# 1981 Cincinnati Reds season

The 1981 Cincinnati Reds season was the 112th season for the franchise in Major League Baseball, and their 12th and 11th full season at Riverfront Stadium. The Reds finished with an overall record of 66–42, giving them the best win–loss record in all of Major League Baseball. However, due to a split-season format caused by a mid-season players' strike, they failed to make the MLB playoffs because they did not finish first in either half of the season; they finished in second place in both halves by scant margins. The Reds finished the first half of the season in second place with a record of 35–21, just one-half game behind the eventual world champion Los Angeles Dodgers, and one-and-a-half games behind the Houston Astros in the second half, in which the Reds were 31–21, good for second place, again. Before the final game of the season against the Atlanta Braves, the team unveiled a banner which said "Cincinnati Reds: Baseball's best record 1981". The Reds were managed by John McNamara and played their home games at Riverfront Stadium.

## Offseason

* January 22, 1981: Mike Grace and John Hale were traded by the Reds to the Baltimore Orioles for Joe Kerrigan and John Buffamoyer (minors).

## 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 | — |

### Notable transactions

* June 8, 1981: Terry McGriff was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 8th round of the 1981 amateur draft. Player signed June 12, 1981.
* June 8, 1981: Paul O'Neill was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 4th round of the 1981 amateur draft. Player signed June 11, 1981.
* September 10, 1981: Doug Bair was traded by the Reds to the St. Louis Cardinals for Joe Edelen and Neil Fiala.

