1981 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1981 Pittsburgh Pirates
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1887)
Eastern Division (since 1969)
Location
Three Rivers Stadium (since 1970)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania^[1] (since 1907)
Results
Record	First half: 25–23 (.521) Second half: 21–33 (.389)
Divisional place	First half: 4th Second half: 6th
Other information
Owner(s)	John W. Galbreath (majority shareholder); Thomas Johnson (minority shareholder)
General manager(s)	Harding "Pete" Peterson
Manager(s)	Chuck Tanner
Local television	KDKA-TV Lanny Frattare, Jim Rooker, John Sanders Action-TV Bob Prince, Ray Scott
Local radio	KDKA Lanny Frattare, Jim Rooker
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The 1981 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 100th season of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise; their 95th in the National League. The Pirates finished fourth in the National League East in the first half of the season with a record of 25–23 and sixth in the second half with a record of 21–33.

Regular season

Officials of the Louisiana Superdome met with Pirates management in April 1981 about moving the club to New Orleans when the Pirates were unhappy with their lease at Three Rivers Stadium.^[2]

Season standings

NL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Cardinals	59	43	0.578	—	32–21	27–22
Montreal Expos	60	48	0.556	2	38–18	22–30
Philadelphia Phillies	59	48	0.551	2½	36–19	23–29
Pittsburgh Pirates	46	56	0.451	13	22–28	24–28
New York Mets	41	62	0.398	18½	24–27	17–35
Chicago Cubs	38	65	0.369	21½	27–30	11–35

Record vs. opponents

1981 National League Records Sources:
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	—

Game log

1981 Game Log: 46–56 (Home: 22–28; Away: 24–28)

April: 7–6 (Home: 1–3; Away: 6–3)

May: 13–14 (Home: 5–6; Away: 8–8)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
15	May 1	Astros	3–5	Sambito	Solomon (0–1)	—	7,012	7–7
16	May 2	Astros	5–4 (12)	Solomon (1–1)	Smith	—	21,993	8–7
17	May 3	Astros	1–3	Sutton	Bibby (1–1)	Smith	10,438	8–8
18	May 6	@ Reds	8–9	Hume	Jackson (1–2)	—	14,551	8–9
19	May 7	@ Reds	3–1	Rhoden (4–0)	Soto	Romo (3)		9–9
20	May 7	@ Reds	7–1	Solomon (2–1)	LaCoss	—	20,301	10–9
21	May 8	@ Cardinals	4–5	Shirley	Bibby (1–2)	Kaat	20,108	10–10
22	May 9	@ Cardinals	0–13	Rincon	Scurry (1–1)	—	21,361	10–11
23	May 10	@ Cardinals	8–2	Candelaria (2–2)	Sorensen	Romo (4)	11,112	11–11
24	May 11	@ Braves	2–3 (10)	Mahler	Tekulve (0–2)	—	4,260	11–12
25	May 12	@ Braves	0–2	Niekro	Solomon (2–2)	—	9,711	11–13
26	May 13	@ Braves	7–5 (13)	Cruz (1–0)	Boggs	Scurry (1)	10,638	12–13
27	May 15	Reds	1–4	Price	Romo (0–2)	Hume	10,592	12–14
28	May 16	Reds	0–4	LaCoss	Scurry (1–2)	—	11,890	12–15
29	May 17	Reds	3–4	Soto	Solomon (2–3)	—	11,775	12–16
30	May 19	Braves	5–0	Bibby (2–2)	Niekro	—	5,514	13–16
31	May 20	Braves	6–1	Rhoden (5–0)	Walk	Romo (5)	8,351	14–16
32	May 22	Phillies	3–1	Perez (1–0)	Christenson	—	20,695	15–16
33	May 23	Phillies	4–6	Proly	Tekulve (0–3)	Reed	20,340	15–17
34	May 24	Phillies	7–1	Bibby (3–2)	Bystrom	Cruz (1)	21,771	16–17
35	May 25	@ Cubs	9–10 (11)	Tidrow	Cruz (1–1)	—	18,506	16–18
36	May 26	@ Cubs	6–4	Tekulve (1–3)	Krukow	Romo (6)	6,988	17–18
37	May 27	@ Cubs	3–2	Perez (2–0)	Reuschel	—	6,970	18–18
38	May 28	@ Cubs	9–4	Solomon (3–3)	Caudill	—	7,886	19–18
39	May 29	@ Expos	2–3	Sanderson	Bibby (3–3)	Lee	36,662	19–19
40	May 30	@ Expos	3–2	Rhoden (6–0)	Gullickson	—	31,649	20–19
41	May 31	@ Expos	1–5	Rogers	Perez (2–1)	—	45,784	20–20

