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1981 Minnesota Twins season

Field	Value
name	Minnesota Twins
season	1981
league	American League
division	West
ballpark	Metropolitan Stadium
city	Bloomington, Minnesota
record
divisional_place	7th
owners	Calvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes)
general_managers	Calvin Griffith
managers	Johnny Goryl, Billy Gardner
television	KMSP-TV
(Bob Kurtz, Larry Osterman)
radio	830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, Frank Quilici)

(Bob Kurtz, Larry Osterman) (Herb Carneal, Frank Quilici) |}} The **1981 Minnesota Twins season **was the 21st season for the Minnesota Twins franchise in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, the 81st overall in the American League and the 21st and final season at Metropolitan Stadium, as the team moved to the Metrodome the next season.

The Twins finished with a 41–68 record, seventh in the American League West. In the strike split season, the Twins were 17–39, seventh place in the first half and 24–29, fourth place in the second half. 469,090 fans attended Twins games, the lowest total in the American League. The franchise would not play another outdoor home game until 2010, when Target Field opened.

Offseason

December 8, 1980: Dave Edwards was traded by the Twins to the San Diego Padres for Chuck Baker.
December 8, 1980: Jack O'Connor was drafted by the Twins from the Montreal Expos in the rule 5 draft.
December 12, 1980: Willie Norwood was traded by the Twins to the Seattle Mariners for Byron McLaughlin.
March 27, 1981: Bombo Rivera was released by the Twins.
March 30, 1981: Ken Landreaux was traded by the Twins to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Mickey Hatcher, Kelly Snider (minors), and Matt Reeves (minors).

Regular season

Only one Twins player made the All-Star Game: relief pitcher Doug Corbett.

On August 24, first baseman Kent Hrbek made his major league debut, in a Yankee Stadium game. His twelfth-inning home run beat the Yankees 3–2. Later that week, Hrbek was topped by catcher Tim Laudner, who debuted on August 28 and hit home runs in his first two games.

On September 20, Gary Gaetti made his major league debut and started at third base for the Twins. In his first at bat in the second inning, he homered off Texas Rangers pitcher Charlie Hough to become the third Twin to homer in his first-ever at bat. Gaetti joined Rick Renick (1968) and Dave McKay (1975). Later, Andre David (1984) and Eddie Rosario (2015) will join the trio in Twins history.

The Twins played their final game at Metropolitan Stadium on September 30, losing 5–2 to the Kansas City Royals. The club played their last outdoor home game for the next twenty-eight seasons in 56-degree temperature in front of 15,900 fans. "The Met" had been the Twins' home since their Minnesota opener on April 21, 1961 (also a loss). Gary Ward had the final Twins hit in the Met, a single in the ninth inning. Pete Mackanin homered in the second for the final Twins Met Stadium home run.

Offense

John Castino batted .268 with 6 HR and 36 RBI. Shortstop Roy Smalley had 7 HR and collected 22 RBI.

Statistic	Player	Quantity
HR	Roy Smalley	7
RBI	Mickey Hatcher	37
BA	John Castino	.268
Runs	Gary Ward	42

Pitching

Reliever Doug Corbett was the Twins' only bright spot on the mound, racking up 17 saves.

Statistic	Player	Quantity
ERA	Fernando Arroyo	3.93
Wins	Pete Redfern	9
Saves	Doug Corbett	17
Strikeouts	Pete Redfern	77

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

June 8, 1981: Frank Viola was drafted by the Twins in the 2nd round of the 1981 Major League Baseball draft.
August 23, 1981: Ron Jackson was traded by the Twins to the Detroit Tigers for a player to be named later. The Tigers completed the deal by sending Tim Corcoran to the Twins on September 4.
August 30, 1981: Jerry Koosman was traded by the Twins to the Chicago White Sox for Ivan Mesa (minors), Ronnie Perry (minors), a player to be named later, and cash. The White Sox completed the trade by sending Randy Johnson to the Twins on September 2.

Roster

1981 Minnesota Twins
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	Sal Butera	62	167	40	.240	0	18
1B	Danny Goodwin	59	151	34	.225	2	17
2B	Rob Wilfong	93	305	75	.246	3	19
3B		101	381	102	.268	6	36
SS		56	167	44	.263	7	22
LF		85	295	78	.264	3	29
CF		99	377	96	.255	3	37
RF	Dave Engle	82	248	64	.258	5	32
DH	Glenn Adams	72	220	46	.209	2	24

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
Hosken Powell	80	264	63	.239	2	25
Pete Mackanin	77	225	52	.231	4	18
	54	175	46	.263	4	28
Butch Wynegar	47	150	37	.247	0	10
Rick Sofield	41	102	18	.176	0	5
Ron Washington	28	84	19	.226	0	5
Kent Hrbek	24	67	16	.239	1	7
	40	66	12	.182	0	6
	22	51	9	.176	0	4
Tim Laudner	14	43	7	.163	2	5
	12	41	8	.195	0	6
Ray Smith	15	40	8	.200	1	1
Gary Gaetti	9	26	5	.192	2	3
Greg Johnston	7	16	2	.125	0	0
Mark Funderburk	8	15	3	.200	0	2

Pitching

	= Indicates league leader

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
	23	150.0	6	10	4.08	76
	24	141.2	9	8	4.07	77
	23	128.1	7	10	3.93	39
	19	94.1	3	9	4.20	55
	14	91.1	3	8	3.84	44
Brad Havens	14	78.0	3	6	3.58	43

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
	14	32.2	3	3	4.41	26

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
	54	2	6	17	2.57	60
	28	3	2	0	5.86	16
	27	1	5	0	4.30	33
John Verhoeven	25	0	0	0	3.98	16
Bob Veselic	5	1	1	0	3.18	13
John Hobbs	4	0	0	0	3.18	1
Terry Felton	1	0	0	0	40.50	1

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Orlando

Notes

References

[https://www.baseball-reference.com/e/edwarda01.shtml Dave Edwards page at Baseball Reference]
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/o/o'conja02.shtml Jack O'Connor page at Baseball Reference]
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/n/norwowi01.shtml Willie Norwood page at Baseball Reference]
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/riverbo01.shtml Bombo Rivera page at Baseball Reference]
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/l/landrke01.shtml Ken Landreaux page at Baseball Reference]
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/v/violafr01.shtml Frank Viola page at Baseball Reference]
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/j/jacksro02.shtml Ron Jackson page at Baseball Reference]
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/k/koosmje01.shtml Jerry Koosman page 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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