### Game log
#### First half

1981 First half game log: 35–21 (Home: 17–11; Away: 18–10) :
April: 11–7 (Home: 4–4; Away: 7–3)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordStreak
1April 8Phillies3–2Hume (1–0)Lyle (0–1)51,7161–0W1
2April 10@ Braves3–5Garber (1–0)Soto (0–1)Camp (1)34,9291–1L1
3April 11@ Braves3–2Bair (1–0)Garber (1–1)15,9732–1W1
4April 12@ Braves2–3Bradford (1–0)Hume (1–1)Mahler (1)12,2272–2L1
5April 13@ Padres7–1Seaver (1–0)Wise (0–1)36,3913–2W1
6April 14@ Padres4–0Berenyi (1–0)Curtis (0–1)12,1984–2W2
7April 15@ Padres10–1Soto (1–1)Mura (0–1)10,8015–2W3
8April 17Cardinals5–9Sorensen (2–0)LaCoss (0–1)22,9615–3L1
9April 18Cardinals4–10Shirley (1–0)Seaver (1–1)22,5295–4L2
10April 21Braves1–10Boggs (1–1)Soto (1–2)24,0225–5L3
11April 22Braves3–7Perry (1–1)LaCoss (0–2)15,7355–6L4
12April 23@ Astros5–4 (10)Price (1–0)D. Smith (0–2)Moskau (1)23,1736–6W1
13April 24@ Astros3–0Pastore (1–0)Niekro (1–3)27,0877–6W2
14April 25@ Astros2–1Berenyi (2–0)Ryan (1–1)Hume (1)19,9578–6W3
15April 26@ Astros0–1Knepper (2–0)Soto (1–3)23,4288–7L1
16April 28Padres11–2Seaver (2–1)Lollar (1–1)13,1039–7W1
17April 29Padres8–5Moskau (1–0)Littlefield (0–2)Hume (2)12,29110–7W2
18April 30Padres4–3LaCoss (1–2)Mura (0–3)Hume (3)12,79411–7W3 :
May: 16–13 (Home: 10–7; Away: 6–6)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordStreak
19May 1@ Cardinals6–7Forsch (2–1)Soto (1–4)Sutter (5)21,31511–8L1
20May 2@ Cardinals3–7Shirley (3–0)Berenyi (2–1)16,67711–9L2
21May 3@ Cardinals4–5 (11)Edelen (1–0)Hume (1–2)21,85511–10L3
—May 5PiratesPostponed (rain); Makeup: May 7
22May 6Pirates9–8Hume (2–2)Jackson (1–2)14,55112–10W1
23May 7Pirates1–3Rhoden (4–0)Soto (1–5)Romo (3)–12–11L1
24May 7Pirates1–7Solomon (2–1)LaCoss (1–3)20,30112–12L2
25May 8Astros4–0Seaver (3–1)Sutton (2–4)31,96113–12W1
26May 9Astros9–5Berenyi (3–1)Andújar (1–2)30,86014–12W2
27May 10Astros5–7Niekro (3–3)Pastore (1–1)LaCorte (2)31,90314–13L1
28May 11Astros0–5Ryan (2–1)LaCoss (1–4)11,79514–14L2
29May 12Cubs2–1Soto (2–5)Tidrow (1–4)12,01615–14W1
30May 13Cubs8–3Seaver (4–1)Krukow (1–3)12,52816–14W2
31May 14Cubs6–1Berenyi (4–1)Reuschel (1–4)11,09817–14W3
32May 15@ Pirates4–1Price (2–0)Romo (0–2)Hume (4)10,59218–14W4
33May 16@ Pirates4–0LaCoss (2–4)Scurry (1–2)11,89019–14W5
34May 17@ Pirates4–3Soto (3–5)Solomon (2–3)11,77520–14W6
35May 19@ Cubs5–0Seaver (5–1)Reuschel (1–5)Moskau (2)5,89621–14W7
36May 20@ Cubs10–7Price (3–0)Smith (1–3)Hume (5)5,91422–14W8
37May 21@ Cubs1–5Martz (2–2)Pastore (1–2)7,13222–15L1
38May 22Dodgers2–4 (12)Stewart (2–0)Bair (1–1)27,94322–16L2
39May 23Dodgers6–9 (10)Stewart (3–0)Moskau (1–1)Castillo (4)40,92822–17L3
40May 24Dodgers3–2Moskau (2–1)Welch (2–3)Price (1)–23–17W1
41May 24Dodgers3–10Castillo (1–4)Berenyi (4–2)36,11323–18L1
42May 25Giants6–3Combe (1–0)Holland (3–2)15,68424–18W1
—May 26GiantsPostponed (rain); Makeup: August 14
43May 27Giants3–2Soto (4–5)Alexander (5–3)12,22325–18W2
44May 28Giants7–4Price (4–0)Lavelle (0–3)20,07726–18W3
45May 29@ Dodgers2–5Welch (3–3)LaCoss (2–5)Howe (5)45,74926–19L1
46May 30@ Dodgers9–1Pastore (2–2)Hooton (7–1)43,58227–19W1
47May 31@ Dodgers4–16Goltz (1–0)Soto (4–6)46,41127–20L1 :
June: 8–1 (Home: 3–0; Away: 5–1)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordStreak
48June 1@ Giants8–5Hume (3–2)Minton (2–3)4,62028–20W1
49June 2@ Giants7–15Whitson (2–5)LaCoss (2–6)Holland (4)19,00728–21L1
50June 3@ Giants6–2Pastore (3–2)Blue (5–4)7,11429–21W1
51June 5Expos6–3Soto (5–6)Rogers (6–4)21,29830–21W2
52June 6Expos9–3Seaver (6–1)Lea (4–3)26,01631–21W3
53June 7Expos2–0Berenyi (5–2)Burris (3–5)40,01032–21W4
54June 9@ Mets8–4Hume (4–2)Falcone (1–3)12,31333–21W5
55June 10@ Mets2–0Soto (6–6)Jones (1–7)9,73234–21W6
56June 11@ Mets5–2Seaver (7–1)Zachry (5–7)18,61235–21W7 :

