1981 Texas Rangers season

1981 Texas Rangers
Major league affiliations
American League (since 1961) Western Division (since 1972)
Location
Arlington Stadium (since 1972) Arlington, Texas (since 1972)
1981 information
Owner(s)	Eddie Chiles
Manager(s)	Don Zimmer
Local television	KXAS-TV (Eric Nadel, Mel Proctor) Vue-Pay (Mark Holtz, Norm Hitzges)
Local radio	WBAP (Eric Nadel, Bill Merrill, Mel Proctor)
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The Texas Rangers 1981 season involved the Rangers finishing 2nd in the American League West with a record of 57 wins and 48 losses. The season was suspended for 50 days due to the infamous 1981 players strike and the league chose as its playoff teams, the division winners from the first and second halves of the season, respectively.

Contents 1 Offseason 2 Regular season 2.1 Season standings 2.2 Notable transactions 2.3 Roster 3 Player stats 3.1 Batting 3.1.1 Starters by position 3.1.2 Other batters 3.2 Pitching 3.2.1 Starting pitchers 3.2.2 Other pitchers 3.2.3 Relief pitchers 4 Awards and honors 5 Farm system 6 Notes 7 References

Offseason

• December 12, 1980: Richie Zisk, Rick Auerbach, Ken Clay, Jerry Don Gleaton, Brian Allard, and Steve Finch (minors) were traded by the Rangers to the Seattle Mariners for Willie Horton, Larry Cox, Rick Honeycutt, Mario Mendoza, and Leon Roberts.^[1]
• December 18, 1980: Bob Jones was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.^[2]

Regular season

Season standings

AL West First Half Standings	W	L	Pct.
Oakland Athletics	37	23	.617
Texas Rangers	33	22	.600
Chicago White Sox	31	22	.585
California Angels	31	29	.517
Kansas City Royals	20	30	.400
Seattle Mariners	21	36	.368
Minnesota Twins	17	39	.304

AL West Second Half Standings	W	L	Pct.
Kansas City Royals	30	23	.566
Oakland Athletics	27	22	.551
Texas Rangers	24	26	.480
Minnesota Twins	24	29	.453
Seattle Mariners	23	29	.442
Chicago White Sox	23	30	.434
California Angels	20	30	.400

Notable transactions

• April 1, 1981: Willie Horton was released by the Rangers.^[1]
• June 8, 1981: Ron Darling was drafted by the Rangers in the 1st round (9th pick) of the 1981 Major League Baseball Draft.^[3]

Roster

1981 Texas Rangers roster
Roster
Pitchers 46 Bob Babcock 29 John Butcher 11 Steve Comer 44 Danny Darwin 40 Rick Honeycutt 49 Charlie Hough 31 Ferguson Jenkins 38 John Henry Johnson 34 Jim Kern 35 Bob Lacey 32 Jon Matlack 33 Doc Medich 53 Mark Mercer 24 Dave Schmidt 12 Len Whitehouse		Catchers 20 Larry Cox  8 Bob Johnson 10 Jim Sundberg Infielders 25 Buddy Bell  9 John Ellis 14 Mario Mendoza  4 Nelson Norman 18 Pat Putnam 13 Bill Stein  3 Wayne Tolleson 30 Mark Wagner  1 Bump Wills		Outfielders 21 Dan Duran  6 Johnny Grubb 27 Bobby Jones 15 Rick Lisi 16 Tom Poquette 17 Mickey Rivers 7,16 Leon Roberts  5 Billy Sample Other batters  0 Al Oliver 20 Don Werner		Manager 23 Don Zimmer Coaches 41 Jackie Brown 37 Tommy Helms 22 Darrell Johnson 47 Fred Koenig 42 Wayne Terwilliger

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
SS	Mendoza, MarioMario Mendoza	88	229	53	.231	0	22

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
Wagner, MarkMark Wagner	50	85	22	.259	1	14
Jones, BobbyBobby Jones	10	34	9	.265	3	7
Cox, LarryLarry Cox	5	13	3	.231	0	1
Norman, NelsonNelson Norman	7	13	3	.231	0	2

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
Darwin, DannyDanny Darwin	22	146	9	9	3.64	98
Honeycutt, RickRick Honeycutt	20	127.2	11	6	3.31	40

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
Butcher, JohnJohn Butcher	5	27.2	1	2	1.63	19

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
Comer, SteveSteve Comer	36	8	2	6	2.56	22
Babcock, BobBob Babcock	16	1	1	0	2.20	18

Awards and honors

• Buddy Bell, 3B, Gold Glove 1981
• Al Oliver, Silver Slugger Award, 1981
• Jim Sundberg, C, Gold Glove, 1981

All-Star Game

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Wichita Aeros	American Association	Rich Donnelly
AA	Tulsa Drillers	Texas League	Tom Burgess
A	Asheville Tourists	South Atlantic League	Tom Robson
Rookie	GCL Rangers	Gulf Coast League	Andy Hancock

Notes

References

• 1981 Texas Rangers team page at Baseball Reference
• 1981 Texas Rangers team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.). Durham, N.C.: Baseball America. ISBN 978-1-932391-17-6. 

1981 MLB season by team AL East Baltimore • Boston • Cleveland • Detroit • Milwaukee • New York • Toronto AL West California • Chicago • Kansas City • Minnesota • Oakland • Seattle • Texas NL East Chicago • Montréal • New York • Philadelphia • Pittsburgh • St. Louis NL West Atlanta • Cincinnati • Houston • Los Angeles • San Diego • San Francisco 1981 Major League Baseball Draft • 1981 All-Star Game • 1981 strike • 1981 World Series

Texas Rangers Formerly the Washington Senators • Based in Arlington, Texas (Dallas–Ft. Worth) The Franchise Expansion Draft • History • Seasons • Team Records • No-hitters • Awards & League Leaders • Broadcasters • Owners and executives • Managers • Players • Roster • Captain • First-round draft picks • Washington Senators • Continental League Ballparks Griffith Stadium • RFK Stadium • Arlington Stadium • Rangers Ballpark in Arlington Spring Training: Pompano Beach Municipal Park • Ranger Stadium • Surprise Stadium Retired Numbers 26 • 34 • 42 Key Personnel CEO: Nolan Ryan • General Manager: Jon Daniels • Manager: Ron Washington • Team Captain: Michael Young Texas Rangers Hall of Fame Buddy Bell • Rusty Greer • Tom Grieve • Toby Harrah • Mark Holtz • Charlie Hough • Ferguson Jenkins • Johnny Oates • Kenny Rogers • Nolan Ryan • Rubén Sierra • Jim Sundberg • Tom Vandergriff • John Wetteland Division Titles Western: 1996 • 1998 • 1999 • 2010 • 2011 • Wild Card: none American League Championships 2010 • 2011 Rivalries Houston Astros Minors AAA: Round Rock Express | AA: Frisco RoughRiders | A: Myrtle Beach Pelicans • Hickory Crawdads • Spokane Indians | Rookie: AZL Rangers • DSL Rangers   Seasons (52) 1960s 1960 • 1961 • 1962 • 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969 1970s 1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 1980s 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 1990s 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 2000s 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 2010s 2010 • 2011 • 2012