1981 Atlanta Braves season

1981 Atlanta Braves
League	National League
Division	West
Ballpark	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium
City	Atlanta
Record	50–56 (.472)
Divisional place	5th
Owners	Ted Turner
General managers	John Mullen
Managers	Bobby Cox
Television	WTBS/Superstation WTBS
Radio	WSB (Ernie Johnson, Pete Van Wieren, Skip Caray, Darrel Chaney)
Seasons

The 1981 Atlanta Braves season was the 16th in Atlanta and the 111th overall.

Offseason

• November 15, 1980: Claudell Washington was signed as a free agent by the Braves.
• December 12, 1980: Doyle Alexander was traded by the Braves to the San Francisco Giants for John Montefusco and Craig Landis (minors).
• January 12, 1981: Gaylord Perry was signed as a free agent by the Braves.
• March 25, 1981: Gary Matthews was traded by the Braves to the Philadelphia Phillies for Bob Walk.

Regular season

Season standings

NL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cincinnati Reds	66	42	.611	—	32‍–‍22	34‍–‍20
Los Angeles Dodgers	63	47	.573	4	33‍–‍23	30‍–‍24
Houston Astros	61	49	.555	6	31‍–‍20	30‍–‍29
San Francisco Giants	56	55	.505	11½	29‍–‍24	27‍–‍31
Atlanta Braves	50	56	.472	15	22‍–‍27	28‍–‍29
San Diego Padres	41	69	.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
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

Record vs. opponents

1981 National League record Sources: [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]
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	—

Roster

1981 Atlanta Braves
Roster
Pitchers 50 Jose Alvarez 32 Steve Bedrosian 40 Tommy Boggs 34 Larry Bradford 37 Rick Camp 26 Gene Garber 49 Preston Hanna 39 Al Hrabosky 42 Rick Mahler 29 Rick Matula 27 Larry McWilliams 24 John Montefusco 35 Phil Niekro 36 Gaylord Perry 43 Bob Walk		Catchers 20 Bruce Benedict 15 Bill Nahorodny 12 Larry Owen 14 Matt Sinatro Infielders 10 Chris Chambliss  9 Luis Gómez  5 Bob Horner 17 Glenn Hubbard 47 Brook Jacoby  4 Biff Pocoroba 16 Rafael Ramírez  1 Jerry Royster 15 Paul Runge 11 Ken Smith		Outfielders 30 Brian Asselstine 22 Brett Butler 31 Albert Hall 19 Terry Harper 25 Rufino Linares 28 Mike Lum 45 Eddie Miller  3 Dale Murphy 18 Claudell Washington 28 Larry Whisenton Other batters 22 Bob Porter		Manager  6 Bobby Cox Coaches 23 Tommie Aaron 48 Cloyd Boyer  2 Bobby Dews  8 John Sullivan

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	Bruce Benedict	90	295	78	.264	5	35
1B	Chris Chambliss	107	404	110	.272	8	51
2B	Glenn Hubbard	99	361	85	.235	6	33
SS	Rafael Ramírez	95	307	67	.218	2	20
3B	Bob Horner	79	300	83	.277	15	42
LF	Rufino Linares	78	253	67	.265	5	25
CF	Dale Murphy	104	369	91	.247	13	50
RF	Claudell Washington	85	320	93	.291	5	37

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
Eddie Miller	50	134	31	.231	0	7
Brett Butler	40	126	32	.254	0	4
Biff Pocoroba	57	122	22	.180	0	8
Jerry Royster	64	93	19	.204	0	9
Brian Asselstine	56	86	22	.256	2	10
Terry Harper	40	73	19	.260	2	8
Luis Gómez	35	35	7	.200	0	1
Matt Sinatro	12	32	9	.281	0	4
Paul Runge	10	27	7	.259	0	2
Larry Owen	13	16	0	.000	0	0
Bob Porter	17	14	4	.286	0	4
Bill Nahorodny	14	13	3	.231	0	2
Mike Lum	10	11	1	.091	0	0
Brook Jacoby	11	10	2	.200	0	1
Larry Whisenton	9	5	1	.200	0	0
Ken Smith	5	3	1	.333	0	0
Albert Hall	6	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
Gaylord Perry	23	150.2	8	9	3.94	60
Tommy Boggs	25	142.2	3	13	4.10	81
Phil Niekro	22	139.1	7	7	3.10	62
Larry McWilliams	6	37.2	2	1	3.11	23

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
Rick Mahler	34	112.1	8	6	2.80	54
John Montefusco	26	77.1	2	3	3.49	34
Bob Walk	12	43.1	1	4	4.57	16

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
Rick Camp	48	9	3	17	1.78	47
Gene Garber	35	4	6	2	2.61	34
Larry Bradford	25	2	0	1	3.71	14
Al Hrabosky	24	1	1	1	1.07	13
Preston Hanna	20	2	1	0	6.37	22
Steve Bedrosian	15	1	2	0	4.44	9
Rick Matula	5	0	0	0	6.43	0
Jose Alvarez	1	0	0	0	0.00	2
Luis Gómez	1	0	0	0	27.00	0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Richmond Braves	International League	Eddie Haas
AA	Savannah Braves	Southern League	Andy Gilbert
A	Durham Bulls	Carolina League	Al Gallagher
A	Anderson Braves	South Atlantic League	Sonny Jackson
Rookie	GCL Braves	Gulf Coast League	Pedro González

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
• 1981 Atlanta Braves season at Baseball Reference