1981 California Angels season

1981 California Angels
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1961)
West Division (since 1969)
Location
Anaheim Stadium (since 1966)
Anaheim, California (since 1966)
Other information
Owner(s)	Gene Autry
General manager(s)	Buzzie Bavasi
Manager(s)	Jim Fregosi, Gene Mauch
Local television	KTLA
Local radio	KMPC (Don Drysdale, Ron Fairly, Bob Starr, Dick Enberg)
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The California Angels 1981 season involved the Angels finishing with the 5th best overall record in the American League West with 51 wins and 59 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.

Offseason

• December 2, 1980: Geoff Zahn was signed as a free agent by the Angels.^[1]
• December 8, 1980: Dan Whitmer was drafted from the Angels by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1980 rule 5 draft.^[2]
• January 13, 1981: Ron Romanick was drafted by the California Angels in the 1st round (4th pick) of the 1981 amateur draft (Secondary Phase).^[3]
• January 23, 1981: Joe Rudi, Frank Tanana and Jim Dorsey were traded by the Angels to the Boston Red Sox for Fred Lynn and Steve Renko.^[4]
• February 2, 1981: Dave Rader was signed as a free agent by the Angels.^[5]
• February 2, 1981: Dave Skaggs was released by the Angels.^[6]

Regular season

Season standings

AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Oakland Athletics	64	45	0.587	—	35–21	29–24
Texas Rangers	57	48	0.543	5	32–24	25–24
Chicago White Sox	54	52	0.509	8½	25–24	29–28
Kansas City Royals	50	53	0.485	11	19–28	31–25
California Angels	51	59	0.464	13½	26–28	25–31
Seattle Mariners	44	65	0.404	20	20–37	24–28
Minnesota Twins	41	68	0.376	23	24–36	17–32

AL West First Half Standings	W	L	Pct.
Oakland Athletics	37	23	.617
Texas Rangers	33	22	.600
Chicago White Sox	31	22	.585
California Angels	31	29	.517
Kansas City Royals	20	30	.400
Seattle Mariners	21	36	.368
Minnesota Twins	17	39	.304

AL West Second Half Standings	W	L	Pct.
Kansas City Royals	30	23	.566
Oakland Athletics	27	22	.551
Texas Rangers	24	26	.480
Minnesota Twins	24	29	.453
Seattle Mariners	23	29	.442
Chicago White Sox	23	30	.434
California Angels	20	30	.400

Record vs. opponents

1981 American League Records 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 20, 1981: Dave Rader was released by the Angels.^[5]
• June 8, 1981: 1981 Major League Baseball draft
  • Dick Schofield was drafted by the Angels in the 1st round (3rd pick).^[7]
  • Devon White was drafted by the Angels in the 6th round. Player signed June 13, 1981.^[8]

Roster

1981 California Angels
Roster
Pitchers 46 Don Aase 28 John D'Acquisto 43 Ken Forsch 37 Dave Frost 41 Andy Hassler 34 Jesse Jefferson 24 Bruce Kison 22 Mickey Mahler 27 Alfredo Martínez 21 Ángel Moreno 31 Doug Rau 45 Steve Renko 40 Luis Sánchez 26 Bill Travers 39 Mike Witt 38 Geoff Zahn		Catchers 16 Bob Davis 11 Joe Ferguson 14 Ed Ott Infielders  7 Rick Burleson 19 Bert Campaneris 29 Rod Carew  4 Bobby Grich 13 John Harris 10 Butch Hobson 23 Steve Lubratich  2 Freddie Patek  6 Daryl Sconiers		Outfielders 12 Juan Beníquez 3,30 Tom Brunansky 32 Bobby Clark  9 Brian Downing 15 Dan Ford 20 Larry Harlow  9 Brian Harper  8 Fred Lynn Other batters 25 Don Baylor		Manager 11 Jim Fregosi 44 Gene Mauch Coaches 49 Bob Clear 51 Preston Gómez  1 Bobby Knoop 47 Tom Morgan 50 Jimmie Reese 14 Merv Rettenmund

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
CF	Lynn, FredFred Lynn	76	256	56	.219	5	31

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
Sconiers, DarylDaryl Sconiers	15	52	14	.269	1	7

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Zahn, GeoffGeoff Zahn	25	161.1	10	11	4.41	52

Other pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Relief pitchers

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Salt Lake City Gulls	Pacific Coast League	Moose Stubing
AA	Holyoke Millers	Eastern League	Jim Saul
A	Redwood Pioneers	California League	Chris Cannizzaro
A-Short Season	Salem Senators	Northwest League	Rick Ingalls
Rookie	Idaho Falls Angels	Pioneer League	Joe Maddon

Notes

1. Geoff Zahn at Baseball Reference
2. Dan Whitmer at Baseball Reference
3. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/romanro01.shtml
4. Joe Rudi at Baseball Reference
5. Dave Rader at Baseball Reference
6. Dave Skaggs at Baseball Reference
7. Dick Schofield at Baseball Reference
8. Devon White 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.

External links

• 1981 California Angels at Baseball Reference
• 1981 California Angels at Baseball Almanac