The 1981 Seattle Mariners season was their fifth since the franchise creation, and were sixth in the American League West at . Due to the 1981 player's strike, the season was split in half, with pre-strike and post-strike results. The Mariners were sixth in the division in the first half at , and fifth in the second half at . The strike began on June 12 and regular season play resumed on August 10.
Manager Maury Wills was fired on May 6 with a record, the M's worst start yet; he was succeeded by 36-year-old Rene Lachemann, the manager at Triple-A Spokane.
Offseason
November 18, 1980: Brad Gulden was traded by the New York Yankees with $150,000 to the Mariners for a player to be named later and Larry Milbourne; the Mariners sent back Gulden to the Yankees on May 18, 1981 to complete the trade. In effect, Gulden was traded for himself. December 8: Gary Gray was selected by the Mariners from the Cleveland Indians in the Rule 5 draft.Gary Gray page at Baseball Reference December 12: Byron McLaughlin was traded by the Mariners to the Minnesota Twins for Willie Norwood.Willie Norwood page at Baseball Reference December 12: Willie Horton, Larry Cox, Rick Honeycutt, Mario Mendoza, and Leon Roberts were traded by the Mariners to the Texas Rangers for Richie Zisk, Rick Auerbach, Ken Clay, Jerry Don Gleaton, Brian Allard, and Steve Finch.Willie Horton page at Baseball Reference March 7, 1981: Traded Carlos Diaz to the Atlanta Braves for Jeff Burroughs. March 26: Norwood and Dave Heaverlo were released.Dave Heaverlo page at Baseball Reference
Regular season Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Season summary
On January 14, 1981, the Mariners' were sold to George Argyros, a California real estate developer, for an estimated $12.5 million. The sale of the team, which needed the approval of 10 of 14 owners of American League teams, received a unanimous vote of consent on January 29.
On April 25, Mariners' manager Maury Wills advised the Kingdome groundskeepers to enlarge the batter's box by a foot (0.3 m), and A's manager Billy Martin noticed. He showed umpire Bill Kunkel that the batter's box was in length (instead of six). Martin felt that batters being able to move up a foot in the box could cut at pitches before a curveball broke. Wills was suspended for two games and fined $500; he was fired on May 6.
While in Arlington in late May to play the Texas Rangers, the Mariners' uniforms were stolen. For the May 30 game against the Rangers, Seattle wore their batting practice jerseys, Milwaukee Brewers' caps, and Rangers' batting helmets. The Mariners purchased the Brewers caps at the Rangers' souvenir-stand; the Rangers did not offer Seattle caps for sale.Journeyman Tom Paciorek put together a career season with the M's in 1981. Playing full-time for the only time in his career at age 34, he batted .326, second in the American League, and was fourth in the AL in slugging percentage. Paciorek earned his only appearance to an All-Star team and was tenth in the AL MVP race. After a request for increased compensation and a three-year contract, the Mariners traded him in December 1981 to the Chicago White Sox for three players, Rod Allen, Todd Cruz, and Jim Essian, none of whom made an impact with Seattle. Paciorek hit over .300 his first two years with the Sox and was part of Chicago's division championship team in 1983.
Seattle drafted three future All-Stars in the 1981 MLB draft, selecting Mike Moore with the first overall pick, as well as Mark Langston and Phil Bradley.
Notable transactions April 6, 1981: Lenny Randle signed as a free agent. April 8: Manny Sarmiento was traded by the Mariners to the Boston Red Sox for Dick Drago.Dick Drago page at Baseball Reference April 8: Bob Galasso signed as a free agent with the Mariners.Bob Galasso page at Baseball Reference June 8: 1981 Major League Baseball draft: Mike Moore was selected with the first overall pick in the first round. He received a $100,000 signing bonus. Mark Langston was selected in the second round. Phil Bradley was selected in the third round. Lee Guetterman was selected in the fourth round. Charlie O'Brien was selected in the 21st round but did not sign.
1981 roster 1981 Seattle Mariners roster Roster Pitchers Catchers
Infielders Outfielders Manager
Coaches (Hitting) (Pitching) (First Base) (Pitching)
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 Jerry Narron 76 203 45 .222 3 17 1B Bruce Bochte 99 335 87 .260 6 30 2B 94 352 90 .256 2 24 SS Jim Anderson 70 162 33 .204 2 19 3B 83 252 66 .262 3 22 LF Tom Paciorek 104 405 132 .326 14 66 CF Joe Simpson 91 288 64 .222 2 30 RF Jeff Burroughs 89 319 81 .254 10 41 DH 94 357 111 .311 16 43
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 Lenny Randle 82 273 63 .231 4 25 69 208 51 .245 13 31 Bud Bulling 62 154 38 .247 2 15 Dave Henderson 59 126 21 .167 6 13 30 94 24 .255 4 9 38 84 13 .155 1 6 Dave Edler 29 78 11 .141 0 5 Jim Maler 12 23 8 .348 0 2 36 22 5 .227 1 5 15 18 4 .222 0 2 Brad Gulden 8 16 3 .188 0 1 12 6 0 .000 0 0 Kim Allen 19 3 0 .000 0 0 13 2 0 .000 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 22 130.1 4 9 3.94 35 21 121.1 9 9 4.45 85 13 66.2 3 2 2.97 36 7 48 3 2 3.75 20 5 34.2 2 1 2.60 22
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 22 101 2 7 4.63 32 Bryan Clark 29 93.1 2 5 4.34 52 20 85.1 4 7 4.75 31 Mike Parrott 24 85.0 3 6 5.08 43
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 Shane Rawley 46 4 6 8 3.95 35 41 3 3 5 2.66 40 39 4 6 5 5.53 27 13 1 1 1 4.83 14 6 0 1 0 10.61 6 Bud Black 2 0 0 0 0.00 0
Awards and records Julio Cruz set an American League (AL) record and tied an MLB record with 18 fielding chances without an error in a nine-inning game on June 7Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.93, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, Designated hitter Richie Zisk won the Sporting News AL Comeback Player of the Year Award.
Farm system
League champions: WausauJohnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007
References
External links
1981 Seattle Mariners at Baseball Reference 1981 Seattle Mariners team page at Baseball Almanac