1 | — | 8–4 | 8–8 | 5–4 | 7–3 | 5–2 | 4–2 | 10–2 | 9–5 | 0–5 | |||||
Houston | 8–4 | 6–1 | 4–8 | — | 4–8 | 5–2 | 6–3 | 4–6 | 2–4 | 11–3 | 9–6 | 2–4 | |||||
Los Angeles | 7–7 | 4–6 | 8–8 | 8–4 | — | 5–2 | 5–1 | 3–3 | 5–1 | 6–5 | 7–5 | 5–5 | |||||
Montreal | 7–3 | 7–4 | 4–5 | 2–5 | 2–5 | — | 9–3 | 7–4 | 10–3 | 4–2 | 2–5 | 6–9 | |||||
New York | 3–3 | 8–5–1 | 3–7 | 3–6 | 1–5 | 3–9 | — | 7–7 | 3–6–1 | 2–5 | 2–4 | 6–5 | |||||
Philadelphia | 5-4 | 10–2 | 2–5 | 6–4 | 3–3 | 4–7 | 7–7 | — | 7–5 | 4–2 | 4–3 | 7–6 | |||||
Pittsburgh | 3–2 | 10–4 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 1–5 | 3–10 | 6–3–1 | 5–7 | — | 6–4 | 3–7 | 3–8 | |||||
San Diego | 6–9 | 3–3 | 2–10 | 3–11 | 5–6 | 2–4 | 5–2 | 2–4 | 4–6 | — | 6–7 | 3–7 | |||||
San Francisco | 7–5 | 5–5 | 5–9 | 6–9 | 5–7 | 5–2 | 4–2 | 3–4 | 7–3 | 7–6 | — | 2–3 | |||||
St. Louis | 3–4 | 4–5–1 | 5–0 | 4–2 | 5–5 | 9–6 | 5–6 | 6–7 | 8–3 | 7–3 | 3–2 | — |
1981 Cincinnati Reds roster | |||||||||
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Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
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Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
Other batters
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Manager
Coaches
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1981 First half game log: 35–21 (Home: 17–11; Away: 18–10) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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April: 11–7 (Home: 4–4; Away: 7–3)
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May: 16–13 (Home: 10–7; Away: 6–6)
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June: 8–1 (Home: 3–0; Away: 5–1)
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1981 Second half game log: 31–21 (Home: 15–11; Away: 16–10) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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August: 10–10 (Home: 7–4; Away: 3–6)
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September: 20–8 (Home: 7–4; Away: 13–4)
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October: 1–3 (Home: 1–3; Away: 0–0)
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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 |
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C | Joe Nolan | 81 | 236 | 73 | .309 | 1 | 26 |
1B | Dan Driessen | 82 | 233 | 55 | .236 | 7 | 33 |
2B | Ron Oester | 105 | 354 | 96 | .271 | 5 | 42 |
SS | Dave Concepción | 106 | 421 | 129 | .306 | 5 | 67 |
3B | Ray Knight | 106 | 386 | 100 | .259 | 6 | 34 |
LF | George Foster | 108 | 414 | 122 | .295 | 22 | 90 |
CF | Ken Griffey | 101 | 396 | 123 | .311 | 2 | 34 |
RF | Dave Collins | 95 | 360 | 98 | .272 | 3 | 23 |
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 |
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Johnny Bench | 52 | 178 | 55 | .309 | 8 | 25 |
Mike O'Berry | 55 | 111 | 20 | .180 | 1 | 5 |
Paul Householder | 23 | 69 | 19 | .275 | 2 | 9 |
Larry Biittner | 42 | 61 | 13 | .213 | 0 | 8 |
Sam Mejías | 66 | 49 | 14 | .286 | 0 | 7 |
Junior Kennedy | 27 | 44 | 11 | .250 | 0 | 5 |
Mike Vail | 31 | 31 | 5 | .161 | 0 | 3 |
Harry Spilman | 23 | 24 | 4 | .167 | 0 | 3 |
Rafael Landestoy | 12 | 11 | 2 | .182 | 0 | 1 |
Germán Barranca | 9 | 6 | 2 | .333 | 0 | 1 |
Eddie Milner | 8 | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | 1 |
Neil Fiala | 2 | 2 | 1 | .500 | 0 | 1 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
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Mario Soto | 25 | 175.0 | 12 | 9 | 3.29 | 151 |
Tom Seaver | 23 | 166.1 | 14 | 2 | 2.54 | 87 |
Frank Pastore | 22 | 132.0 | 4 | 9 | 4.02 | 81 |
Bruce Berenyi | 21 | 126.0 | 9 | 6 | 3.50 | 106 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
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Mike LaCoss | 20 | 78.0 | 4 | 7 | 6.12 | 22 |
Charlie Liebrandt | 7 | 30.0 | 1 | 1 | 3.60 | 9 |
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
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Tom Hume | 51 | 9 | 4 | 13 | 3.46 | 27 |
Joe Price | 41 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 2.52 | 41 |
Paul Moskau | 27 | 2 | 1 | 2 | .494 | 32 |
Doug Bair | 24 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5.77 | 16 |
Geoff Combe | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7.64 | 9 |
Scott Brown | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.77 | 7 |
Joe Edelen | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.71 | 5 |
See also: Minor League Baseball |
Level | Team | League | Manager |
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AAA | Indianapolis Indians | American Association | Jim Beauchamp |
AA | Waterbury Reds | Eastern League | George Scherger |
A | Tampa Tarpons | Florida State League | Jim Lett |
A | Cedar Rapids Reds | Midwest League | Randy Davidson |
A-Short Season | Eugene Emeralds | Northwest League | Greg Riddoch |
Rookie | Billings Mustangs | Pioneer League | Jim Hoff |