# 1981 Kansas City Royals season

The 1981 Kansas City Royals season was their 13th in Major League Baseball. The 1981 season was interrupted by a players strike from June 12 to July 31, and resumed on August 10. Major League Baseball officials decided to split the season, and the division winners of both halves would advance to the playoffs. The Royals were 20–30 and in fifth place in the American League West when the strike began, but won the second half with a 30–23 mark. Dick Howser replaced Jim Frey as manager on August 31. Kansas City's overall 50-53 record made the Royals the first team in MLB history to reach the postseason with a losing mark. Kansas City lost to the first half American League West winner Oakland Athletics 3–0 in the ALDS.

## Offseason

* January 6, 1981: Derek Botelho was signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals.

## Regular season

* August 10, 1981: Cal Ripken Jr. made his major league debut for the Baltimore Orioles in a game against the Royals.

### 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 3, 1981: Bombo Rivera was signed as a free agent by the Royals.
* June 8, 1981: 1981 Major League Baseball draft
** Dave Leeper was drafted by the Royals in the 1st round (23rd pick). Player signed June 10, 1981.
** David Cone was drafted by the Royals in the 3rd round. Player signed June 10, 1981.

### 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 Wathan | 89 | 301 | 76 | .252 | 1 | 19 |
| 1B | Willie Aikens | 101 | 349 | 93 | .266 | 17 | 53 |
| 2B | Frank White | 94 | 364 | 91 | .250 | 9 | 38 |
| SS | U L Washington | 98 | 339 | 77 | .227 | 2 | 29 |
| 3B | George Brett | 89 | 347 | 109 | .314 | 6 | 43 |
| LF | Willie Wilson | 102 | 439 | 133 | .303 | 1 | 32 |
| CF | Amos Otis | 99 | 372 | 100 | .269 | 9 | 57 |
| RF | Darryl Motley | 42 | 125 | 29 | .232 | 2 | 8 |
| DH | Hal McRae | 101 | 389 | 106 | .272 | 7 | 36 |

#### 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 |
| César Gerónimo | 59 | 118 | 29 | .246 | 2 | 13 |
| Jamie Quirk | 46 | 100 | 25 | .250 | 0 | 10 |
| Clint Hurdle | 28 | 76 | 25 | .329 | 4 | 15 |
| Jerry Grote | 22 | 56 | 17 | .304 | 1 | 9 |
| Lee May | 26 | 55 | 16 | .291 | 0 | 8 |
| Dave Chalk | 27 | 49 | 11 | .224 | 0 | 5 |
| Rance Mulliniks | 24 | 44 | 10 | .227 | 0 | 5 |
| Ken Phelps | 21 | 22 | 3 | .136 | 0 | 1 |
| Danny Garcia | 12 | 14 | 2 | .143 | 0 | 0 |
| Pat Sheridan | 3 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Tim Ireland | 4 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 0 | 0 |
| Onix Concepción | 2 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 0 | 0 |
| Greg Keatley | 2 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 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 |
| Dennis Leonard | 26 | 201.2 | 13 | 11 | 2.99 | 107 |
| Larry Gura | 23 | 172.1 | 11 | 8 | 2.72 | 61 |
| Rich Gale | 19 | 101.2 | 6 | 6 | 5.40 | 47 |
| Paul Splittorff | 21 | 99.0 | 5 | 5 | 4.36 | 48 |
| Mike Jones | 12 | 75.2 | 6 | 3 | 3.21 | 29 |

#### 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 |
| Jim Wright | 17 | 52.0 | 2 | 3 | 3.46 | 27 |
| Atlee Hammaker | 10 | 39.0 | 1 | 3 | 5.54 | 11 |
| Juan Berenguer | 8 | 19.2 | 0 | 4 | 8.69 | 20 |

#### 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 |
| Dan Quisenberry | 40 | 1 | 4 | 18 | 1.73 | 20 |
| Renie Martin | 29 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 2.77 | 25 |
| Ken Brett | 22 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4.18 | 7 |
| Bill Paschall | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 1 |
| Jeff Schattinger | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |

## ALDS

Oakland wins series, 3-0.
| Game | Score | Date |
| 1 | Oakland 4, Kansas City 0 | October 6 |
| 2 | Oakland 2, Kansas City 1 | October 7 |
| 3 | Oakland 4, Kansas City 1 | October 9 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Omaha Royals | American Association | Joe Sparks |
| AA | Jacksonville Suns | Southern League | Gene Lamont |
| A | Fort Myers Royals | Florida State League | Brian Murphy |
| A | Charleston Royals | South Atlantic League | Rick Mathews |
| Rookie | GCL Royals Blue | Gulf Coast League | Joe Jones |
| Rookie | GCL Royals Gold | Gulf Coast League | Roy Tanner |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: GCL Royals Gold