June: 5–3 (Home: 5–3; Away: 0–0)

August: 7–15 (Home: 4–8; Away: 3–7)

September: 13–15 (Home: 6–5; Away: 7–10)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
72	September 1	@ Dodgers	2–3 (14)	Niedenfuer	Jones (2–2)	—	50,134	32–39
73	September 2	@ Dodgers	2–6	Welch	Long (0–1)	Pena	32,027	32–40
74	September 3	@ Padres	7–3	Tiant (1–3)	Eichelberger	Scurry (2)	6,153	33–40
75	September 4	@ Padres	4–5	Littlefield	Robinson (0–3)	Show	8,128	33–41
76	September 5	@ Padres	2–1	Rhoden (8–2)	Mura	Scurry (3)	7,297	34–41
77	September 6	@ Padres	9–5	Solomon (6–4)	Wise	Robinson (2)	4,177	35–41
78	September 7	Mets	2–1	Jones (3–2)	Allen	Scurry (4)		36–41
79	September 7	Mets	5–4	Long (1–1)	Boitano	Lee (3)	9,935	37–41
80	September 8	Mets	1–3	Lynch	Tiant (1–4)	Allen	5,383	37–42
81	September 9	Mets	3–5	Leach	Perez (2–6)	Searage	7,089	37–43
82	September 11	Phillies	0–8	Carlton	Rhoden (8–3)	—	12,799	37–44
83	September 12	Phillies	6–2	Solomon (7–4)	Noles	Scurry (5)	11,370	38–44
84	September 13	Phillies	3–2	Jones (4–2)	Reed	Tekulve (3)	16,493	39–44
85	September 15	@ Cubs	8–2	Tiant (2–4)	Griffin	—	5,254	40–44
86	September 18	@ Phillies	7–6	Scurry (4–5)	Reed	Lee (4)	24,537	41–44
87	September 19	@ Phillies	2–8	Larson	Jones (4–3)	Christenson	30,446	41–45
88	September 20	@ Phillies	4–5	Lyle	Solomon (7–5)	—	31,489	41–46
89	September 21	@ Mets	3–4 (13)	Boitano	Lee (0–1)	—	7,429	41–47
90	September 22	@ Mets	5–3	Bibby (6–3)	Scott	Scurry (6)	6,855	42–47
91	September 23	@ Expos	2–3	Jackson	Rhoden (8–4)	—	10,081	42–48
92	September 24	@ Expos	1–7	Lee	Jones (4–4)	—	23,459	42–49
93	September 25	@ Cardinals	5–4	Solomon (8–5)	Kaat	Scurry (7)	15,377	43–49
94	September 26	@ Cardinals	3–5	Forsch	Lee (0–2)	Sutter	19,761	43–50
95	September 27	@ Cardinals	5–7	LaPoint	Perez (2–7)	Sutter	17,703	43–51
96	September 28	Cubs	4–0	Rhoden (9–4)	Griffin	—		44–51
97	September 28	Cubs	1–3	Geisel	Long (1–2)	Martz	3,698	44–52
98	September 29	Cubs	10–6	Romo (1–3)	Tidrow	—	3,439	45–52
99	September 30	Expos	2–3	Gullickson	Solomon (8–6)	Fryman	5,826	45–53

October: 1–3 (Home: 1–3; Away: 0–0)

