# 1981 San Francisco Giants season

The 1981 San Francisco Giants season was the Giants' 99th season in Major League Baseball, their 24th season in San Francisco since their move from New York following the 1957 season, and their 22nd at Candlestick Park. Giants manager Frank Robinson became the first black manager in the history of the National League. Robinson was also the first black manager in the history of the American League.

## Offseason

* December 8, 1980: Chris Bourjos and Bob Knepper were traded by the Giants to the Houston Astros for Enos Cabell.
* December 9, 1980: DeWayne Buice was drafted from the Giants by the Oakland Athletics in the 1980 minor league draft.
* December 12, 1980: John Montefusco and Craig Landis (minors) were traded by the Giants to the Atlanta Braves for Doyle Alexander.
* December 12, 1980: Joe Strain and Philip Nastu were traded by the Giants to the Chicago Cubs for Jerry Martin, Jesús Figueroa, and a player to be named later. The Cubs completed the deal by sending Mike Turgeon (minors) to the Giants on August 11, 1981.
* February 9, 1981: Joe Morgan was signed as a free agent by the Giants.
* March 23, 1981: Billy Smith was purchased by the Giants from the Philadelphia Phillies.
* March 31, 1981: Gorman Heimueller was released by the Giants.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Cincinnati Reds | 66 | 42 | .611 | — | 32‍–‍22 | 34‍–‍20 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 63 | 47 | .573 | 4 | 33‍–‍23 | 30‍–‍24 |
| Houston Astros | 61 | 49 | .555 | 6 | 31‍–‍20 | 30‍–‍29 |
| San Francisco Giants | 56 | 55 | .505 | 11½ | 29‍–‍24 | 27‍–‍31 |
| Atlanta Braves | 50 | 56 | .472 | 15 | 22‍–‍27 | 28‍–‍29 |
| San Diego Padres | 41 | 69 | .373 | 26 | 20‍–‍35 | 21‍–‍34 |
| NL West First Half Standings | W | L | Pct. | GB |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 36 | 21 | .632 | — |
| Cincinnati Reds | 35 | 21 | .625 | 1⁄2 |
| Houston Astros | 28 | 29 | .491 | 8 |
| Atlanta Braves | 25 | 29 | .463 | 9+1⁄2 |
| San Francisco Giants | 27 | 32 | .458 | 10 |
| San Diego Padres | 23 | 33 | .411 | 12+1⁄2 |
| NL West Second Half Standings | W | L | Pct. | GB |
| Houston Astros | 33 | 20 | .623 | — |
| Cincinnati Reds | 31 | 21 | .596 | 1+1⁄2 |
| San Francisco Giants | 29 | 23 | .558 | 3+1⁄2 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 27 | 26 | .509 | 6 |
| Atlanta Braves | 25 | 27 | .481 | 7+1⁄2 |
| San Diego Padres | 18 | 36 | .333 | 15+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 | — |

### Opening Day starters

* Vida Blue
* Enos Cabell
* Jack Clark
* Darrell Evans
* Larry Herndon
* Johnnie LeMaster
* Milt May
* Joe Morgan
* Billy North

### Notable transactions

* April 20, 1981: Mike Ivie was traded by the Giants to the Houston Astros for Dave Bergman and Jeffrey Leonard.
* May 17, 1981: Phil Ouellette was signed by the Giants as an amateur free agent.
* August 3, 1981: Mike Sadek was released by the Giants.

### Roster
## Player stats

* = Indicates team leader

### 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 | Milt May | 97 | 316 | 98 | .310 | 2 | 33 |
| 1B | Enos Cabell | 96 | 396 | 101 | .255 | 2 | 36 |
| 2B | Joe Morgan | 90 | 308 | 74 | .240 | 8 | 31 |
| 3B | Darrell Evans | 102 | 357 | 92 | .258 | 12 | 48 |
| SS | Johnnie LeMaster | 104 | 324 | 82 | .253 | 0 | 28 |
| LF | Jack Clark | 99 | 385 | 103 | .268 | 17 | 53 |
| CF | Larry Herndon | 96 | 364 | 105 | .288 | 5 | 41 |
| RF | Jerry Martin | 72 | 241 | 58 | .241 | 4 | 25 |

#### 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 |
| Dave Bergman | 63 | 145 | 37 | .255 | 3 | 13 |
| Billy North | 46 | 131 | 29 | .221 | 1 | 12 |
| Jeffrey Leonard | 37 | 127 | 39 | .307 | 4 | 26 |
| Rennie Stennett | 38 | 87 | 20 | .230 | 1 | 7 |
| Jim Wohlford | 50 | 68 | 11 | .162 | 1 | 7 |
| Billy Smith | 36 | 61 | 11 | .180 | 1 | 5 |
| Bob Brenly | 19 | 45 | 15 | .333 | 1 | 4 |
| Mike Sadek | 19 | 36 | 6 | .167 | 0 | 3 |
| Max Venable | 18 | 32 | 6 | .188 | 0 | 1 |
| Joe Pettini | 35 | 29 | 2 | .069 | 0 | 2 |
| Guy Sularz | 10 | 20 | 4 | .200 | 0 | 2 |
| Mike Ivie | 7 | 17 | 5 | .294 | 0 | 3 |
| Chili Davis | 8 | 15 | 2 | .133 | 0 | 0 |
| Jeff Ransom | 5 | 15 | 4 | .267 | 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 |
| Doyle Alexander | 24 | 152.1 | 11 | 7 | 2.89 | 77 |
| Tom Griffin | 22 | 129.1 | 8 | 8 | 3.76 | 83 |
| Ed Whitson | 22 | 123.0 | 6 | 9 | 4.02 | 65 |
| Vida Blue | 18 | 124.2 | 8 | 6 | 2.45 | 63 |
| Allen Ripley | 19 | 90.2 | 4 | 4 | 4.07 | 47 |

#### 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 |
| Alan Hargesheimer | 6 | 18.2 | 1 | 2 | 4.34 | 6 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Greg Minton | 55 | 84.1 | 4 | 5 | 21 | 2.88 | 29 |
| Al Holland | 47 | 100.2 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 2.41 | 78 |
| Fred Breining | 45 | 77.2 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2.55 | 37 |
| Gary Lavelle | 34 | 65.2 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 3.84 | 45 |
| Mike Rowland | 9 | 15.2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.45 | 8 |
| Bob Tufts | 11 | 15.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.52 | 12 |
| Randy Moffitt | 10 | 11.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.94 | 11 |

## Awards and honors

* 1981 Larry Herndon LF, Willie Mac Award
All-Star Game
* Vida Blue, reserve

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Phoenix Giants | Pacific Coast League | Rocky Bridges |
| AA | Shreveport Captains | Texas League | Jack Mull |
| A | Fresno Giants | California League | Wayne Cato |
| A | Clinton Giants | Midwest League | Wendell Kim |
| Rookie | Great Falls Giants | Pioneer League | Ernie Rodriguez |