1981 Toronto Blue Jays season

1981 Toronto Blue Jays
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1977)
Eastern Division (since 1977)
Location
Exhibition Stadium (since 1977)
Toronto (since 1977)
Other information
Owner(s)	Labatt Breweries, Imperial Trust, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
General manager(s)	Pat Gillick
Manager(s)	Bobby Mattick
Local television	CTV Television Network (Don Chevrier, Tony Kubek, Fergie Olver)
Local radio	CKFH (Jerry Howarth, Early Wynn, Tom Cheek)
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The 1981 Toronto Blue Jays season was the franchise's fifth season of Major League Baseball. It resulted in the Blue Jays finishing seventh in the American League East with a record of 37 wins and 69 losses. The season was suspended for 50 days due to the 1981 players' strike, and the league chose as its playoff teams the division winners from the first and second halves of the season, respectively.

Offseason

December 8, 1980: 1980 rule 5 draft
- George Bell was drafted by the Blue Jays from the Philadelphia Phillies.^[1]
- Dan Whitmer was drafted by the Blue Jays from the California Angels.^[2]
January 15, 1981: Ken Macha was purchased by the Blue Jays from the Montreal Expos.^[3]

Regular season

The Blue Jays were one of the worst teams in the majors in the first half of the split season, as the Blue Jays had a record of 16 wins and 42 losses, a percentage of .276.^[4] Although the Blue Jays had future stars Jesse Barfield, George Bell, and Lloyd Moseby in the lineup, the team continued to struggle.

On May 15, 1981, Len Barker of the Cleveland Indians pitched a perfect game against the Blue Jays. It was the tenth perfect game ever pitched, is one of only seventeen in the history of the major leagues, and remains the last no-hitter thrown by an Indian.^[5]

The result of the season was one of the more controversial times in franchise history. The President of the Blue Jays, Peter Bavasi, went to see the team in Anaheim against the California Angels. Bavasi's father, Buzzie Bavasi was the president of the Angels, and his team had gotten off to a lacklustre start. Buzzie wanted to fire Angels manager Jim Fregosi, and Peter Bavasi had the idea to fire his manager, Bobby Mattick. Both thought it would be big news if father and son fired their manager on the same night.^[6] One of the Blue Jays executives advised the Jays Vice-Chairman of the Board, Peter Hardy. After a brief conversation, Hardy made it clear to Peter Bavasi that Mattick would not be fired in this way.

After the strike was resolved, the Blue Jays started the second half of the season with a close to .500 winning percentage. Peter Bavasi was heard to muse aloud the requirement to print World Series tickets.^[7] The Jays would finish the second half with 21 wins and 27 losses, seven and a half games out of first place. Despite the attempted Bavasi firing, Mattick would resign as manager at the end of the season. On November 22, 1981, Hardy forced Bavasi to resign from the Blue Jays.^[8]

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.
New York Yankees	34	22	.607
Baltimore Orioles	31	23	.574
Milwaukee Brewers	31	25	.554
Detroit Tigers	31	26	.544
Boston Red Sox	30	26	.536
Cleveland Indians	26	24	.520
Toronto Blue Jays	16	42	.276

AL East Second Half Standings	W	L	Pct.
Milwaukee Brewers	31	22	.585
Boston Red Sox	29	23	.558
Detroit Tigers	29	23	.558
Baltimore Orioles	28	23	.549
Cleveland Indians	26	27	.491
New York Yankees	25	26	.490
Toronto Blue Jays	21	27	.438

Record vs. opponents

1981 American League Records Sources:
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	—

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

June 8, 1981: 1981 Major League Baseball Draft
- Matt Williams was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 1st round (5th pick).^[9]
- Mike Sharperson was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 1st round (11th pick) of the Secondary Phase.^[10]
June 10, 1981: Rick Bosetti was purchased from the Blue Jays by the Oakland Athletics.^[11]

Roster

1981 Toronto Blue Jays roster

Roster

Pitchers

46 Mike Barlow

30 Juan Berenguer

45 Mark Bomback

18 Jim Clancy

38 Nino Espinosa

36 Jerry Garvin

25 Roy Lee Jackson

48 Luis Leal

50 Joey McLaughlin

42 Paul Mirabella

33 Dale Murray

37 Dave Stieb

40 Jackson Todd

23 Mike Willis

Catchers

13 Buck Martinez

6 Dan Whitmer

12 Ernie Whitt

Infielders

2 Danny Ainge

34 Ted Cox

7 Dámaso García

4 Alfredo Griffin

16 Garth Iorg

8 Ken Macha

2 Fred Manrique

10 John Mayberry

43 Greg Wells

Outfielders

29 Jesse Barfield

11 George Bell

9 Barry Bonnell

22 Rick Bosetti

20 Al Woods

Other batters

32 Charlie Beamon

26 Willie Upshaw

19 Otto Vélez

Manager

3 Bobby Mattick

Coaches

31 Bobby Doerr (Hitting)

28 John Felske (Bullpen)

14 Denis Menke (First Base)

41 Al Widmar (Pitching)

24 Jimy Williams (Third Base)

Game log

1981 Game Log 37–69 (Home 17–36, Away 20–33)

April 7–12 (Home 2–7, Away 5–5)