Legend: = Win = Loss = Tie
Bold = Pirates team member

Roster

1981 Pittsburgh Pirates

Roster

Pitchers

26 Jim Bibby

47 Ernie Camacho

45 John Candelaria

49 Víctor Cruz

23 Grant Jackson

22 Odell Jones

46 Mark Lee

34 Bob Long

25 Pascual Pérez

29 Rick Rhoden

43 Don Robinson

15 Enrique Romo

19 Rod Scurry

44 Eddie Solomon

27 Kent Tekulve

38 Luis Tiant

Catchers

16 Steve Nicosia

6 Tony Peña

Infielders

35 Gary Alexander

4 Dale Berra

11 Kurt Bevacqua

10 Tim Foli

3 Phil Garner

2 Vance Law

5 Bill Madlock

34 John Milner

14 Willie Montañez

3 Johnny Ray

28 Bill Robinson

8 Willie Stargell

30 Jason Thompson

Outfielders

36 Matt Alexander

24 Mike Easler

17 Lee Lacy

18 Omar Moreno

39 Dave Parker

Other batters

12 Doe Boyland

Manager

7 Chuck Tanner

Coaches

31 Harvey Haddix (pitching)

32 Joe Lonnett (third base)

42 Alex Monchak (first base)

48 Bob Skinner (hitting)

Opening Day lineup

CF – Omar Moreno

SS – Tim Foli

RF – Dave Parker

1B – Jason Thompson

LF – Mike Easler

3B – Bill Madlock

2B – Dale Berra

C – Steve Nicosia

P – Jim Bibby

Player stats

Batting

Regular Season^[3]
Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Lee, M.M. Lee	12	2	1	0.500	0	0
Alexander, M.M. Alexander	15	11	4	0.364	0	0
Madlock, B.B. Madlock	82	279	95	0.341	6	45
Peña, T.T. Peña	66	210	63	0.300	2	17
Easler, M.M. Easler	95	339	97	0.286	7	42
Stargell, W.W. Stargell	38	60	17	0.283	0	9
Moreno, O.O. Moreno	103	434	120	0.276	1	35
Lacy, L.L. Lacy	78	213	57	0.268	2	10
Montañez, W.W. Montañez	29	38	10	0.263	1	1
Bevacqua, K.K. Bevacqua	29	27	7	0.259	1	4
Parker, D.D. Parker	67	240	62	0.258	9	48
Garner, P.P. Garner	56	181	46	0.254	1	20
Robinson, D.D. Robinson	17	12	3	0.250	0	1
Foli, T.T. Foli	86	316	78	0.247	0	20
Ray, J.J. Ray	31	102	25	0.245	0	6
Thompson, J.J. Thompson	86	223	54	0.242	15	42
Berra, D.D. Berra	81	232	56	0.241	2	27
Milner, J.J. Milner	34	59	14	0.237	2	9
Candelaria, J.J. Candelaria	6	13	3	0.231	0	3
Nicosia, S.S. Nicosia	54	169	39	0.231	2	18
Robinson, B.B. Robinson	39	88	19	0.216	2	8
Alexander, G.G. Alexander	21	47	10	0.213	1	6
Jones, O.O. Jones	13	10	2	0.200	0	0
Rhoden, R.R. Rhoden	21	48	9	0.188	0	0
Tiant, L.L. Tiant	9	16	3	0.188	0	4
Solomon, E.E. Solomon	25	43	7	0.163	0	3
Scurry, R.R. Scurry	27	19	3	0.158	0	0
Bibby, J.J. Bibby	14	28	4	0.143	1	3
Pérez, P.P. Pérez	18	22	3	0.136	0	0
Law, V.V. Law	30	67	9	0.134	0	3
Boyland, D.D. Boyland	11	8	0	0.000	0	0
Camacho, E.E. Camacho	7	4	0	0.000	0	0
Cruz, V.V. Cruz	22	4	0	0.000	0	0
Jackson, G.G. Jackson	35	2	0	0.000	0	0
Long, B.B. Long	5	4	0	0.000	0	0
Romo, E.E. Romo	33	4	0	0.000	0	0
Tekulve, K.K. Tekulve	45	2	0	0.000	0	0

