# 1981 Milwaukee Brewers season

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.

## 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.
* January 13, 1981: Ernest Riles was drafted by the Brewers in the 3rd round of the 1981 Major League Baseball draft (Secondary phase).
* February 21, 1981: Paul Hartzell was signed as a free agent by the Brewers.
* March 20, 1981: Bob Galasso was released by the Brewers.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 62 | 47 | .569 | — | 28‍–‍21 | 34‍–‍26 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 59 | 46 | .562 | 1 | 33‍–‍22 | 26‍–‍24 |
| New York Yankees | 59 | 48 | .551 | 2 | 32‍–‍19 | 27‍–‍29 |
| Detroit Tigers | 60 | 49 | .550 | 2 | 32‍–‍23 | 28‍–‍26 |
| Boston Red Sox | 59 | 49 | .546 | 2½ | 30‍–‍23 | 29‍–‍26 |
| Cleveland Indians | 52 | 51 | .505 | 7 | 25‍–‍29 | 27‍–‍22 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 37 | 69 | .349 | 23½ | 17‍–‍36 | 20‍–‍33 |
| AL East First Half Standings | W | L | Pct. | GB |
| New York Yankees | 34 | 22 | .607 | — |
| Baltimore Orioles | 31 | 23 | .574 | 2 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 31 | 25 | .554 | 3 |
| Detroit Tigers | 31 | 26 | .544 | 3+1⁄2 |
| Boston Red Sox | 30 | 26 | .536 | 4 |
| Cleveland Indians | 26 | 24 | .520 | 5 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 16 | 42 | .276 | 19 |
| AL East Second Half Standings | W | L | Pct. | GB |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 31 | 22 | .585 | — |
| Boston Red Sox | 29 | 23 | .558 | 1+1⁄2 |
| Detroit Tigers | 29 | 23 | .558 | 1+1⁄2 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 28 | 23 | .549 | 2 |
| Cleveland Indians | 26 | 27 | .491 | 5 |
| New York Yankees | 25 | 26 | .490 | 5 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 21 | 27 | .438 | 7+1⁄2 |

### Record vs. opponents

1981 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 2–2 | 6–6 | 3–6 | 4–2 | 6–7 | 5–3 | 2–4 | 6–0 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 4–2 | 2–1 | 5–2 |
| Boston | 2–2 | — | 2–4 | 5–4 | 7–6 | 6–1 | 3–3 | 6–7 | 2–5 | 3–3 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 3–6 | 4–0 |
| California | 6–6 | 4–2 | — | 6–7 | 7–5 | 3–3 | 0–6 | 4–3 | 3–3 | 2–2 | 2–8 | 6–4 | 2–4 | 6–6 |
| Chicago | 6–3 | 4–5 | 7–6 | — | 2–5 | 3–3 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 2–4 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 3–3 | 2–4 | 7–5 |
| Cleveland | 2–4 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 5–2 | — | 1–5 | 4–4 | 3–6 | 2–1 | 7–5 | 3–2 | 8–4 | 2–2 | 4–2 |
| Detroit | 7–6 | 1–6 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 5–1 | — | 3–2 | 5–8 | 9–3 | 3–7 | 1–2 | 5–1 | 9–3 | 6–4 |
| Kansas City | 3–5 | 3–3 | 6–0 | 0–2 | 4–4 | 2–3 | — | 4–5 | 9–4 | 2–10 | 3–3 | 6–7 | 3–4 | 5–3 |
| Milwaukee | 4–2 | 7–6 | 3–4 | 1–4 | 6–3 | 8–5 | 5–4 | — | 9–3 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 2–2 | 4–5 | 6–4 |
| Minnesota | 0–6 | 5–2 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 1–2 | 3–9 | 4–9 | 3–9 | — | 3–3 | 2–8 | 3–6–1 | 5–8 | 5–1 |
| New York | 6–7 | 3–3 | 2–2 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 7–3 | 10–2 | 3–3 | 3–3 | — | 4–3 | 2–3 | 5–4 | 2–3 |
| Oakland | 5–7 | 5–7 | 8–2 | 6–7 | 2–3 | 2–1 | 3–3 | 2–4 | 8–2 | 3–4 | — | 6–1 | 4–2 | 10–2 |
| Seattle | 2–4 | 3–9 | 4–6 | 3–3 | 4–8 | 1–5 | 7–6 | 2–2 | 6–3–1 | 3–2 | 1–6 | — | 5–8 | 3–3 |
| Texas | 1–2 | 6–3 | 4–2 | 4–2 | 2–2 | 3–9 | 4–3 | 5–4 | 8–5 | 4–5 | 2–4 | 8–5 | — | 6–2 |
| Toronto | 2–5 | 0–4 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 2–4 | 4–6 | 3–5 | 4–6 | 1–5 | 3–2 | 2–10 | 3–3 | 2–6 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 1, 1981: John Poff was traded by the Brewers to the Chicago White Sox for Thad Bosley.
* April 4, 1981: Bill Lyons was released by the Brewers.
* April 5, 1981: Dan Boitano was purchased from the Brewers by the New York Mets from the Milwaukee Brewers.
* June 8, 1981: Bryan Clutterbuck was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 7th round of the 1981 amateur draft.
* July 8, 1981: Paul Hartzell was released by the Brewers.

### Roster
## 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 | 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 | 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

New York wins series, 3-2.
| Game | Score | Date |
| 1 | New York 5, Milwaukee 3 | October 7 |
| 2 | New York 3, Milwaukee 0 | October 8 |
| 3 | Milwaukee 5, New York 3 | October 9 |
| 4 | Milwaukee 2, New York 1 | October 10 |
| 5 | New 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

The Brewers' farm system consisted of five minor league affiliates in 1981. The Butte Copper Kings won the Pioneer League championship.
| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| 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 |