1981 St. Louis Cardinals season

Last updated

1981  St. Louis Cardinals
St Louis Cardinals Cap Insignia.svg
League National League
Division East
Ballpark Busch Memorial Stadium
City St. Louis, Missouri
Record59–43 (.578)
Divisional place2nd
Owners August "Gussie" Busch
General managers Whitey Herzog
Managers Whitey Herzog
Television KSDK
(Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Jay Randolph, Dan Kelly)
Radio KMOX
(Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Dan Kelly)
  1980 Seasons 1982  

The 1981 St. Louis Cardinals season was the 100th season for the St. Louis Cardinals in St. Louis, Missouri and the 90th season in the National League. 1981 was a season of two significant anomalies: A change in the playoff format, which created the first-ever NLDS with a qualification variant that existed only for that season, and the players' strike, which truncated the regular season. Despite finishing 59-43, good for the best overall record in the National League East, the strike set up the scenario where the Cardinals actually missed the playoffs. The regular season was split into halves to tally teams' records separately in each half of the season, and because the Cardinals finished in second place in each half, they did not qualify for the 1981 playoffs. Major League Baseball reverted to the previous playoff format the following season, and the Cardinals qualified for that postseason.

Contents

First baseman Keith Hernandez won a Gold Glove this year.

Offseason

Regular season

Season standings

NL East
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
St. Louis Cardinals 5943.57832212722
Montreal Expos 6048.556238182230
Philadelphia Phillies 5948.55136192329
Pittsburgh Pirates 4656.4511322282428
New York Mets 4162.39818½24271735
Chicago Cubs 3865.36921½27301135
NL East
First Half Standings
WLPct.GB
Philadelphia Phillies 3421.618
St. Louis Cardinals 3020.6001+12
Montreal Expos 3025.5454
Pittsburgh Pirates 2523.5215+12
New York Mets 1734.33315
Chicago Cubs 1537.28817+12
NL East
Second Half Standings
WLPct.GB
Montreal Expos 3023.566
St. Louis Cardinals 2923.55812
Philadelphia Phillies 2527.4814+12
New York Mets 2428.4625+12
Chicago Cubs 2328.4516
Pittsburgh Pirates 2133.3899+12

Record vs. opponents


Sources:
TeamATLCHCCINHOULADMTLNYMPHIPITSDSFSTL
Atlanta 3–2–16–54–87–73–73–34–52–39–65–74–3
Chicago 2–3–11–51–66–44–75–8–12–104–103–35–55–4–1
Cincinnati 5–65–18–48–85–47–35–24–210–29–50–5
Houston 8–46–14–84–85–26–34–62–411–39–62–4
Los Angeles 7–74–68–88–45–25–13–35–16–57–55–5
Montreal 7–37–44–52–52–59–37–410–34–22–56–9
New York 3–38–5–13–73–61–53–97–73–6–12–52–46–5
Philadelphia 5-410–22–56–43–34–77–77–54–24–37–6
Pittsburgh 3–210–42–44–21–53–106–3–15–76–43–73–8
San Diego 6–93–32–103–115–62–45–22–44–66–73–7
San Francisco 7–55–55–96–95–75–24–23–47–37–62–3
St. Louis 3–44–5–15–04–25–59–65–66–78–37–33–2

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

Roster

1981 St. Louis Cardinals roster
Roster
PitchersCatchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

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

PosPlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
C Darrell Porter 6117439.224631
1B Keith Hernandez 103376115.306848
2B Tom Herr 103411110.268046
SS Garry Templeton 8033396.288133
3B Ken Oberkfell 102376110.293245
LF Dane Iorg 7521771.327239
CF Tony Scott 4517640.227217
RF George Hendrick 101394112.2841861

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

PlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
Sixto Lezcano 7221457.266528
Gene Tenace 5812930.233522
Mike Ramsey 4712432.25809
Tito Landrum 8111931.261010
Gene Roof 236018.30003
Orlando Sánchez 274914.28606
Steve Braun 44469.19602
David Green 21345.14702
Glenn Brummer 21306.20002
Julio González 20227.31813
Neil Fiala 330.00000

Pitching

= Indicates league leader

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Lary Sorensen 23140.1773.2752
Bob Forsch 20124.11053.1841
John Martin 17102.2853.4236
Silvio Martínez 1897.0253.9934
Joaquín Andújar 1155.1613.7419
Andy Rincon 535.2311.7713

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Bob Shirley 2879.1644.0836
Dave LaPoint 310.2104.224

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

PlayerGWLSVERASO
Bruce Sutter 4835252.6257
Jim Kaat 416643.408
Mark Littell 281324.3922
Jim Otten 241005.3020
Bob Sykes 222004.5814
Joe Edelen 131009.3510
Doug Bair 112013.4514
Luis DeLeón 100102.358

Farm system

LevelTeamLeagueManager
AAA Springfield Redbirds American Association Tommy Thompson
AA Arkansas Travelers Texas League Gaylen Pitts
A St. Petersburg Cardinals Florida State League Nick Leyva
A Gastonia Cardinals South Atlantic League Joe Rigoli
A-Short Season Erie Cardinals New York–Penn League Sonny Ruberto
Rookie Johnson City Cardinals Appalachian League Johnny Lewis

References

  1. Bob Geren at Baseball Reference
  2. Bruce Sutter at Baseball Reference
  3. Ted Simmons at Baseball Reference
  4. Rafael Santana at Baseball Reference
  5. Julio González at Baseball Reference
  6. Bill Lyons at Baseball Reference
  7. Joaquín Andújar at Baseball Reference
  8. "Bobby Beacham: Career Statistics". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  9. Tom Nieto at Baseball Reference
  10. Danny Cox at Baseball Reference
  11. Neil Fiala at Baseball Reference