# 1981 New York Mets season

The 1981 New York Mets season was the 20th regular season for the Mets. They went 41–62 and finished in fifth place in the National League East. They were managed by Joe Torre. They played home games at Shea Stadium. The season is remembered for a summer strike that cut the season in half.

## Offseason

* November 16, 1980: Kevin Mitchell was signed as an amateur free agent by the Mets.
* December 15, 1980: José Moreno and John Pacella were traded by the Mets to the San Diego Padres for Randy Jones.
* December 15, 1980: Rick Sweet was purchased by the Mets from the San Diego Padres.
* December 16, 1980: Rusty Staub was signed as a free agent by the Mets.
* December 19, 1980: Mike Cubbage was signed as a free agent with the New York Mets.
* January 13, 1981: Randy Milligan was drafted by the Mets in the 1st round (3rd pick) of the 1981 Major League Baseball Draft.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 59 | 43 | .578 | — | 32‍–‍21 | 27‍–‍22 |
| Montreal Expos | 60 | 48 | .556 | 2 | 38‍–‍18 | 22‍–‍30 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 59 | 48 | .551 | 2½ | 36‍–‍19 | 23‍–‍29 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 46 | 56 | .451 | 13 | 22‍–‍28 | 24‍–‍28 |
| New York Mets | 41 | 62 | .398 | 18½ | 24‍–‍27 | 17‍–‍35 |
| Chicago Cubs | 38 | 65 | .369 | 21½ | 27‍–‍30 | 11‍–‍35 |
| NL East First Half Standings | W | L | Pct. | GB |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 34 | 21 | .618 | — |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 30 | 20 | .600 | 1+1⁄2 |
| Montreal Expos | 30 | 25 | .545 | 4 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 25 | 23 | .521 | 5+1⁄2 |
| New York Mets | 17 | 34 | .333 | 15 |
| Chicago Cubs | 15 | 37 | .288 | 17+1⁄2 |
| NL East Second Half Standings | W | L | Pct. | GB |
| Montreal Expos | 30 | 23 | .566 | — |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 29 | 23 | .558 | 1⁄2 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 25 | 27 | .481 | 4+1⁄2 |
| New York Mets | 24 | 28 | .462 | 5+1⁄2 |
| Chicago Cubs | 23 | 28 | .451 | 6 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 21 | 33 | .389 | 9+1⁄2 |

### Record vs. opponents

1981 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 3–2–1 | 6–5 | 4–8 | 7–7 | 3–7 | 3–3 | 4–5 | 2–3 | 9–6 | 5–7 | 4–3 |
| Chicago | 2–3–1 | — | 1–5 | 1–6 | 6–4 | 4–7 | 5–8–1 | 2–10 | 4–10 | 3–3 | 5–5 | 5–4–1 |
| Cincinnati | 5–6 | 5–1 | — | 8–4 | 8–8 | 5–4 | 7–3 | 5–2 | 4–2 | 10–2 | 9–5 | 0–5 |
| Houston | 8–4 | 6–1 | 4–8 | — | 4–8 | 5–2 | 6–3 | 4–6 | 2–4 | 11–3 | 9–6 | 2–4 |
| Los Angeles | 7–7 | 4–6 | 8–8 | 8–4 | — | 5–2 | 5–1 | 3–3 | 5–1 | 6–5 | 7–5 | 5–5 |
| Montreal | 7–3 | 7–4 | 4–5 | 2–5 | 2–5 | — | 9–3 | 7–4 | 10–3 | 4–2 | 2–5 | 6–9 |
| New York | 3–3 | 8–5–1 | 3–7 | 3–6 | 1–5 | 3–9 | — | 7–7 | 3–6–1 | 2–5 | 2–4 | 6–5 |
| Philadelphia | 5-4 | 10–2 | 2–5 | 6–4 | 3–3 | 4–7 | 7–7 | — | 7–5 | 4–2 | 4–3 | 7–6 |
| Pittsburgh | 3–2 | 10–4 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 1–5 | 3–10 | 6–3–1 | 5–7 | — | 6–4 | 3–7 | 3–8 |
| San Diego | 6–9 | 3–3 | 2–10 | 3–11 | 5–6 | 2–4 | 5–2 | 2–4 | 4–6 | — | 6–7 | 3–7 |
| San Francisco | 7–5 | 5–5 | 5–9 | 6–9 | 5–7 | 5–2 | 4–2 | 3–4 | 7–3 | 7–6 | — | 2–3 |
| St. Louis | 3–4 | 4–5–1 | 5–0 | 4–2 | 5–5 | 9–6 | 5–6 | 6–7 | 8–3 | 7–3 | 3–2 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 3, 1981: John Csefalvay (minors) was traded by the Mets to the Houston Astros for Gary Rajsich.
* April 5, 1981: Dan Boitano was purchased by the New York Mets from the Milwaukee Brewers.
* April 6, 1981: Butch Benton was sent to the Chicago Cubs by the New York Mets as part of a conditional deal.
* May 29, 1981: Jeff Reardon and Dan Norman were traded by the Mets to the Montreal Expos for Ellis Valentine.
* June 8, 1981: 1981 Major League Baseball Draft
** John Christensen was drafted by the Mets in the 2nd round.
** Roger Clemens was drafted by the Mets in the 12th round, but did not sign.
** Lenny Dykstra was drafted by the Mets in the 13th round. Player signed July 3, 1981.
** Lou Thornton was drafted by the Mets in the 19th round.
* June 15, 1981: Bill Latham was signed as an amateur free agent by the Mets.
* August 19, 1981: Mike Marshall was signed as a free agent by the Mets.

