1981 Detroit Tigers season

1981 Detroit Tigers
Major league affiliations
Location
1981 information
Owner(s) John Fetzer
Manager(s) Sparky Anderson
Local television WDIV-TV
(George Kell, Al Kaline)
ON-TV
(Larry Adderley, Hank Aguirre, Norm Cash)
Local radio WJR
(Ernie Harwell, Paul Carey)
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The 1981 Detroit Tigers finished in fourth place in the American League East with a record of 31-26 (.544) in the first half of the season, and in third place with a record of 29-23 (.558) in the second half, for an overall record of 60-49. They outscored their opponents 427 to 404. The Tigers drew 1,149,144 fans to Tiger Stadium in 1981, ranking 5th of the 14 teams in the American League.

Contents

Offseason

Regular season

Season standings

Al East
First Half standings
Wins Losses Win % GB
New York Yankees 34 22 .607
Baltimore Orioles 31 23 .574 2.0
Milwaukee Brewers 31 25 .554 3.0
Detroit Tigers 31 26 .544 3.5
Boston Red Sox 30 26 .536 4.0
Cleveland Indians 26 24 .520 5.0
Toronto Blue Jays 16 42 .276 19.0
Al East
Second Half standings
Wins Losses Win % GB
Milwaukee Brewers 31 22 .585
Boston Red Sox 29 23 .558 1.5
Detroit Tigers 29 23 .558 1.5
Baltimore Orioles 28 23 .549 2.0
Cleveland Indians 26 27 .491 5.0
New York Yankees 25 26 .490 5.0
Toronto Blue Jays 21 27 .438 7.5

Notable transactions

Roster

1981 Detroit Tigers 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 Parrish, LanceLance Parrish 96 348 85 .244 10 46
1B Hebner, RichieRichie Hebner 78 226 51 .226 5 28
2B Whitaker, LouLou Whitaker 109 335 88 .263 5 36
3B Brookens, TomTom Brookens 71 239 58 .243 4 25
SS Trammell, AlanAlan Trammell 105 392 101 .258 2 31
LF Kemp, SteveSteve Kemp 105 372 103 .277 9 49
CF Cowens, AlAl Cowens 85 253 66 .261 1 18
RF Gibson, KirkKirk Gibson 83 290 95 .328 9 40
DH Wockenfuss, JohnJohn Wockenfuss 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

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Peters, RickRick Peters 63 207 53 .256 0 15
Jones, LynnLynn Jones 71 174 45 .259 2 19
Summers, ChampChamp Summers 64 165 42 .255 3 21
Jackson, RonRon Jackson 31 95 27 .284 1 12
Papi, StanStan Papi 40 93 19 .204 3 12
Leach, RickRick Leach 54 83 16 .193 1 11
Kelleher, MickMick Kelleher 61 77 17 .221 0 6
Brown, DarrellDarrell Brown 16 4 1 .250 0 0
Dyer, DuffyDuffy Dyer 2 0 0 ---- 0 0

Note: pitchers' batting statistics not included

Bitching

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
Morris, JackJack Morris 25 198 14 7 3.05 97
Wilcox, MiltMilt Wilcox 24 166.1 12 9 3.03 79
Petry, DanDan Petry 23 141 10 9 3.00 79
Schatzeder, DanDan Schatzeder 17 71.1 6 8 6.06 20
Ujdur, JerryJerry Ujdur 4 14 0 0 6.43 5

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
Rozema, DaveDave Rozema 28 104 5 5 3.63 46
Bailey, HowardHoward Bailey 9 36.2 1 4 7.36 17
Cappuzzello, GeorgeGeorge Cappuzzello 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

Player G W L SV GF ERA SO
Saucier, KevinKevin Saucier 38 4 2 13 23 1.65 23
Tobik, DaveDave Tobik 27 2 2 1 9 2.69 32
López, AurelioAurelio López 29 5 2 3 19 3.64 53
Kinney, DennisDennis Kinney 6 0 0 0 0 9.82 3

Awards and honors

1981 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

League top ten finishers

Kirk Gibson

Steve Kemp

Jack Morris

Lance Parrish

Kevin Saucier

Alan Trammell

Lou Whitaker

Milt Wilcox

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:

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Evansville Triplets American Association Jim Leyland
AA Birmingham Barons Southern League Roy Majtyka
A Lakeland Tigers Florida State League Ted Brazell
A Macon Peaches South Atlantic League Tom Kotchman
Rookie Bristol Tigers Appalachian League Joe Lewis

Notes

References