# 1981 Texas Rangers season

The 1981 Texas Rangers season was the 21st of the Texas Rangers franchise overall, their 10th in Arlington as the Rangers, and the 10th season at Arlington Stadium. The Rangers finished second in the American League West with a record of 57 wins and 48 losses. The season was suspended for 50 days due to the infamous 1981 players strike and the league chose as its playoff teams, the division winners from the first and second halves of the season, respectively.

## Offseason

* December 12, 1980: Richie Zisk, Rick Auerbach, Ken Clay, Jerry Don Gleaton, Brian Allard, and Steve Finch (minors) were traded by the Rangers to the Seattle Mariners for Willie Horton, Larry Cox, Rick Honeycutt, Mario Mendoza, and Leon Roberts.
* December 18, 1980: Bob Jones was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Oakland Athletics | 64 | 45 | .587 | — | 35‍–‍21 | 29‍–‍24 |
| Texas Rangers | 57 | 48 | .543 | 5 | 32‍–‍24 | 25‍–‍24 |
| Chicago White Sox | 54 | 52 | .509 | 8½ | 25‍–‍24 | 29‍–‍28 |
| Kansas City Royals | 50 | 53 | .485 | 11 | 19‍–‍28 | 31‍–‍25 |
| California Angels | 51 | 59 | .464 | 13½ | 26‍–‍28 | 25‍–‍31 |
| Seattle Mariners | 44 | 65 | .404 | 20 | 20‍–‍37 | 24‍–‍28 |
| Minnesota Twins | 41 | 68 | .376 | 23 | 24‍–‍36 | 17‍–‍32 |
| AL West First Half Standings | W | L | Pct. | GB |
| Oakland Athletics | 37 | 23 | .617 | — |
| Texas Rangers | 33 | 22 | .600 | 1+1⁄2 |
| Chicago White Sox | 31 | 22 | .585 | 2+1⁄2 |
| California Angels | 31 | 29 | .517 | 6 |
| Kansas City Royals | 20 | 30 | .400 | 12 |
| Seattle Mariners | 21 | 36 | .368 | 14+1⁄2 |
| Minnesota Twins | 17 | 39 | .304 | 18 |
| AL West Second Half Standings | W | L | Pct. | GB |
| Kansas City Royals | 30 | 23 | .566 | — |
| Oakland Athletics | 27 | 22 | .551 | 1 |
| Texas Rangers | 24 | 26 | .480 | 4+1⁄2 |
| Minnesota Twins | 24 | 29 | .453 | 6 |
| Seattle Mariners | 23 | 29 | .442 | 6+1⁄2 |
| Chicago White Sox | 23 | 30 | .434 | 7 |
| California Angels | 20 | 30 | .400 | 8+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: Willie Horton was released by the Rangers.
* June 8, 1981: Ron Darling was drafted by the Rangers in the 1st round (9th pick) of the 1981 Major League Baseball Draft.

### 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 | Jim Sundberg | 102 | 339 | 94 | .277 | 3 | 28 |
| 1B | Pat Putnam | 95 | 297 | 79 | .266 | 8 | 35 |
| 2B | Bump Wills | 102 | 410 | 103 | .251 | 2 | 41 |
| SS | Mario Mendoza | 88 | 229 | 53 | .231 | 0 | 22 |
| 3B | Buddy Bell | 97 | 360 | 106 | .294 | 10 | 64 |
| LF | Billy Sample | 66 | 230 | 65 | .283 | 3 | 25 |
| CF | Mickey Rivers | 99 | 399 | 114 | .286 | 3 | 26 |
| RF | Johnny Grubb | 67 | 199 | 46 | .231 | 3 | 26 |
| DH | Al Oliver | 102 | 421 | 130 | .309 | 4 | 55 |

#### 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 |
| Leon Roberts | 72 | 233 | 65 | .279 | 4 | 31 |
| Bill Stein | 53 | 115 | 38 | .330 | 2 | 22 |
| Mark Wagner | 50 | 85 | 22 | .259 | 1 | 14 |
| Tom Poquette | 30 | 64 | 10 | .156 | 0 | 7 |
| John Ellis | 23 | 58 | 8 | .138 | 1 | 7 |
| Bobby Jones | 10 | 34 | 9 | .265 | 3 | 7 |
| Wayne Tolleson | 14 | 24 | 4 | .167 | 0 | 1 |
| Bob Johnson | 6 | 18 | 5 | .278 | 2 | 4 |
| Rick Lisi | 9 | 16 | 5 | .313 | 0 | 1 |
| Dan Duran | 13 | 16 | 4 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| Larry Cox | 5 | 13 | 3 | .231 | 0 | 1 |
| Nelson Norman | 7 | 13 | 3 | .231 | 0 | 2 |
| Don Werner | 2 | 8 | 2 | .250 | 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 |
| Danny Darwin | 22 | 146.0 | 9 | 9 | 3.64 | 98 |
| Doc Medich | 20 | 143.1 | 10 | 6 | 3.08 | 65 |
| Rick Honeycutt | 20 | 127.2 | 11 | 6 | 3.31 | 40 |
| Fergie Jenkins | 19 | 106.0 | 5 | 8 | 4.50 | 63 |
| Jon Matlack | 17 | 104.1 | 4 | 7 | 4.14 | 43 |

#### 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 |
| Charlie Hough | 21 | 82.0 | 4 | 1 | 2.96 | 69 |
| John Butcher | 5 | 27.2 | 1 | 2 | 1.63 | 19 |
| Len Whitehouse | 2 | 3.1 | 0 | 1 | 16.20 | 2 |

#### 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 |
| Steve Comer | 36 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 2.56 | 22 |
| John Henry Johnson | 24 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2.66 | 8 |
| Jim Kern | 23 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2.70 | 20 |
| Bob Babcock | 16 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.20 | 18 |
| Dave Scmiidt | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3.13 | 13 |
| Mark Mercer | 7 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4.70 | 8 |
| Bob Lacey | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 0 |

## Awards and honors

* Buddy Bell, 3B, Gold Glove 1981
* Al Oliver, Silver Slugger Award, 1981
* Jim Sundberg, C, Gold Glove, 1981
All-Star Game

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Wichita Aeros | American Association | Rich Donnelly |
| AA | Tulsa Drillers | Texas League | Tom Burgess |
| A | Asheville Tourists | South Atlantic League | Tom Robson |
| Rookie | GCL Rangers | Gulf Coast League | Andy Hancock |