The 1981 Milwaukee Brewers season was the franchise's 13th overall season and 12th season based in Milwaukee. The Brewers finished first in American League East during the second half of the split season (caused by the 1981 Major League Baseball strike) and compiled an overall record of 62 wins and 47 losses. The team advanced to the postseason for the first time in franchise history due to their second-half first-place finish, but lost to the New York Yankees in the ALDS. Rollie Fingers became the first relief pitcher in the history of the American League to win the MVP Award.[1]
1981 Milwaukee Brewers | ||
---|---|---|
League | American League | |
Division | East | |
Ballpark | Milwaukee County Stadium | |
City | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | |
Record |
| |
Divisional place |
| |
Owners | Bud Selig | |
General managers | Harry Dalton | |
Managers | Buck Rodgers | |
Television | WVTV (Kent Derdivanis, Mike Hegan, Steve Shannon) SelecTV (Joe Castiglione, Tom Collins) | |
Radio | WISN (AM) (Lorn Brown, Bob Uecker) | |
|
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. | 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 |
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 | — |
1981 Milwaukee Brewers roster | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
|
Catchers
Infielders
|
Outfielders
Other batters |
Manager
Coaches
|
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 | Ted Simmons | 100 | 380 | 82 | .216 | 14 | 61 |
1B | Cecil Cooper | 106 | 416 | 133 | .320 | 12 | 60 |
2B | Jim Gantner | 107 | 352 | 94 | .267 | 2 | 33 |
SS | Robin Yount | 96 | 377 | 103 | .273 | 10 | 49 |
3B | Don Money | 60 | 185 | 40 | .216 | 2 | 14 |
LF | Ben Oglivie | 107 | 400 | 97 | .243 | 14 | 72 |
CF | Gorman Thomas | 103 | 363 | 94 | .259 | 21 | 65 |
RF | Mark Brouhard | 60 | 186 | 51 | .274 | 2 | 20 |
DH | Larry Hisle | 27 | 87 | 20 | .230 | 4 | 11 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Paul Molitor | 64 | 251 | 67 | .267 | 2 | 19 |
Roy Howell | 76 | 244 | 58 | .238 | 6 | 33 |
Charlie Moore | 48 | 156 | 47 | .301 | 1 | 9 |
Thad Bosley | 42 | 105 | 24 | .229 | 0 | 3 |
Ed Romero | 44 | 91 | 18 | .198 | 1 | 10 |
Sal Bando | 32 | 65 | 13 | .200 | 2 | 9 |
Marshall Edwards | 40 | 58 | 14 | .241 | 0 | 4 |
Ned Yost | 18 | 27 | 6 | .222 | 3 | 3 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pete Vuckovich | 24 | 149.2 | 14 | 4 | 3.55 | 84 |
Mike Caldwell | 24 | 144.1 | 11 | 9 | 3.93 | 41 |
Moose Haas | 24 | 137.1 | 11 | 7 | 4.46 | 64 |
Jim Slaton | 24 | 117.1 | 5 | 7 | 4.37 | 47 |
Randy Lerch | 23 | 110.2 | 7 | 9 | 4.31 | 53 |
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rollie Fingers | 47 | 6 | 3 | 28 | 1.04 | 61 |
Jamie Easterly | 44 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3.19 | 31 |
Reggie Cleveland | 35 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5.15 | 18 |
Jerry Augustine | 27 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4.26 | 26 |
Rickey Keeton | 17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.09 | 9 |
Dwight Bernard | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.60 | 1 |
Bob McClure | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.52 | 6 |
Chuck Porter | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.15 | 1 |
Donnie Moore | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.75 | 2 |
Frank DiPino | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 |
Willie Mueller | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 1 |
New York wins series, 3-2.
Game | Score | Date |
---|---|---|
1 | New York 5, Milwaukee 3 | October 7 |
2 | New York 3, Milwaukee 0 | October 8 |
3 | Milwaukee 5, New York 3 | October 9 |
4 | Milwaukee 2, New York 1 | October 10 |
5 | New York 7, Milwaukee 3 | October 11 |
The Brewers' farm system consisted of five minor league affiliates in 1981.[10] The Butte Copper Kings won the Pioneer League championship.[11]