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1981 Detroit Tigers season

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1981 Detroit Tigers
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionEast
BallparkTiger Stadium
CityDetroit, Michigan
Record
  • 1st half: 31–26 (.544)
  • 2nd half: 29–23 (.558)
  • Overall: 60–49 (.550)
Divisional place
  • 1st half: 4th (3+1⁄2 GB)
  • 2nd half: 2nd (tied; 1+1⁄2 GB)
OwnersJohn Fetzer
General managersJim Campbell
ManagersSparky Anderson
TelevisionWDIV-TV
(George Kell, Al Kaline)
ONTV
(Larry Adderley, Hank Aguirre, Norm Cash)
RadioWJR
(Ernie Harwell, Paul Carey)
← 1980 Seasons 1982 →

The 1981 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 81st season as a member of the American League. Games were suspended for 50 days due to the 1981 Major League Baseball strike, causing a split season. The Tigers finished the first half of the season in fourth place in the American League East, and the second half of the season tied for second place. Their overall record was 60 wins and 49 losses, and they outscored their opponents 427 to 404. The Tigers drew 1,149,144 fans to their home games at Tiger Stadium, ranking fifth of the 14 teams in the American League.

Offseason

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Regular season

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Season standings

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AL East
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Milwaukee Brewers 62 47 .569 — 28‍–‍21 34‍–‍26
Baltimore Orioles 59 46 .562 1 33‍–‍22 26‍–‍24
New York Yankees 59 48 .551 2 32‍–‍19 27‍–‍29
Detroit Tigers 60 49 .550 2 32‍–‍23 28‍–‍26
Boston Red Sox 59 49 .546 2½ 30‍–‍23 29‍–‍26
Cleveland Indians 52 51 .505 7 25‍–‍29 27‍–‍22
Toronto Blue Jays 37 69 .349 23½ 17‍–‍36 20‍–‍33
AL East
First Half Standings 		W L Pct. GB
New York Yankees 34 22 .607 —
Baltimore Orioles 31 23 .574 2
Milwaukee Brewers 31 25 .554 3
Detroit Tigers 31 26 .544 3+1⁄2
Boston Red Sox 30 26 .536 4
Cleveland Indians 26 24 .520 5
Toronto Blue Jays 16 42 .276 19
AL East
Second Half Standings 		W L Pct. GB
Milwaukee Brewers 31 22 .585 —
Boston Red Sox 29 23 .558 1+1⁄2
Detroit Tigers 29 23 .558 1+1⁄2
Baltimore Orioles 28 23 .549 2
Cleveland Indians 26 27 .491 5
New York Yankees 25 26 .490 5
Toronto Blue Jays 21 27 .438 7+1⁄2

Record vs. opponents

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1981 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
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 —


Notable transactions

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Roster

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1981 Detroit Tigers roster
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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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
C Lance Parrish 96 348 85 .244 10 46
1B Richie Hebner 78 226 51 .226 5 28
2B Lou Whitaker 109 335 88 .263 5 36
3B Tom Brookens 71 239 58 .243 4 25
SS Alan Trammell 105 392 101 .258 2 31
LF Steve Kemp 105 372 103 .277 9 49
CF Al Cowens 85 253 66 .261 1 18
RF Kirk Gibson 83 290 95 .328 9 40
DH John Wockenfuss 70 172 37 .215 9 25

Other batters

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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
Kirk Gibson 83 290 95 .328 9 40
Rick Peters 63 207 53 .256 0 15
Lynn Jones 71 174 45 .259 2 19
Champ Summers 64 165 42 .255 3 21
Ron Jackson 31 95 27 .284 1 12
Stan Papi 40 93 19 .204 3 12
Rick Leach 54 83 16 .193 1 11
Mick Kelleher 61 77 17 .221 0 6
Bill Fahey 27 67 17 .254 1 9
Darrell Brown 16 4 1 .250 0 0
Duffy Dyer 2 0 0 ---- 0 0

Note: pitchers' batting statistics not included

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Jack Morris 25 198.0 14 7 3.05 97
Milt Wilcox 24 166.1 12 9 3.03 79
Dan Petry 23 141.0 10 9 3.00 79
Dan Schatzeder 17 71.1 6 8 6.06 20
Jerry Ujdur 4 14.0 0 0 6.43 5

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Dave Rozema 28 104.0 5 5 3.63 46
Howard Bailey 9 36.2 1 4 7.36 17
George Cappuzzello 18 33.2 1 1 3.48 19

Relief pitchers

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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
Kevin Saucier 38 4 2 13 23 1.65 23
Aurelio López 29 5 2 3 19 3.64 53
Dave Tobik 27 2 2 1 9 2.69 32
Dennis Kinney 6 0 0 0 0 9.82 3
Larry Rothschild 5 0 0 1 2 1.59 1
Dave Rucker 2 0 0 0 2 6.75 2

Awards and honors

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1981 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

League top ten finishers

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Kirk Gibson

  • #3 in AL in batting average (.328)
  • #4 in AL in Power/Speed Number (11.8)

Steve Kemp

  • #4 in AL in on-base percentage (.389)
  • #3 in AL in bases on balls (70)
  • #3 in AL in times on base (174)

Jack Morris

  • MLB leader in wins (14) (tied with four others)
  • MLB leader in bases on balls allowed (78)
  • #2 in MLB in innings pitched (198)
  • #2 in MLB in games started (25)
  • #3 in AL in hits allowed per 9 innings pitched (6.95)
  • #3 in MLB in complete games (15)
  • #3 in MLB in batters faced (798)
  • #6 in AL in home runs allowed (14)
  • #9 in AL in earned runs allowed (67)

Lance Parrish

  • #3 in AL in times grounded into double plays (16)

Kevin Saucier

  • #5 in AL in saves (13)

Alan Trammell

  • AL leader in sacrifice hits (16)

Lou Whitaker

  • AL leader in games played (109)
  • AL leader in games at second base (108)
  • AL leader in innings at second base (918-1/3)
  • AL leader in assists by a second baseman (354)

Milt Wilcox

  • #5 in AL in games started (24)
  • #5 in AL in hit batsmen (6)

Players ranking among top 100 all time at position

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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

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See also: Minor League Baseball
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

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  1. ^ Dennis Kinney at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Mike Sharperson at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Jim Lentine at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Chris Codiroli at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Chuck Hensley at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Ron Jackson at Baseball Reference

References

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  • 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 Detroit Tigers Regular Season Statistics at Baseball Reference
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