### 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 | John Stearns | 80 | 273 | 74 | .271 | 1 | 24 |
| 1B | Dave Kingman | 100 | 353 | 78 | .221 | 22 | 59 |
| 2B | Doug Flynn | 105 | 325 | 72 | .222 | 1 | 20 |
| SS | Frank Taveras | 84 | 283 | 65 | .230 | 0 | 11 |
| 3B | Hubie Brooks | 98 | 358 | 110 | .307 | 4 | 38 |
| LF | Lee Mazzilli | 95 | 324 | 74 | .228 | 6 | 34 |
| CF | Mookie Wilson | 92 | 328 | 89 | .271 | 3 | 14 |
| RF | Ellis Valentine | 48 | 169 | 35 | .207 | 5 | 21 |

#### 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 |
| Rusty Staub | 70 | 161 | 51 | .317 | 5 | 21 |
| Alex Treviño | 56 | 149 | 39 | .262 | 0 | 10 |
| Joel Youngblood | 43 | 143 | 50 | .350 | 4 | 25 |
| Mike Jorgensen | 86 | 122 | 25 | .205 | 3 | 15 |
| Bob Bailor | 51 | 81 | 23 | .284 | 0 | 8 |
| Mike Cubbage | 67 | 80 | 17 | .213 | 1 | 4 |
| Ron Gardenhire | 27 | 48 | 13 | .271 | 0 | 3 |
| Ron Hodges | 35 | 43 | 13 | .302 | 1 | 6 |
| Wally Backman | 26 | 36 | 10 | .278 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Howard | 14 | 24 | 4 | .167 | 0 | 3 |
| Brian Giles | 9 | 7 | 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 |
| Pat Zachry | 24 | 139.0 | 7 | 14 | 4.14 | 76 |
| Mike Scott | 23 | 136.0 | 5 | 10 | 3.90 | 54 |
| Ed Lynch | 17 | 80.1 | 4 | 5 | 2.91 | 27 |
| Greg A. Harris | 16 | 68.2 | 3 | 5 | 4.46 | 54 |
| Randy Jones | 13 | 59.1 | 1 | 8 | 4.85 | 14 |
| Tim Leary | 1 | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 |

#### 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 |
| Pete Falcone | 35 | 95.1 | 5 | 3 | 2.55 | 56 |
| Dave Roberts | 7 | 15.1 | 0 | 3 | 9.39 | 10 |
| Craig Swan | 5 | 13.2 | 0 | 2 | 3.29 | 9 |
| Charlie Puleo | 4 | 13.1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 8 |

#### 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 |
| Neil Allen | 43 | 7 | 6 | 18 | 2.97 | 50 |
| Ray Searage | 26 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3.68 | 16 |
| Dyar Miller | 23 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.29 | 22 |
| Terry Leach | 21 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.55 | 16 |
| Tom Hausman | 20 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.18 | 13 |
| Mike Marshall | 20 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2.61 | 8 |
| Jeff Reardon | 18 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3.45 | 28 |
| Dan Boitano | 15 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5.51 | 8 |
| Jesse Orosco | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1.56 | 18 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Tidewater Tides | International League | Jack Aker |
| AA | Jackson Mets | Texas League | Davey Johnson |
| A | Lynchburg Mets | Carolina League | Gene Dusan |
| A | Shelby Mets | South Atlantic League | Dan Monzon |
| A-Short Season | Little Falls Mets | New York–Penn League | Rich Miller |
| Rookie | Kingsport Mets | Appalachian League | Al Jackson |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Jackson