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1981 Kansas City Royals season

Field	Value
name	Kansas City Royals
season	1981
league	American League
division	West
ballpark	Royals Stadium
city	Kansas City, Missouri
record
divisional_place	4th
owners	Ewing Kauffman
general_managers	Joe Burke
managers	Jim Frey and Dick Howser
television	WDAF-TV 4
(Al Wisk, Denny Trease)
radio	WIBW–AM 580
KMBZ–AM 980
(Denny Matthews, Fred White)

(Al Wisk, Denny Trease) KMBZ–AM 980 (Denny Matthews, Fred White) The 1981 Kansas City Royals season was their 13th in Major League Baseball. The 1981 season was interrupted by a players strike from June 12 to July 31, and resumed on August 10. Major League Baseball officials decided to split the season, and the division winners of both halves would advance to the playoffs. The Royals were 20–30 and in fifth place in the American League West when the strike began, but won the second half with a 30–23 mark. Dick Howser replaced Jim Frey as manager on August 31. Kansas City's overall 50–53 record made the Royals the first team in MLB history to reach the postseason with a losing mark. Kansas City lost to the first half American League West winner Oakland Athletics 3–0 in the ALDS.

Offseason

January 6, 1981: Derek Botelho was signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals.

Regular season

August 10, 1981: Cal Ripken Jr. made his major league debut for the Baltimore Orioles in a game against the Royals.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

April 3, 1981: Bombo Rivera was signed as a free agent by the Royals.
June 8, 1981: 1981 Major League Baseball draft
- Dave Leeper was drafted by the Royals in the 1st round (23rd pick). Player signed June 10, 1981.
- David Cone was drafted by the Royals in the 3rd round. Player signed June 10, 1981.

Roster

1981 Kansas City Royals roster
Roster
Pitchers

Player stats

	= Indicates team leader

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	John Wathan	89	301	76	.252	1	19
1B	Willie Aikens	101	349	93	.266	17	53
2B	Frank White	94	364	91	.250	9	38
SS	U L Washington	98	339	77	.227	2	29
3B	George Brett	89	347	109	.314	6	43
LF	Willie Wilson	102	439	133	.303	1	32
CF	Amos Otis	99	372	100	.269	9	57
RF	Darryl Motley	42	125	29	.232	2	8
DH	Hal McRae	101	389	106	.272	7	36

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
César Gerónimo	59	118	29	.246	2	13
Jamie Quirk	46	100	25	.250	0	10
Clint Hurdle	28	76	25	.329	4	15
Jerry Grote	22	56	17	.304	1	9
Lee May	26	55	16	.291	0	8
Dave Chalk	27	49	11	.224	0	5
Rance Mulliniks	24	44	10	.227	0	5
Ken Phelps	21	22	3	.136	0	1
Danny Garcia	12	14	2	.143	0	0
Pat Sheridan	3	1	0	.000	0	0
Tim Ireland	4	0	0	----	0	0
Onix Concepción	2	0	0	----	0	0
Greg Keatley	2	0	0	----	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
Dennis Leonard	26	201.2	13	11	2.99	107
Larry Gura	23	172.1	11	8	2.72	61
Rich Gale	19	101.2	6	6	5.40	47
Paul Splittorff	21	99.0	5	5	4.36	48
Mike Jones	12	75.2	6	3	3.21	29

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
Jim Wright	17	52.0	2	3	3.46	27
Atlee Hammaker	10	39.0	1	3	5.54	11
Juan Berenguer	8	19.2	0	4	8.69	20

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
Dan Quisenberry	40	1	4	18	1.73	20
Renie Martin	29	4	5	4	2.77	25
Ken Brett	22	1	1	2	4.18	7
Bill Paschall	2	0	0	0	4.50	1
Jeff Schattinger	1	0	0	0	0.00	1

ALDS

Main article: 1981 American League Division Series

Oakland wins series, 3–0.

	Game		Score		Date
1
2
3

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: GCL Royals Gold

Notes

References

"Derek Botelho Stats".
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/ripkeca01.shtml Cal Ripken, Jr.] at ''Baseball Reference''
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/riverbo01.shtml Bombo Rivera] at ''Baseball Reference''
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/l/leepeda01.shtml Dave Leeper] at ''Baseball Reference''
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/c/coneda01.shtml David Cone] at ''Baseball Reference''

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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