1981 Kansas City Royals season

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1981 Kansas City Royals
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionWest
BallparkRoyals Stadium
CityKansas City, Missouri
Record50–53 (.485)
Divisional place4th
OwnersEwing Kauffman
General managersJoe Burke
ManagersJim Frey and Dick Howser
TelevisionWDAF-TV 4
(Al Wisk, Denny Trease)
RadioWIBW–AM 580
KMBZ–AM 980
(Denny Matthews, Fred White)
← 1980 Seasons 1982 →

The 1981 Kansas City Royals season was their 13th in Major League Baseball. The 1981 season was interrupted by a players strike from June 12 to July 31, and resumed on August 10. Major League Baseball officials decided to split the season, and the division winners of both halves would advance to the playoffs. The Royals were 20–30 and in fifth place in the American League West when the strike began, but won the second half with a 30–23 mark. Dick Howser replaced Jim Frey as manager on August 31. Kansas City's overall 50-53 record made the Royals the first team in MLB history to reach the postseason with a losing mark. Kansas City lost to the first half American League West winner Oakland Athletics 3–0 in the ALDS.

Offseason

  • January 6, 1981: Derek Botelho was signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals.[1]

Regular season

Season standings

AL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Oakland Athletics 64 45 .587 — 35‍–‍21 29‍–‍24
Texas Rangers 57 48 .543 5 32‍–‍24 25‍–‍24
Chicago White Sox 54 52 .509 8½ 25‍–‍24 29‍–‍28
Kansas City Royals 50 53 .485 11 19‍–‍28 31‍–‍25
California Angels 51 59 .464 13½ 26‍–‍28 25‍–‍31
Seattle Mariners 44 65 .404 20 20‍–‍37 24‍–‍28
Minnesota Twins 41 68 .376 23 24‍–‍36 17‍–‍32
AL West
First Half Standings 		W L Pct. GB
Oakland Athletics 37 23 .617 —
Texas Rangers 33 22 .600 1+1⁄2
Chicago White Sox 31 22 .585 2+1⁄2
California Angels 31 29 .517 6
Kansas City Royals 20 30 .400 12
Seattle Mariners 21 36 .368 14+1⁄2
Minnesota Twins 17 39 .304 18
AL West
Second Half Standings 		W L Pct. GB
Kansas City Royals 30 23 .566 —
Oakland Athletics 27 22 .551 1
Texas Rangers 24 26 .480 4+1⁄2
Minnesota Twins 24 29 .453 6
Seattle Mariners 23 29 .442 6+1⁄2
Chicago White Sox 23 30 .434 7
California Angels 20 30 .400 8+1⁄2

Record vs. opponents

1981 American League record

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 —


Notable transactions

Roster

1981 Kansas City Royals roster
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

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 John Wathan 89 301 76 .252 1 19
1B Willie Aikens 101 349 93 .266 17 53
2B Frank White 94 364 91 .250 9 38
SS U L Washington 98 339 77 .227 2 29
3B George Brett 89 347 109 .314 6 43
LF Willie Wilson 102 439 133 .303 1 32
CF Amos Otis 99 372 100 .269 9 57
RF Darryl Motley 42 125 29 .232 2 8
DH Hal McRae 101 389 106 .272 7 36

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
César Gerónimo 59 118 29 .246 2 13
Jamie Quirk 46 100 25 .250 0 10
Clint Hurdle 28 76 25 .329 4 15
Jerry Grote 22 56 17 .304 1 9
Lee May 26 55 16 .291 0 8
Dave Chalk 27 49 11 .224 0 5
Rance Mulliniks 24 44 10 .227 0 5
Ken Phelps 21 22 3 .136 0 1
Danny Garcia 12 14 2 .143 0 0
Pat Sheridan 3 1 0 .000 0 0
Tim Ireland 4 0 0 ---- 0 0
Onix Concepción 2 0 0 ---- 0 0
Greg Keatley 2 0 0 ---- 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
Dennis Leonard 26 201.2 13 11 2.99 107
Larry Gura 23 172.1 11 8 2.72 61
Rich Gale 19 101.2 6 6 5.40 47
Paul Splittorff 21 99.0 5 5 4.36 48
Mike Jones 12 75.2 6 3 3.21 29

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
Jim Wright 17 52.0 2 3 3.46 27
Atlee Hammaker 10 39.0 1 3 5.54 11
Juan Berenguer 8 19.2 0 4 8.69 20

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
Dan Quisenberry 40 1 4 18 1.73 20
Renie Martin 29 4 5 4 2.77 25
Ken Brett 22 1 1 2 4.18 7
Bill Paschall 2 0 0 0 4.50 1
Jeff Schattinger 1 0 0 0 0.00 1

ALDS

Main article: 1981 American League Division Series

Oakland wins series, 3-0.

Game Score Date
1 Oakland 4, Kansas City 0 October 6
2 Oakland 2, Kansas City 1 October 7
3 Oakland 4, Kansas City 1 October 9

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Omaha Royals American Association Joe Sparks
AA Jacksonville Suns Southern League Gene Lamont
A Fort Myers Royals Florida State League Brian Murphy
A Charleston Royals South Atlantic League Rick Mathews
Rookie GCL Royals Blue Gulf Coast League Joe Jones
Rookie GCL Royals Gold Gulf Coast League Roy Tanner

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: GCL Royals Gold

Notes

  1. ^ "Derek Botelho Stats". Baseball-Reference.com.
  2. ^ Cal Ripken, Jr. at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Bombo Rivera at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Dave Leeper at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ David Cone at Baseball Reference

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.


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