# 1981 California Angels season

The 1981 California Angels season was the 21st season of the California Angels franchise in the American League, the 16th in Anaheim, and their 16th season playing their home games at Anaheim Stadium. The Angels finished with the fifth best overall record in the American League West with 51 wins and 59 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.

## Offseason

* December 2, 1980: Geoff Zahn was signed as a free agent by the Angels.
* December 8, 1980: Dan Whitmer was drafted from the Angels by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1980 rule 5 draft.
* January 13, 1981: Ron Romanick was drafted by the California Angels in the 1st round (4th pick) of the 1981 amateur draft (secondary phase).
* January 23, 1981: Joe Rudi, Frank Tanana and Jim Dorsey were traded by the Angels to the Boston Red Sox for Fred Lynn and Steve Renko.
* February 2, 1981: Dave Rader was signed as a free agent by the Angels.
* February 2, 1981: Dave Skaggs was released by the Angels.

## 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 20, 1981: Dave Rader was released by the Angels.
* June 8, 1981: 1981 Major League Baseball draft
** Dick Schofield was drafted by the Angels in the 1st round (3rd pick).
** Devon White was drafted by the Angels in the 6th round. Player signed June 13, 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 | Ed Ott | 75 | 258 | 56 | .217 | 2 | 22 |
| 1B | Rod Carew | 93 | 364 | 111 | .305 | 2 | 21 |
| 2B | Bobby Grich | 100 | 352 | 107 | .304 | 22 | 61 |
| SS | Rick Burleson | 109 | 430 | 126 | .293 | 5 | 33 |
| 3B | Butch Hobson | 85 | 268 | 63 | .235 | 4 | 36 |
| LF | Brian Downing | 93 | 317 | 79 | .249 | 9 | 41 |
| CF | Fred Lynn | 76 | 256 | 56 | .219 | 5 | 31 |
| RF | Dan Ford | 97 | 375 | 104 | .277 | 15 | 48 |
| DH | Don Baylor | 103 | 377 | 90 | .239 | 17 | 66 |

#### 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 |
| Juan Beníquez | 58 | 166 | 30 | .181 | 3 | 13 |
| Bobby Clark | 34 | 88 | 22 | .250 | 4 | 19 |
| Larry Harlow | 43 | 82 | 17 | .207 | 0 | 4 |
| Bert Campaneris | 55 | 82 | 21 | .256 | 1 | 10 |
| John Harris | 36 | 77 | 19 | .247 | 3 | 9 |
| Daryl Sconiers | 15 | 52 | 14 | .269 | 1 | 7 |
| Freddie Patek | 27 | 47 | 11 | .234 | 0 | 5 |
| Tom Brunansky | 11 | 33 | 5 | .152 | 3 | 6 |
| Joe Ferguson | 12 | 30 | 7 | .233 | 1 | 5 |
| Steve Lubratich | 7 | 21 | 3 | .143 | 0 | 1 |
| Brian Harper | 4 | 11 | 3 | .273 | 0 | 1 |
| Bob Davis | 1 | 2 | 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 |
| Geoff Zahn | 25 | 161.1 | 10 | 11 | 4.41 | 52 |
| Ken Forsch | 20 | 153.0 | 11 | 7 | 2.88 | 55 |
| Mike Witt | 22 | 129.0 | 8 | 9 | 3.28 | 75 |
| Steve Renko | 22 | 102.0 | 8 | 4 | 3.44 | 50 |
| Dave Frost | 12 | 47.1 | 1 | 8 | 5.51 | 16 |
| Doug Rau | 3 | 10.1 | 1 | 2 | 8.71 | 3 |
| Bill Travers | 4 | 9.2 | 0 | 1 | 8.38 | 5 |

#### 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 |
| Jesse Jefferson | 26 | 77.0 | 2 | 4 | 3.62 | 27 |
| Bruce Kison | 11 | 44.0 | 1 | 1 | 3.48 | 19 |
| Ángel Moreno | 8 | 31.1 | 1 | 3 | 2.87 | 12 |

#### 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 |
| Don Aase | 39 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 2.34 | 38 |
| Andy Hassler | 42 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3.21 | 44 |
| Luis Sánchez | 17 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2.94 | 13 |
| John D'Acquisto | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.71 | 8 |
| Mickey Mahler | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 5 |
| Alfredo Martínez | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.00 | 4 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Salt Lake City Gulls | Pacific Coast League | Moose Stubing |
| AA | Holyoke Millers | Eastern League | Jim Saul |
| A | Redwood Pioneers | California League | Chris Cannizzaro |
| A-Short Season | Salem Senators | Northwest League | Rick Ingalls |
| Rookie | Idaho Falls Angels | Pioneer League | Joe Maddon |