1981 San Francisco Giants season

1981 San Francisco Giants
Major league affiliations
National League (since 1883) Western Division (since 1969)
Location
Candlestick Park (since 1960) San Francisco, California (since 1958)
1981 information
Owner(s)	Bob Lurie
General manager(s)	Spec Richardson, Tom Haller
Manager(s)	Frank Robinson
Local television	KTVU (Lindsey Nelson, Gary Park, Edgard Martinez)
Local radio	KNBR (Lindsey Nelson, Hank Greenwald, David Glass)
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The 1981 season was the 99th season in Giants history. Giants manager Frank Robinson became the first black manager in the history of the National League. Robinson was also the first black manager in the history of the American League.

Offseason

• December 8, 1980: Chris Bourjos and Bob Knepper were traded by the Giants to the Houston Astros for Enos Cabell.
• December 9, 1980: DeWayne Buice was drafted from the Giants by the Oakland Athletics in the 1980 minor league draft.
• December 12, 1980: John Montefusco and Craig Landis (minors) were traded by the Giants to the Atlanta Braves for Doyle Alexander.
• December 12, 1980: Joe Strain and Philip Nastu were traded by the Giants to the Chicago Cubs for Jerry Martin, Jesús Figueroa, and a player to be named later. The Cubs completed the deal by sending Mike Turgeon (minors) to the Giants on August 11, 1981.
• February 9, 1981: Joe Morgan was signed as a free agent by the Giants.
• March 23, 1981: Billy Smith was purchased by the Giants from the Philadelphia Phillies.
• March 31, 1981: Gorman Heimueller was released by the Giants.

Regular season

Season standings

NL West First Half Standings	W	L	Pct.
Los Angeles Dodgers	36	21	.632
Cincinnati Reds	35	21	.625
Houston Astros	28	29	.491
Atlanta Braves	25	29	.463
San Francisco Giants	27	32	.458
San Diego Padres	23	33	.411

NL West Second Half Standings	W	L	Pct.
Houston Astros	33	20	.623
Cincinnati Reds	31	21	.596
San Francisco Giants	29	23	.558
Los Angeles Dodgers	27	26	.509
Atlanta Braves	25	27	.481
San Diego Padres	18	36	.333

Opening Day starters

• Vida Blue
• Enos Cabell
• Jack Clark
• Darrell Evans
• Larry Herndon
• Johnnie LeMaster
• Milt May
• Joe Morgan
• Billy North

Notable transactions

• May 17, 1981: Phil Ouellette was signed by the Giants as an amateur free agent.
• August 3, 1981: Mike Sadek was released by the Giants.

Roster

1981 San Francisco Giants
Roster
Pitchers 33 Doyle Alexander 14 Vida Blue 48 Fred Breining 43 Tom Griffin 40 Alan Hargesheimer 19 Al Holland 46 Gary Lavelle 38 Greg Minton 17 Randy Moffitt 45 Allen Ripley 28 Mike Rowland 17 Bob Tufts 32 Ed Whitson		Catchers 15 Bob Brenly  7 Milt May  3 Jeff Ransom  3 Mike Sadek Infielders 16 Dave Bergman 23 Enos Cabell 41 Darrell Evans 15 Mike Ivie 10 Johnnie LeMaster  8 Joe Morgan  2 Joe Pettini 21 Billy Smith  6 Rennie Stennett 18 Guy Sularz		Outfielders 22 Jack Clark 30 Chili Davis 31 Larry Herndon 26 Jeffrey Leonard 25 Jerry Martin 36 Billy North 49 Max Venable  1 Jim Wohlford		Manager 20 Frank Robinson Coaches  8 Vern Benson 12 Jim Davenport  5 Jim Lefebvre 47 Don McMahon 42 John VanOrnum

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

= Indicates team leader

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	May, MiltMilt May	97	316	98	.310	2	33
1B	Cabell, EnosEnos Cabell	96	396	101	.255	2	36
2B	Morgan, JoeJoe Morgan	90	308	74	.240	8	31
3B	Evans, DarrellDarrell Evans	102	357	92	.258	12	48
SS	LeMaster, JohnnieJohnnie LeMaster	104	324	82	.253	0	28
LF	Clark, JackJack Clark	99	385	103	.268	17	53
CF	Herndon, LarryLarry Herndon	96	364	105	.288	5	41
RF	Martin, JerryJerry Martin	72	241	58	.241	4	25

Other batters

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Bergman, DaveDave Bergman	63	145	37	.255	3	13
North, BillyBilly North	46	131	29	.221	1	12
Leonard, JeffreyJeffrey Leonard	37	127	39	.307	4	26
Stennett, RennieRennie Stennett	38	87	20	.230	1	7
Wohlford, JimJim Wohlford	50	68	11	.162	1	7
Smith, BillyBilly Smith	36	61	11	.180	1	5
Brenly, BobBob Brenly	19	45	15	.333	1	4
Sadek, MikeMike Sadek	19	36	6	.167	0	3
Venable, MaxMax Venable	18	32	6	.188	0	1
Pettini, JoeJoe Pettini	35	29	2	.069	0	2
Sularz, GuyGuy Sularz	10	20	4	.200	0	2
Ivie, MikeMike Ivie	7	17	5	.294	0	3
Davis, ChiliChili Davis	8	15	2	.133	0	0
Ransom, JeffJeff Ransom	5	15	4	.267	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Alexander, DoyleDoyle Alexander	24	152.3	11	7	2.89	77
Griffin, TomTom Griffin	22	129.3	8	8	3.76	83
Whitson, EdEd Whitson	22	123.0	6	9	4.02	65
Blue, VidaVida Blue	18	124.7	8	6	2.45	63
Ripley, AllenAllen Ripley	19	90.7	4	4	4.07	47

Other pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Hargesheimer, AlanAlan Hargesheimer	6	18.7	1	2	4.34	6

Relief pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Minton, GregGreg Minton	55	84.1	4	5	21	2.88	29
Breining, FredFred Breining	45	77.2	5	2	1	2.55	37
Holland, AlAl Holland	47	100.2	7	5	7	2.41	78
Lavelle, GaryGary Lavelle	34	65.2	2	6	4	3.84	45
Tufts, BobBob Tufts	11	15.1	0	0	0	3.52	12
Rowland, MikeMike Rowland	9	15.2	0	1	0	3.45	8
Moffitt, RandyRandy Moffitt	10	11.1	0	0	0	7.94	11

Awards and honors

• 1981 Larry Herndon LF, Willie Mac Award

All-Star Game

• Vida Blue, reserve

Farm system

See also: Minor league baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Phoenix Giants	Pacific Coast League	Rocky Bridges
AA	Shreveport Captains	Texas League	Jack Mull
A	Fresno Giants	California League	Wayne Cato
A	Clinton Giants	Midwest League	Wendell Kim
Rookie	Great Falls Giants	Pioneer League	Ernie Rodriguez

External links

• 1981 San Francisco Giants team page at Baseball Reference
• 1981 San Francisco Giants team page at Baseball Almanac