May 9–20 (Home 5–10, Away 4–10)

June 0–10 (Home 0–5, Away 0–5)

August 9–10 (Home 4–8, Away 5–2)

September 11–15 (Home 6–6, Away 5–9)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
78	September 1	@ Rangers	9–3	Clancy (4–8)	Darwin (8–7)		8,358	26–52
79	September 2	@ Rangers	4–1	Honeycutt (9–3)	Leal (4–10)		6,851	26–53
80	September 3	@ White Sox	4–3	Hoyt (6–3)	Berenguer (2–7)		6,669	26–54
81	September 4	@ White Sox	6–2	Stieb (8–9)	Lamp (5–3)		18,317	27–54
82	September 5	@ White Sox	3–1	Clancy (5–8)	Baumgarten (5–8)	McLaughlin (5)	14,628	28–54
83	September 6	@ White Sox	3–2	Leal (5–10)	Burns (8–3)	Jackson (7)	11,250	29–54
84	September 7	@ Twins	4–0	Jackson (3–2)	Berenguer (2–8)	Corbett (9)	5,024	29–55
85	September 8	@ Twins	1–0	Havens (2–4)	Stieb (8–10)		2,839	29–56
86	September 9	@ Twins	3–1	Arroyo (6–7)	Clancy (5–9)	Corbett (10)	3,381	29–57
87	September 10	Mariners	2–0	Leal (6–10)	Clay (0–6)	McLaughlin (6)	11,685	30–57
88	September 11	Mariners	8–1	Abbott (3–6)	Berenguer (2–9)		12,023	30–58
89	September 12	Mariners	3–0	Stieb (9–10)	Beattie (2–2)		14,048	31–58
90	September 14	Twins	6–3	Havens (3–4)	Clancy (5–10)	Corbett (13)	11,402	31–59
91	September 15	Twins	4–2	Leal (7–10)	Arroyo (6–8)	McLaughlin (7)	12,037	32–59
92	September 16	Twins	5–2	Williams (5–8)	Berenguer (2–10)		11,733	32–60
93	September 18	Angels	5–1	Murray (1–0)	Witt (5–9)		13,478	33–60
94	September 19	Angels	6–4	Clancy (6–10)	Frost (1–7)		16,418	34–60
95	September 20	Angels	6–3	Bomback (5–5)	Zahn (9–11)	McLaughlin (8)	20,575	35–60
–	September 21	Athletics	Postponed (rain) Rescheduled for September 22
96	September 22	Athletics	3–2 (13)	Beard (1–1)	Leal (7–11)			35–61
97	September 22	Athletics	4–2	McCatty (13–6)	Berenguer (2–11)		15,542	35–62
98	September 23	Athletics	6–0	Langford (11–9)	Clancy (6–11)		14,114	35–63
99	September 25	@ Angels	11–5	Zahn (10–11)	Leal (7–12)		19,890	35–64
100	September 26	@ Angels	6–3	Renko (8–4)	Berenguer (2–12)	Hassler (5)	18,886	35–65
101	September 27	@ Angels	4–3	Stieb (10–10)	Moreno (1–2)	McLaughlin (9)	24,903	36–65
102	September 29	@ Athletics	5–1	Underwood (4–6)	Clancy (6–12)		10,998	36–66
103	September 30	@ Athletics	3–0	Norris (12–9)	Leal (7–13)		11,144	36–67

October 1–2 (Home 0–0, Away 1–2)

A MLB Players strike forced the cancellation of all regular season games between June 12 and August 9. A split-season format was adopted.

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = position; G = Games played; AB = At Bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; Avg = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases

Pos	Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
C	Whitt, ErnieErnie Whitt	74	195	16	46	9	0	.236	1	16	5
1B	Mayberry, JohnJohn Mayberry	94	290	34	72	6	1	.248	17	43	1
2B	García, DámasoDámaso García	64	250	24	63	8	1	.252	1	13	13
3B	Ainge, DannyDanny Ainge	86	246	20	46	6	2	.187	0	14	8
SS	Griffin, AlfredoAlfredo Griffin	101	388	30	81	19	6	.209	0	21	8
LF	Woods, AlvisAlvis Woods	85	288	20	71	15	0	.247	1	21	3
CF	Moseby, LloydLloyd Moseby	100	378	36	88	16	2	.233	9	43	11
RF	Bonnell, BarryBarry Bonnell	66	227	21	50	7	4	.220	4	28	4
DH	Vélez, OttoOtto Vélez	80	240	32	51	9	2	.213	11	28	0