Pitching

Regular Season^[4]
Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Tekulve, K.K. Tekulve	45	65	5	5	2.49	34
Bibby, J.J. Bibby	14	93.666666666667 !93²⁄₃	6	3	2.50	48
Jackson, G.G. Jackson	35	32.333333333333 !32¹⁄₃	1	2	2.51	17
Cruz, V.V. Cruz	22	34	1	1	2.65	28
Lee, M.M. Lee	12	19.666666666667 !19²⁄₃	0	2	2.75	5
Solomon, E.E. Solomon	22	127	8	6	3.12	38
Jones, O.O. Jones	13	54.333333333333 !54¹⁄₃	4	5	3.31	30
Candelaria, J.J. Candelaria	6	40.666666666667 !40²⁄₃	2	2	3.54	14
Scurry, R.R. Scurry	27	74	4	5	3.77	65
Rhoden, R.R. Rhoden	21	136.33333333333 !136¹⁄₃	9	4	3.89	76
Tiant, L.L. Tiant	9	57.333333333333 !57¹⁄₃	2	5	3.92	32
Pérez, P.P. Pérez	17	86.333333333333 !86¹⁄₃	2	7	3.96	46
Romo, E.E. Romo	33	41.666666666667 !41²⁄₃	1	3	4.54	23
Camacho, E.E. Camacho	7	21.666666666667 !21²⁄₃	0	1	4.98	11
Robinson, D.D. Robinson	16	38.333333333333 !38¹⁄₃	0	3	5.87	17
Long, B.B. Long	5	19.666666666667 !19²⁄₃	1	2	5.95	8

Awards and honors

1981 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Dave Parker, RF, Starter
Bill Madlock, 3B, Reserve
Mike Easler, OF, Reserve
Phil Garner, 2B, Reserve

Transactions

October 22, 1980 – Jesse Jefferson granted Free Agency.
October 22, 1980 – John Milner granted Free Agency.
October 29, 1980 – Traded a player to be named later and cash to the Seattle Mariners. Received Odell Jones. The Pittsburgh Pirates sent Larry Andersen (October 29, 1980) to the Seattle Mariners to complete the trade.
December 9, 1980 – Traded Bert Blyleven and Manny Sanguillén to the Cleveland Indians. Received Gary Alexander, Victor Cruz, Bob Owchinko and Rafael Vasquez.
January 13, 1981 – Drafted John Kruk in the 3rd round of the 1981 amateur draft (January), but did not sign the player.
January 19, 1981 – Signed Larvell Blanks as a free agent.
January 20, 1981 – Signed Rusty Torres as a free agent.
January 23, 1981 – Signed John Milner as a free agent.
February 23, 1981 – Signed Luis Tiant as a free agent.
April 1, 1981 – Traded Mickey Mahler and Ed Ott to the California Angels. Received Jason Thompson.
April 5, 1981 – Purchased Jim Smith from the Baltimore Orioles.
April 5, 1981 – Traded Dave Dravecky to the San Diego Padres. Received Bobby Mitchell (minors).
April 6, 1981 – Traded Bob Owchinko to the Oakland Athletics. Received a player to be named later and cash. The Oakland Athletics sent Ernie Camacho (April 10, 1981) to the Pittsburgh Pirates to complete the trade.
May 4, 1981 – Signed Willie Horton as a free agent.
June 8, 1981 – Drafted Ray Krawczyk in the 1st round (4th pick) of the 1981 amateur draft (June Secondary).
June 8, 1981 – Drafted Jim Winn in the 1st round (14th pick) of the 1981 amateur draft.
June 8, 1981 – Drafted Lee Tunnell in the 2nd round of the 1981 amateur draft.
June 8, 1981 – Drafted Bip Roberts in the 5th round of the 1981 amateur draft, but did not sign the player.
June 8, 1981 – Drafted Scott Bankhead in the 17th round of the 1981 amateur draft, but did not sign the player.
June 8, 1981 – Drafted Chris Bosio in the 29th round of the 1981 amateur draft, but did not sign the player.
June 8, 1981 – Drafted Lance Johnson in the 30th round of the 1981 amateur draft, but did not sign the player.
June 25, 1981 – Signed Denny González as an amateur free agent.
July 11, 1981 – Signed Bobby Bonilla as an amateur free agent.
August 20, 1981 – Traded John Milner to the Montreal Expos. Received Willie Montañez.
August 31, 1981 – Traded Phil Garner to the Houston Astros. Received players to be named later and Johnny Ray. The Houston Astros sent Randy Niemann (September 9, 1981) and Kevin Houston (minors) (September 9, 1981) to the Pittsburgh Pirates to complete the trade.
September 1, 1981 – Sold Grant Jackson to the Montreal Expos for $50,000.
October 5, 1981 – Released Luis Tiant.
October 23, 1981 – Purchased Manny Sarmiento from the Boston Red Sox.
October 26, 1981 – Released Kurt Bevacqua.