#### Second half

1981 Second half game log: 31–21 (Home: 15–11; Away: 16–10) :
August: 10–10 (Home: 7–4; Away: 3–6)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordStreak
ASGAugust 9All-Star GameAL 4–5 NLBlue (1–0)Fingers (0–1)Sutter (1)72,086
57August 10@ Dodgers0–4Reuss (6–2)Pastore (3–3)Howe (6)35,12035–22L1
58August 11@ Dodgers7–6Brown (1–0)Forster (0–1)Hume (6)45,81736–22W1
59August 12@ Dodgers5–8Stewart (4–1)Seaver (7–2)Howe (7)36,49436–23L1
60August 14Giants0–4Whitson (3–5)Berenyi (5–3)–36–24L2
61August 14Giants7–6 (10)Hume (5–2)Holland (3–4)22,40437–24W1
62August 15Giants2–5Alexander (6–4)Pastore (3–4)Minton (11)20,67137–25L1
63August 16Giants2–1Soto (7–6)Griffin (5–6)Hume (7)20,30938–25W1
64August 18Phillies3–1Seaver (8–2)Carlton (9–3)Hume (8)25,36339–25W2
65August 19Phillies6–3Hume (6–2)Lyle (5–2)23,13340–25W3
66August 21Mets2–0Soto (8–6)Zachry (6–8)20,41041–25W4
67August 22Mets4–7Boitano (1–0)Pastore (3–5)Allen (11)25,94941–26L1
68August 23Mets2–3 (10)Allen (5–3)Hume (6–3)20,76141–27L2
69August 24Mets2–0Berenyi (6–3)Scott (3–7)19,50642–27W1
70August 25@ Expos1–9Sanderson (7–4)LaCoss (2–7)40,16242–28L1
71August 26@ Expos0–6Gullickson (4–6)Soto (8–7)23,12642–29L2
72August 27@ Expos0–12Burris (6–5)Pastore (3–6)30,87442–30L3
73August 28@ Mets5–2Seaver (9–2)Allen (5–4)23,06143–30W1
74August 29@ Mets2–3Scott (4–7)Berenyi (6–4)Allen (13)44,59843–31L1
75August 30@ Mets6–3LaCoss (3–7)Harris (2–4)18,77044–31W1
76August 31Expos9–8Bair (2–1)Lee (2–4)20,50645–31W2 :
September: 20–8 (Home: 7–4; Away: 13–4)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordStreak
77September 1Expos3–4Lea (5–4)Price (4–1)Reardon (4)15,97845–32L1
78September 2Expos7–0Seaver (10–2)Bahnsen (2–1)12,92646–32W1
79September 3@ Phillies9–3Berenyi (7–4)M. Davis (0–3)26,54047–32W2
80September 4@ Phillies6–7Lyle (7–4)Bair (2–2)McGraw (9)25,02047–33L1
81September 5@ Phillies4–5R. Reed (3–1)Soto (8–8)41,84547–34L2
82September 6@ Phillies5–4Hume (7–3)Lyle (7–5)Price (2)30,36648–34W1
83September 7Padres8–7Seaver (11–2)Show (0–1)Price (3)14,44349–34W2
84September 8Padres1–6Eichelberger (7–6)Berenyi (7–5)11,73949–35L1
85September 9Padres5–4Hume (8–3)Urrea (2–2)16,32850–35W1
86September 11Dodgers3–2 (10)Price (5–1)Peña (1–1)25,23751–35W2
87September 12Dodgers6–5 (11)LaCoss (4–7)Power (0–1)34,09052–35W3
88September 13Dodgers2–4Castillo (2–4)Pastore (3–7)Stewart (5)27,85852–36L1
89September 14@ Astros4–2Berenyi (8–5)Ruhle (3–4)19,74253–36W1
90September 15@ Astros4–0Leibrandt (1–0)Ryan (8–5)16,35454–36W2
91September 16@ Giants7–12Breining (4–2)Soto (8–9)4,16854–37L1
92September 17@ Giants1–0 (10)Seaver (12–2)Holland (6–5)Hume (9)4,72155–37W1
93September 18@ Dodgers5–4Price (6–1)Stewart (4–3)Hume (10)44,25856–37W2
94September 19@ Dodgers7–3Edelen (2–0)Hooton (10–6)48,35257–37W3
95September 20@ Dodgers5–1Soto (9–9)Power (1–2)39,56058–37W4
96September 21@ Padres0–6Welsh (6–6)Leibrandt (1–1)5,50158–38L1
97September 22@ Padres3–2Seaver (13–2)Eichelberger (8–7)Hume (11)4,76459–38W1
98September 23@ Padres5–1Pastore (4–7)Wise (3–8)Price (4)4,83160–38W2
99September 25@ Braves10–2Soto (10–9)Boggs (3–12)7,81761–38W3
100September 26@ Braves2–0Berenyi (9–5)Niekro (7–6)Hume (12)5,11762–38W4
101September 27@ Braves4–2Seaver (14–2)Perry (7–9)LaCoss (1)7,45563–38W5
102September 28Giants0–4Hargesheimer (1–1)Pastore (4–8)12,94463–39L1
103September 29Giants4–3Hume (9–3)Minton (4–5)13,11764–39W1
104September 30Astros5–2Soto (11–9)Ruhle (4–6)Hume (13)24,39465–39W2 :
October: 1–3 (Home: 1–3; Away: 0–0)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordStreak
105October 1Astros1–8Ryan (11–5)Berenyi (9–6)26,48465–40L1
106October 2Braves5–11Perry (8–9)Pastore (4–9)14,79365–41L2
107October 3Braves3–4Mahler (8–6)Hume (9–4)Camp (17)17,54465–42L3
108October 4Braves3–0Soto (12–9)Boggs (3–13)31,76466–42W1 :