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; Avg = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
Iorg, GarthGarth Iorg	70	215	17	52	11	0	.242	0	10	2
Upshaw, WillieWillie Upshaw	61	111	15	19	3	1	.171	4	10	2
Bell, GeorgeGeorge Bell	60	163	19	38	2	1	.233	5	12	3
Martinez, BuckBuck Martinez	45	128	13	29	8	1	.227	4	21	1
Macha, KenKen Macha	37	85	4	17	2	0	.200	0	6	1
Wells, GregGreg Wells	32	73	7	18	5	0	.247	0	5	0
Barfield, JesseJesse Barfield	25	95	7	22	3	2	.232	2	9	4
Bosetti, RickRick Bosetti	25	47	5	11	2	0	.234	0	4	0
Cox, TedTed Cox	16	50	6	15	4	0	.300	0	1	0
Manrique, FredFred Manrique	14	28	1	4	0	0	.143	0	1	0
Beamon, CharlieCharlie Beamon	8	15	1	3	1	0	.200	0	0	0
Whitmer, DanDan Whitmer	7	9	0	1	1	0	.111	0	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player	G	GS	IP	W	L	ERA	R	ER	BB	K
Stieb, DaveDave Stieb	25	25	183.2	11	10	3.19	70	65	61	89
Clancy, JimJim Clancy	22	22	125.0	6	12	4.90	77	68	64	56
Berenguer, JuanJuan Berenguer	12	11	71.0	2	9	4.31	41	34	35	29

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player	G	GS	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	R	ER	BB	K
Leal, LuisLuis Leal	29	19	129.2	7	13	1	3.68	63	53	44	71
Todd, JacksonJackson Todd	21	13	97.2	2	7	0	3.96	51	43	31	41
Bomback, MarkMark Bomback	20	11	90.1	5	5	0	3.89	42	39	35	33

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	R	ER	BB	K
McLaughlin, JoeyJoey McLaughlin	40	60.0	1	5	10	2.85	24	19	21	38
Jackson, Roy LeeRoy Lee Jackson	39	62.0	1	2	7	2.61	23	18	25	27
Garvin, JerryJerry Garvin	35	53.0	1	2	0	3.40	20	20	23	25
Willis, MikeMike Willis	20	35.0	0	4	0	5.91	25	23	20	16
Barlow, MikeMike Barlow	12	15.0	0	0	0	4.20	11	7	6	5
Murray, DaleDale Murray	11	15.1	1	0	0	1.17	2	2	5	12
Mirabella, PaulPaul Mirabella	8	14.2	0	0	0	7.36	16	12	7	9
Espinosa, NinoNino Espinosa	1	1.0	0	0	0	9.00	1	1	0	0

Award winners

All-Star Game

Dave Stieb, Pitcher^[12]

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Syracuse Chiefs	International League	Bob Humphreys
AA	Knoxville Blue Jays	Southern League	Duane Larson and Larry Hardy
A	Kinston Eagles	Carolina League	John McLaren
A	Florence Blue Jays	South Atlantic League	Dennis Holmberg
Rookie	GCL Blue Jays	Gulf Coast League	Rich Hacker
Rookie	Medicine Hat Blue Jays	Pioneer League	Wayne Graham

Notes

↑ George Bell page at Baseball Reference
↑ Dan Whitmer page at Baseball Reference
↑ Ken Macha page at Baseball Reference
↑ Diamond Dreams: 20 Years of Blue Jays Baseball, Stephen Brunt, p.136, Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-023978-2
↑ Sports American League (Baseball) Baseball AL West Division Major League Baseball – SI Vault
↑ Diamond Dreams: 20 Years of Blue Jays Baseball, Stephen Brunt, p.137, Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-023978-2
↑ Diamond Dreams: 20 Years of Blue Jays Baseball, Stephen Brunt, p.138, Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-023978-2
↑ Diamond Dreams: 20 Years of Blue Jays Baseball, Stephen Brunt, p.157, Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-023978-2
↑ Matt Williams page at Baseball Reference
↑ Mike Sharperson page at Baseball Reference
↑ Rick Bosetti page at Baseball Reference
↑ Blue Jays All-Stars | bluejays.com: History
↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

External links

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 MLB draft 1981 All-Star Game 1981 strike 1981 World Series

Toronto Blue Jays

Based in Toronto, Ontario

The franchise

Ballparks

Exhibition Stadium
Rogers Centre
Spring training: Grant Field
Florida Auto Exchange Stadium
Cecil P. Englebert Complex

Culture

Rivalries

Pearson Cup

Retired numbers

Key personnel

Owner: Rogers Communications
President & CEO: Mark Shapiro
General manager: Ross Atkins
Manager: John Gibbons

World Series championships (2)

1992
1993

American League pennants (2)

1992
1993

Division titles

East:
- 1985
- 1989
- 1991
- 1992
- 1993
- 2015
Wild Card: none

Minors

Seasons (40)

1970s	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 • 2013 • 2014 • 2015 • 2016

Preceded by 1980 Toronto Blue Jays season	1981 Toronto Blue Jays Season 1981	Succeeded by 1982 Toronto Blue Jays season

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