# 1981 Boston Red Sox season

The 1981 Boston Red Sox season was the 81st season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. Due to the 1981 Major League Baseball strike, play during the regular season was suspended for 50 days, and the season was split into two halves, with playoff teams determined by records from each half of the season. In the first half of the season, the Red Sox finished fifth in the American League East with a record of 30 wins and 26 losses, four games behind the New York Yankees. In the second half of the season, the Red Sox finished tied for second in the division with a record of 29 wins and 23 losses, 1+1⁄2 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers. The Red Sox' overall record for the season was 59–49.

## Offseason

* October 27, 1980: the Red Sox lured Ralph Houk out of retirement to become the 35th manager in Red Sox history.
* December 10, 1980: The Red Sox traded shortstop Rick Burleson and third baseman Butch Hobson to the California Angels in exchange for Carney Lansford, former Red Sox player Rick Miller, and Mark Clear. Burleson was unhappy with his contract negotiations with the Red Sox and hinted at leaving via free agency.
* January 23, 1981: Fred Lynn and Steve Renko were traded by the Red Sox to the California Angels for Joe Rudi, Jim Dorsey and Frank Tanana.

## Regular season

Record by month :
| Month | Record | Record | Cumulative | Cumulative | AL East | AL East | Ref. |
| Month | Won | Lost | Won | Lost | Position | GB | Ref. |
| April | 7 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 5th | 3+1⁄2 | |
| May | 18 | 12 | 25 | 21 | 5th | 4 | |
| June | 5 | 5 | 30 | 26 | 5th | 4 | |
| | Second half | Second half | Second half | Second half | | | |
| August | 11 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 3rd (tie) | 1+1⁄2 | |
| September | 16 | 13 | 27 | 22 | 3rd | 1+1⁄2 | |
| October | 2 | 1 | 29 | 23 | 2nd (tie) | 1+1⁄2 | |

### Season standings

vteAL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 62 | 47 | .569 | — | 28‍–‍21 | 34‍–‍26 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 59 | 46 | .562 | 1 | 33‍–‍22 | 26‍–‍24 |
| New York Yankees | 59 | 48 | .551 | 2 | 32‍–‍19 | 27‍–‍29 |
| Detroit Tigers | 60 | 49 | .550 | 2 | 32‍–‍23 | 28‍–‍26 |
| Boston Red Sox | 59 | 49 | .546 | 2½ | 30‍–‍23 | 29‍–‍26 |
| Cleveland Indians | 52 | 51 | .505 | 7 | 25‍–‍29 | 27‍–‍22 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 37 | 69 | .349 | 23½ | 17‍–‍36 | 20‍–‍33 |
| AL East First Half Standings | W | L | Pct. | GB |
| New York Yankees | 34 | 22 | .607 | — |
| Baltimore Orioles | 31 | 23 | .574 | 2 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 31 | 25 | .554 | 3 |
| Detroit Tigers | 31 | 26 | .544 | 3+1⁄2 |
| Boston Red Sox | 30 | 26 | .536 | 4 |
| Cleveland Indians | 26 | 24 | .520 | 5 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 16 | 42 | .276 | 19 |
| AL East Second Half Standings | W | L | Pct. | GB |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 31 | 22 | .585 | — |
| Boston Red Sox | 29 | 23 | .558 | 1+1⁄2 |
| Detroit Tigers | 29 | 23 | .558 | 1+1⁄2 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 28 | 23 | .549 | 2 |
| Cleveland Indians | 26 | 27 | .491 | 5 |
| New York Yankees | 25 | 26 | .490 | 5 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 21 | 27 | .438 | 7+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 8, 1981: Dick Drago was traded by the Red Sox to the Seattle Mariners for Manny Sarmiento.
* June 8, 1981: Steve Lyons was drafted by the Red Sox in the 1st round (19th pick) of the 1981 Major League Baseball Draft.

### Opening Day lineup

| 24 | Dwight Evans | RF |
| 11 | Dave Stapleton | 2B |
| 26 | Joe Rudi | DH |
| 14 | Jim Rice | LF |
| 5 | Tony Pérez | 1B |
| 4 | Carney Lansford | 3B |
| 18 | Glenn Hoffman | SS |
| 39 | Gary Allenson | C |
| 3 | Rick Miller | CF |
| 43 | Dennis Eckersley | P |
Source:
The Chicago White Sox defeated the Red Sox on Opening Day, 5–3. It was the first game that Carlton Fisk played for the White Sox, after 11 seasons with the Red Sox; Fisk hit a three-run home run in the eighth inning.