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Portland Beavers	Pacific Coast League	Pete Ward
AA	Buffalo Bisons	Eastern League	Johnny Lipon
A	Alexandria Pirates	Carolina League	Mike Toomey
A	Greenwood Pirates	South Atlantic League	Joe Frisina
Rookie	GCL Pirates	Gulf Coast League	Woody Huyke

Notes

↑ From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.
↑ Associated Press (April 24, 1981). "Pirates Considering New Orleans Move". Ellensburg Daily Record. Retrieved June 19, 2009.
↑ "Major League Baseball Stats | pirates.com: Stats". Pittsburgh Pirates.
↑ "Major League Baseball Stats | pirates.com: Stats". Pittsburgh Pirates.

References

1981 Pittsburgh Pirates at Baseball Reference
1981 Pittsburgh Pirates at Baseball Almanac
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.

1981 MLB season by team

AL East	Baltimore Boston Cleveland Detroit Milwaukee New York Toronto

AL West	California Chicago Kansas City Minnesota Oakland Seattle Texas

NL East	Chicago Montréal New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis

NL West	Atlanta Cincinnati Houston Los Angeles San Diego San Francisco

1981 MLB draft 1981 All-Star Game 1981 strike 1981 World Series

Pittsburgh Pirates

Formerly the Pittsburgh Alleghenys
Founded in 1882
Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Franchise

Ballparks

Spring training: Whittington Park; Riverside Park; Fogel Field; Barrs Field; Rickwood Field; Whittington Park; Perris Hill Park; Tech Field; Perris Hill Park; McCulloch Park; Perris Hill Park; Flamingo Field; Gilmore Field; Gran Stadium; Jaycee Park; Terry Park; Pirate City/McKechnie Field

Culture

Lore

Pittsburgh Allegheny
Pirates' lore
Wagner donates uniforms
Lou Bierbauer
Temple Cup
Chronicle-Telegraph Cup
Pittsburgh Stars
Homer in the Gloamin'
1960 Game 7
1985 drug trials
Francisco Cabrera game
National League Wild Card Games
- 2013
- 2014
- 2015

Rivalries

Philadelphia Phillies

Minors

AAA: Indianapolis Indians
AA: Altoona Curve
A Adv.: Bradenton Marauders
A: West Virginia Power
Short A: West Virginia Black Bears
Rookie Adv.: Bristol Pirates
Rookie: GCL Pirates; DSL Pirates
All-time: Minor league affiliate history

World Series
Championships (5)

1909
1925
1960
1971
1979

League pennants (9)

American Association: none
National League: 1901; 1902; 1903; 1909; 1925; 1927; 1960; 1971; 1979

Division titles (9)

East: 1970; 1971; 1972; 1974; 1975; 1979; 1990; 1991; 1992
Central: none

Wild Card berths (3)

Media

Seasons (136)

1880s	1880 · 1881 · 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889

1890s	1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899

1900s	1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909

1910s	1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919

1920s	1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929

1930s	1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939

1940s	1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949

1950s	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959

1960s	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969

1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979

1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

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