Wikipedia

1981 Houston Astros season

1981 Houston Astros
National League West Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record61–49 (.555)
Divisional place3rd (first half); 1st (second half)
Other information
Owner(s)John McMullen
General manager(s)Al Rosen
Manager(s)Bill Virdon
Local televisionKRIV
Local radioKENR
(Gene Elston, Dewayne Staats, Larry Dierker)
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The Houston Astros' 1981 season was a season in American baseball. The season was divided into two halves because of a players' strike in mid-season. The Astros won the Western Division of the National League in the second half and advanced to the playoffs. However, they were defeated in five games by the Dodgers in the NLDS.

Offseason

  • December 4, 1980: Don Sutton was signed as a free agent by the Astros.[1]
  • December 8, 1980: Chris Bourjos was traded by the San Francisco Giants with Bob Knepper to the Houston Astros for Enos Cabell.[2]
  • March 27, 1981: Julio González was released by the Astros.[3]

Regular season

Season standings

NL West 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cincinnati Reds 66 42 0.611 — 32–22 34–20
Los Angeles Dodgers 63 47 0.573 4 33–23 30–24
Houston Astros 61 49 0.555 6 31–20 30–29
San Francisco Giants 56 55 0.505 11½ 29–24 27–31
Atlanta Braves 50 56 0.472 15 22–27 28–29
San Diego Padres 41 69 0.373 26 20–35 21–34
NL West
First Half Standings 		W L Pct. GB
Los Angeles Dodgers 36 21 .632 —
Cincinnati Reds 35 21 .625 ​1&fras1;2
Houston Astros 28 29 .491 8
Atlanta Braves 25 29 .463 ​9 1&fras1;2
San Francisco Giants 27 32 .458 10
San Diego Padres 23 33 .411 ​12 1&fras1;2
NL West
Second Half Standings 		W L Pct. GB
Houston Astros 33 20 .623 —
Cincinnati Reds 31 21 .596 ​1 1&fras1;2
San Francisco Giants 29 23 .558 ​3 1&fras1;2
Los Angeles Dodgers 27 26 .509 6
Atlanta Braves 25 27 .481 ​7 1&fras1;2
San Diego Padres 18 36 .333 ​15 1&fras1;2

Record vs. opponents

1981 National League Records

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
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 —


Notable transactions

  • April 1, 1981: Chris Bourjos was traded by the Houston Astros with cash to the Baltimore Orioles for Kiko Garcia.[2]
  • April 3, 1981: Gary Rajsich was traded by the Astros to the New York Mets for John Csefalvay (minors).[4]
  • April 17, 1981: David Clyde was signed as a free agent by the Astros.[5]
  • June 7, 1981: Joaquín Andújar was traded by the Astros to the St. Louis Cardinals for Tony Scott.[6]
  • June 8, 1981: Eric Bullock was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 1st round (20th pick) of the 1981 amateur draft (Secondary Phase).[7]

Nolan Ryan's 5th No-Hitter

On September 26, 1981, Nolan Ryan no-hit the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-0, on national television. The 34-year-old right-hander became the first pitcher to throw five career no-hitters.[8] It had been six years since Ryan's last no-hitter; he pitched for the California Angels for the last of four no-hitters.

Roster

1981 Houston Astros
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders 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
CF Tony Scott 55 225 66 .293 2 22

Other batters

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Denny Walling 65 158 37 .234 5 23
Scott Loucks 10 7 4 .571 0 0
Alan Knicely 3 7 4 .571 2 2

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Don Sutton 23 158.2 11 9 2.61 104
Nolan Ryan 21 149 11 5 1.69 140

Other pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Joaquín Andújar 9 23.2 2 3 4.94 18

Relief pitchers

Player G IP W L SV ERA SO

1981 National League Division Series

See also: 1981 National League Division Series

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Houston Astros

Los Angeles wins series, 3-2.

Game Score Date
1 Houston 3, Los Angeles 1 October 6
2 Houston 1, Los Angeles 0 (11 innings) October 7
3 Los Angeles 6, Houston 1 October 9
4 Los Angeles 2, Houston 1 October 10
5 Los Angeles 4, Houston 0 October 11

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Tucson Toros Pacific Coast League Jimmy Johnson
AA Columbus Astros Southern League Matt Galante
A Daytona Beach Astros Florida State League Carlos Alfonso
Rookie GCL Astros Blue Gulf Coast League Eric Swanson
Rookie GCL Astros Orange Gulf Coast League Lyle Olsen

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Daytona Beach

References

  1. ^ Don Sutton at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ a b https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bourjch01.shtml?redir
  3. ^ Julio González at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Gary Rajsich at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ David Clyde at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Joaquín Andújar at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bulloer01.shtml
  8. ^ "Big Days in Astros History – September 26, 1981 – Nolan Ryan pitches his fifth no-hitter". AstrosDaily.com. Retrieved November 15, 2014.

External links

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