1981 Texas Rangers season

The Texas Rangers 1981 season involved the Rangers finishing second in the American League West with a record of 57 wins and 48 losses. The season was suspended for 50 days due to the infamous 1981 players strike and the league chose as its playoff teams, the division winners from the first and second halves of the season, respectively.

1981 Texas Rangers
League	American League
Division	West
Ballpark	Arlington Stadium
City	Arlington, Texas
Owners	Eddie Chiles
General managers	Eddie Robinson
Managers	Don Zimmer
Television	KXAS-TV (Eric Nadel, Mel Proctor) Vue-Pay (Mark Holtz, Norm Hitzges)
Radio	WBAP (Eric Nadel, Bill Merrill, Mel Proctor)
← 1980 Seasons 1982 →

The Rangers playing against the Oakland Athletics during a 1981 away game at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum.

Offseason

• December 12, 1980: Richie Zisk, Rick Auerbach, Ken Clay, Jerry Don Gleaton, Brian Allard, and Steve Finch (minors) were traded by the Rangers to the Seattle Mariners for Willie Horton, Larry Cox, Rick Honeycutt, Mario Mendoza, and Leon Roberts.^[1]
• December 18, 1980: Bob Jones was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.^[2]

Regular season

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

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 v t e 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

• April 1, 1981: Willie Horton was released by the Rangers.^[1]
• June 8, 1981: Ron Darling was drafted by the Rangers in the 1st round (9th pick) of the 1981 Major League Baseball Draft.^[3]

Roster

1981 Texas Rangers roster
Roster
Pitchers 46 Bob Babcock 29 John Butcher 11 Steve Comer 44 Danny Darwin 40 Rick Honeycutt 49 Charlie Hough 31 Ferguson Jenkins 38 John Henry Johnson 34 Jim Kern 35 Bob Lacey 32 Jon Matlack 33 Doc Medich 53 Mark Mercer 24 Dave Schmidt 12 Len Whitehouse		Catchers 20 Larry Cox  8 Bob Johnson 10 Jim Sundberg Infielders 25 Buddy Bell  9 John Ellis 14 Mario Mendoza  4 Nelson Norman 18 Pat Putnam 13 Bill Stein  3 Wayne Tolleson 30 Mark Wagner  1 Bump Wills		Outfielders 21 Dan Duran  6 Johnny Grubb 27 Bobby Jones 15 Rick Lisi 16 Tom Poquette 17 Mickey Rivers 7,16 Leon Roberts  5 Billy Sample Other batters  0 Al Oliver 20 Don Werner		Manager 23 Don Zimmer Coaches 41 Jackie Brown 37 Tommy Helms 22 Darrell Johnson 47 Fred Koenig 42 Wayne Terwilliger

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	Jim Sundberg	102	339	94	.277	3	28
1B	Pat Putnam	95	297	79	.266	8	35
2B	Bump Wills	102	410	103	.251	2	41
SS	Mario Mendoza	88	229	53	.231	0	22
3B	Buddy Bell	97	360	106	.294	10	64
LF	Billy Sample	66	230	65	.283	3	25
CF	Mickey Rivers	99	399	114	.286	3	26
RF	Johnny Grubb	67	199	46	.231	3	26
DH	Al Oliver	102	421	130	.309	4	55

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
Leon Roberts	72	233	65	.279	4	31
Bill Stein	53	115	38	.330	2	22
Mark Wagner	50	85	22	.259	1	14
Tom Poquette	30	64	10	.156	0	7
John Ellis	23	58	8	.138	1	7
Bobby Jones	10	34	9	.265	3	7
Wayne Tolleson	14	24	4	.167	0	1
Bob Johnson	6	18	5	.278	2	4
Rick Lisi	9	16	5	.313	0	1
Dan Duran	13	16	4	.250	0	0
Larry Cox	5	13	3	.231	0	1
Nelson Norman	7	13	3	.231	0	2
Don Werner	2	8	2	.250	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
Danny Darwin	22	146.0	9	9	3.64	98
Doc Medich	20	143.1	10	6	3.08	65
Rick Honeycutt	20	127.2	11	6	3.31	40
Fergie Jenkins	19	106.0	5	8	4.50	63
Jon Matlack	17	104.1	4	7	4.14	43

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
Charlie Hough	21	82.0	4	1	2.96	69
John Butcher	5	27.2	1	2	1.63	19
Len Whitehouse	2	3.1	0	1	16.20	2

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
Steve Comer	36	8	2	6	2.56	22
John Henry Johnson	24	3	1	2	2.66	8
Jim Kern	23	1	2	6	2.70	20
Bob Babcock	16	1	1	0	2.20	18
Dave Scmiidt	14	0	1	1	3.13	13
Mark Mercer	7	0	1	2	4.70	8
Bob Lacey	1	0	0	0	9.00	0

Awards and honors

• Buddy Bell, 3B, Gold Glove 1981
• Al Oliver, Silver Slugger Award, 1981
• Jim Sundberg, C, Gold Glove, 1981

All-Star Game

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Wichita Aeros	American Association	Rich Donnelly
AA	Tulsa Drillers	Texas League	Tom Burgess
A	Asheville Tourists	South Atlantic League	Tom Robson
Rookie	GCL Rangers	Gulf Coast League	Andy Hancock

Notes

1. Willie Horton page at Baseball Reference
2. Bob Jones page at Baseball Reference
3. Ron Darling page at Baseball Reference

References

• 1981 Texas Rangers team page at Baseball Reference
• 1981 Texas Rangers team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-1-932391-17-6.