# 1981 Cleveland Indians season

The 1981 Cleveland Indians season was the franchise's 81st season as a member of the American League. Games were suspended for 50 days due to the 1981 Major League Baseball strike, causing a split season. The Indians finished the first half of the season in sixth place in the American League East, and the second half of the season tied for fifth place. Managed by Dave Garcia, the Indians played their home games at Cleveland Stadium and had an overall record of 52 wins and 51 losses.

## Offseason

* December 8, 1980: Dan Spillner was signed as a free agent by the Indians.
* December 9, 1980: Gary Alexander, Víctor Cruz, Rafael Vásquez, and Bob Owchinko were traded by the Indians to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Bert Blyleven and Manny Sanguillén.

## Regular season

* May 15, 1981: Len Barker pitched a perfect game against the Toronto Blue Jays. It was the 10th perfect game in MLB history, and remains the most recent no-hitter thrown by an Indian. Barker was later selected to the All-Star Game.

### 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 | — |

### Opening Day Lineup

Opening Day Starters :
| # | Name | Position |
| 27 | Miguel Diloné | DH |
| 20 | Rick Manning | CF |
| 21 | Mike Hargrove | 1B |
| 34 | Joe Charboneau | LF |
| 11 | Toby Harrah | 3B |
| 6 | Jorge Orta | RF |
| 16 | Bo Díaz | C |
| 7 | Alan Bannister | 2B |
| 15 | Tom Veryzer | SS |
| 28 | Bert Blyleven | P |

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; AVG = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases
| Player | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | AVG | SB |
| Chris Bando | 21 | 47 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | .213 | 0 |
| Alan Bannister | 68 | 232 | 36 | 61 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 17 | .263 | 16 |
| Joe Charboneau | 48 | 138 | 14 | 29 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 18 | .210 | 1 |
| Bo Díaz | 63 | 182 | 25 | 57 | 19 | 0 | 7 | 38 | .313 | 2 |
| Miguel Dilone | 72 | 269 | 33 | 78 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 19 | .290 | 29 |
| Jerry Dybzinski | 48 | 57 | 10 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | .298 | 7 |
| Mike Fischlin | 22 | 43 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .233 | 3 |
| Mike Hargrove | 94 | 322 | 43 | 102 | 21 | 0 | 2 | 49 | .317 | 5 |
| Toby Harrah | 103 | 361 | 64 | 105 | 12 | 4 | 5 | 44 | .291 | 12 |
| Ron Hassey | 61 | 190 | 8 | 44 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 25 | .232 | 0 |
| Von Hayes | 43 | 109 | 21 | 28 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 17 | .257 | 8 |
| Pat Kelly | 48 | 75 | 8 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 16 | .213 | 2 |
| Duane Kuiper | 72 | 206 | 15 | 53 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 14 | .257 | 1 |
| Larry Littleton | 26 | 23 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 0 |
| Rick Manning | 103 | 360 | 47 | 88 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 33 | .244 | 25 |
| Jorge Orta | 88 | 338 | 50 | 92 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 34 | .272 | 4 |
| Karl Pagel | 14 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | .267 | 0 |
| Ron Pruitt | 5 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 |
| Dave Rosello | 43 | 84 | 11 | 20 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 7 | .238 | 0 |
| Andre Thornton | 69 | 226 | 22 | 54 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 30 | .239 | 3 |
| Tom Veryzer | 75 | 221 | 13 | 54 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 14 | .244 | 1 |
| Team Totals | 103 | 3507 | 431 | 922 | 150 | 21 | 39 | 397 | .263 | 119 |

### Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts
| Player | W | L | ERA | G | GS | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Len Barker | 8 | 7 | 3.91 | 22 | 22 | 0 | 154.1 | 150 | 72 | 67 | 46 | 127 |
| Bert Blyleven | 11 | 7 | 2.88 | 20 | 20 | 0 | 159.1 | 145 | 52 | 51 | 40 | 107 |
| Tom Brennan | 2 | 2 | 3.17 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 48.1 | 49 | 20 | 17 | 14 | 15 |
| John Denny | 10 | 6 | 3.15 | 19 | 19 | 0 | 145.2 | 139 | 62 | 51 | 66 | 94 |
| Wayne Garland | 3 | 7 | 5.79 | 12 | 10 | 0 | 56.0 | 89 | 40 | 36 | 14 | 15 |
| Ed Glynn | 0 | 0 | 1.17 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 7.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Bob Lacey | 0 | 0 | 7.59 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 21.1 | 36 | 20 | 18 | 3 | 11 |
| Dennis Lewallyn | 0 | 0 | 5.40 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 13.1 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 11 |
| Sid Monge | 3 | 5 | 4.34 | 31 | 0 | 4 | 58.0 | 58 | 31 | 28 | 21 | 41 |
| Dan Spillner | 4 | 4 | 3.14 | 32 | 5 | 7 | 97.1 | 86 | 41 | 34 | 39 | 59 |
| Mike Stanton | 3 | 3 | 4.36 | 24 | 0 | 2 | 43.1 | 43 | 21 | 21 | 18 | 34 |
| Rick Waits | 8 | 10 | 4.92 | 22 | 21 | 0 | 126.1 | 173 | 74 | 69 | 44 | 51 |
| Team Totals | 52 | 51 | 3.88 | 103 | 103 | 13 | 931.0 | 989 | 442 | 401 | 311 | 569 |

## Awards and honors

All-Star Game
* Len Barker, reserve

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Charleston Charlies | International League | Cal Emery and Frank Lucchesi |
| AA | Chattanooga Lookouts | Southern League | Woody Smith |
| A | Waterloo Indians | Midwest League | Gomer Hodge |
| A-Short Season | Batavia Trojans | New York–Penn League | Dave Oliver |