## 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 | Joe Nolan | 81 | 236 | 73 | .309 | 1 | 26 |
| 1B | Dan Driessen | 82 | 233 | 55 | .236 | 7 | 33 |
| 2B | Ron Oester | 105 | 354 | 96 | .271 | 5 | 42 |
| SS | Dave Concepción | 106 | 421 | 129 | .306 | 5 | 67 |
| 3B | Ray Knight | 106 | 386 | 100 | .259 | 6 | 34 |
| LF | George Foster | 108 | 414 | 122 | .295 | 22 | 90 |
| CF | Ken Griffey | 101 | 396 | 123 | .311 | 2 | 34 |
| RF | Dave Collins | 95 | 360 | 98 | .272 | 3 | 23 |

#### 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 |
| Johnny Bench | 52 | 178 | 55 | .309 | 8 | 25 |
| Mike O'Berry | 55 | 111 | 20 | .180 | 1 | 5 |
| Paul Householder | 23 | 69 | 19 | .275 | 2 | 9 |
| Larry Biittner | 42 | 61 | 13 | .213 | 0 | 8 |
| Sam Mejías | 66 | 49 | 14 | .286 | 0 | 7 |
| Junior Kennedy | 27 | 44 | 11 | .250 | 0 | 5 |
| Mike Vail | 31 | 31 | 5 | .161 | 0 | 3 |
| Harry Spilman | 23 | 24 | 4 | .167 | 0 | 3 |
| Rafael Landestoy | 12 | 11 | 2 | .182 | 0 | 1 |
| Germán Barranca | 9 | 6 | 2 | .333 | 0 | 1 |
| Eddie Milner | 8 | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | 1 |
| Neil Fiala | 2 | 2 | 1 | .500 | 0 | 1 |

### 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 |
| Mario Soto | 25 | 175.0 | 12 | 9 | 3.29 | 151 |
| Tom Seaver | 23 | 166.1 | 14 | 2 | 2.54 | 87 |
| Frank Pastore | 22 | 132.0 | 4 | 9 | 4.02 | 81 |
| Bruce Berenyi | 21 | 126.0 | 9 | 6 | 3.50 | 106 |

#### 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 |
| Mike LaCoss | 20 | 78.0 | 4 | 7 | 6.12 | 22 |
| Charlie Liebrandt | 7 | 30.0 | 1 | 1 | 3.60 | 9 |

#### 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 |
| Tom Hume | 51 | 9 | 4 | 13 | 3.46 | 27 |
| Joe Price | 41 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 2.52 | 41 |
| Paul Moskau | 27 | 2 | 1 | 2 | .494 | 32 |
| Doug Bair | 24 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5.77 | 16 |
| Geoff Combe | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7.64 | 9 |
| Scott Brown | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.77 | 7 |
| Joe Edelen | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.71 | 5 |

## Awards and honors

* Johnny Bench, Hutch Award

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Indianapolis Indians | American Association | Jim Beauchamp |
| AA | Waterbury Reds | Eastern League | George Scherger |
| A | Tampa Tarpons | Florida State League | Jim Lett |
| A | Cedar Rapids Reds | Midwest League | Randy Davidson |
| A-Short Season | Eugene Emeralds | Northwest League | Greg Riddoch |
| Rookie | Billings Mustangs | Pioneer League | Jim Hoff |