1981 Milwaukee Brewers season

March 2026 November 2013 Milwaukee Brewers 1981 American League East Milwaukee County Stadium Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1st half: 31–25 (.554) 2nd half: 31–22 (.585) Overall: 62–47 (.569) 1st half: 3rd (3 GB) 2nd half: 1st Bud Selig Harry Dalton Buck Rodgers WVTV(Kent Derdivanis, Mike Hegan, Steve Shannon) SelecTV(Joe Castiglione, Tom Collins) WISN (AM) (Lorn Brown, Bob Uecker) The 1981 Milwaukee Brewers season was the franchise's 13th overall season and 12th season based in Milwaukee. The Brewers finished first in American League East during the second half of the split season (caused by the 1981 Major League Baseball strike) and compiled an overall record of 62 wins and 47 losses. The team advanced to the postseason for the first time in franchise history due to their second-half first-place finish, but lost to the New York Yankees in the ALDS. Rollie Fingers became the first relief pitcher in the history of the American League to win the MVP Award.Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 152, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, 978-0-451-22363-0 Offseason December 12, 1980: Sixto Lezcano, David Green, Lary Sorensen and Dave LaPoint were traded by the Brewers to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ted Simmons, Rollie Fingers and Pete Vuckovich.Ted Simmons at Baseball-Reference January 13, 1981: Ernest Riles was drafted by the Brewers in the 3rd round of the 1981 Major League Baseball draft (Secondary phase).Ernest Riles at Baseball-Reference February 21, 1981: Paul Hartzell was signed as a free agent by the Brewers.Paul Hartzell at Baseball-Reference March 20, 1981: Bob Galasso was released by the Brewers.Bob Galasso at Baseball-Reference Regular season Season standings Record vs. opponents MIL Notable transactions April 1, 1981: John Poff was traded by the Brewers to the Chicago White Sox for Thad Bosley.John Poff at Baseball-Reference April 4, 1981: Bill Lyons was released by the Brewers.Bill Lyons at Baseball-Reference April 5, 1981: Dan Boitano was purchased from the Brewers by the New York Mets from the Milwaukee Brewers.Dan Boitano at Baseball-Reference June 8, 1981: Bryan Clutterbuck was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 7th round of the 1981 amateur draft.https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cluttbr01.shtml Bryan Clutterbuck: Career Statistics Baseball Reference 14 March 2018 July 8, 1981: Paul Hartzell was released by the Brewers. Roster 1981 Milwaukee Brewers roster Roster Pitchers 46 Jerry Augustine 47 Dwight Bernard 48 Mike Caldwell 25 Reggie Cleveland 49 Frank DiPino 28 Jamie Easterly 34 Rollie Fingers 30 Moose Haas 45 Rickey Keeton 35 Randy Lerch 10 Bob McClure 26 Donnie Moore 51 Willie Mueller 43 Chuck Porter 41 Jim Slaton 50 Pete Vuckovich Catchers 22 Charlie Moore 23 Ted Simmons  5 Ned Yost Infielders  6 Sal Bando 15 Cecil Cooper 17 Jim Gantner 13 Roy Howell  7 Don Money 11 Ed Romero 19 Robin Yount Outfielders 27 Thad Bosley 29 Mark Brouhard 16 Marshall Edwards  4 Paul Molitor 24 Ben Oglivie 20 Gorman Thomas Other batters  9 Larry Hisle Manager 37 Buck Rodgers Coaches 12 Larry Haney (Bullpen) 18 Ron Hansen (First Base) 32 Harvey Kuenn (Hitting) 38 Cal McLish (Pitching) 36 Harry Warner (Third Base) 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 C Ted Simmons 100 380 82 .216 14 61 1B Cecil Cooper 106 416 133 .320 12 60 2B Jim Gantner 107 352 94 .267 2 33 SS Robin Yount 96 377 103 .273 10 49 3B Don Money 60 185 40 .216 2 14 LF Ben Oglivie 107 400 97 .243 14 72 CF Gorman Thomas 103 363 94 .259 21 65 RF Mark Brouhard 60 186 51 .274 2 20 DH Larry Hisle 27 87 20 .230 4 11 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 Paul Molitor 64 251 67 .267 2 19 Roy Howell 76 244 58 .238 6 33 Charlie Moore 48 156 47 .301 1 9 Thad Bosley 42 105 24 .229 0 3 Ed Romero 44 91 18 .198 1 10 Sal Bando 32 65 13 .200 2 9 Marshall Edwards 40 58 14 .241 0 4 Ned Yost 18 27 6 .222 3 3 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 Pete Vuckovich 24 149.2 14 4 3.55 84 Mike Caldwell Mike Caldwell (baseball) 24 144.1 11 9 3.93 41 Moose Haas 24 137.1 11 7 4.46 64 Jim Slaton 24 117.1 5 7 4.37 47 Randy Lerch 23 110.2 7 9 4.31 53 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 Rollie Fingers 47 6 3 28 1.04 61 Jamie Easterly 44 3 3 4 3.19 31 Reggie Cleveland 35 2 3 1 5.15 18 Jerry Augustine 27 2 2 2 4.26 26 Rickey Keeton 17 1 0 0 5.09 9 Dwight Bernard 6 0 0 0 3.60 1 Bob McClure 4 0 0 0 3.52 6 Chuck Porter Chuck Porter (baseball) 3 0 0 0 4.15 1 Donnie Moore 3 0 0 0 6.75 2 Frank DiPino 2 0 0 0 0.00 3 Willie Mueller 1 0 0 0 4.50 1 ALDS 1981 American League Division Series New York wins series, 3–2. GameScoreDate1New York 5, Milwaukee 3October 72New York 3, Milwaukee 0October 83Milwaukee 5, New York 3 October 94Milwaukee 2, New York 1 October 105New York 7, Milwaukee 3 October 11 Awards and honors Cecil Cooper, Silver Slugger Award Rollie Fingers, American League Cy Young Award Rollie Fingers, American League MVP Farm system Minor League Baseball The Brewers' farm system consisted of five minor league affiliates in 1981.https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/affiliate.cgi?id=MIL&year=1981 1981 Milwaukee Brewers Minor League Affiliates Baseball-Reference Sports Reference December 30, 2020 The Butte Copper Kings won the Pioneer League championship.https://www.milb.com/pioneer/history/champions Pioneer League Champions Pioneer League Minor League Baseball December 31, 2020 live https://web.archive.org/web/20200926184613/https://www.milb.com/pioneer/history/champions September 26, 2020 Triple-A Vancouver Canadians Pacific Coast League Lee Sigman Double-A El Paso Diablos Texas League Tony Muser Class A Stockton Ports California League Duane Espy Class A Burlington Bees Midwest League Terry Bevington Rookie Butte Copper Kings Pioneer League Ken Richardson Notes 2 References 1981 Milwaukee Brewers team at Baseball-Reference 1981 Milwaukee Brewers at Baseball Almanac Category:Milwaukee Brewers seasons Milwaukee Brewers season Mil