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases; BB = Walks; AVG = Batting average; SLG = Slugging average
| Player | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | AVG | SLG |
| Jim Rice | 108 | 451 | 51 | 128 | 18 | 1 | 17 | 62 | 2 | 34 | .284 | .441 |
| Dwight Evans | 108 | 412 | 84 | 122 | 19 | 4 | 22 | 71 | 3 | 85 | .296 | .522 |
| Carney Lansford | 102 | 399 | 61 | 134 | 23 | 3 | 4 | 52 | 15 | 34 | .336 | .439 |
| Jerry Remy | 88 | 358 | 55 | 110 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 9 | 36 | .307 | .338 |
| Dave Stapleton | 93 | 355 | 45 | 101 | 17 | 1 | 10 | 42 | 0 | 21 | .285 | .423 |
| Carl Yastrzemski | 91 | 338 | 36 | 83 | 14 | 1 | 7 | 53 | 0 | 49 | .246 | .355 |
| Rick Miller | 97 | 316 | 38 | 92 | 17 | 2 | 2 | 33 | 3 | 28 | .291 | .377 |
| Tony Pérez | 84 | 306 | 35 | 77 | 11 | 3 | 9 | 39 | 0 | 27 | .252 | .395 |
| Glenn Hoffman | 78 | 242 | 28 | 56 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 0 | 12 | .231 | .285 |
| Rich Gedman | 62 | 205 | 22 | 59 | 15 | 0 | 5 | 26 | 0 | 9 | .288 | .434 |
| Gary Allenson | 47 | 139 | 23 | 31 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 25 | 0 | 23 | .223 | .388 |
| Joe Rudi | 49 | 122 | 14 | 22 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 24 | 0 | 8 | .180 | .352 |
| Reid Nichols | 39 | 48 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | .188 | .229 |
| Garry Hancock | 26 | 45 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | .156 | .222 |
| Dave Schmidt | 15 | 42 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 7 | .238 | .405 |
| Julio Valdez | 17 | 23 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .217 | .217 |
| Chico Walker | 6 | 17 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .353 | .353 |
| Tom Poquette | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 |
| John Lickert | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .--- | .--- |
| Team Totals | 108 | 3820 | 519 | 1052 | 168 | 17 | 90 | 492 | 32 | 378 | .275 | .399 |
Source:

### Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | W | L | ERA | G | GS | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Dennis Eckersley | 9 | 8 | 4.27 | 23 | 23 | 0 | 154.0 | 160 | 82 | 73 | 35 | 79 |
| Frank Tanana | 4 | 10 | 4.01 | 24 | 23 | 0 | 141.1 | 142 | 70 | 63 | 43 | 78 |
| Mike Torrez | 10 | 3 | 3.68 | 22 | 22 | 0 | 127.1 | 130 | 61 | 52 | 51 | 54 |
| Bob Stanley | 10 | 8 | 3.83 | 35 | 1 | 0 | 98.2 | 110 | 46 | 42 | 38 | 28 |
| John Tudor | 4 | 3 | 4.58 | 18 | 11 | 1 | 78.2 | 74 | 44 | 40 | 28 | 44 |
| Mark Clear | 8 | 3 | 4.11 | 34 | 0 | 9 | 76.2 | 69 | 36 | 35 | 51 | 82 |
| Bob Ojeda | 6 | 2 | 3.12 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 66.1 | 50 | 25 | 23 | 25 | 28 |
| Tom Burgmeier | 4 | 5 | 2.87 | 32 | 0 | 6 | 59.2 | 61 | 23 | 19 | 17 | 35 |
| Steve Crawford | 0 | 5 | 4.99 | 14 | 11 | 0 | 57.2 | 69 | 38 | 32 | 18 | 29 |
| Bill Campbell | 1 | 1 | 3.17 | 30 | 0 | 7 | 48.1 | 45 | 23 | 17 | 20 | 37 |
| Chuck Rainey | 0 | 1 | 2.70 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 40.0 | 39 | 21 | 12 | 13 | 20 |
| Bruce Hurst | 2 | 0 | 4.30 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 23.0 | 23 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 |
| Luis Aponte | 1 | 0 | 0.57 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 15.2 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 11 |
| Team Totals | 59 | 49 | 3.81 | 108 | 108 | 24 | 987.1 | 983 | 481 | 418 | 354 | 536 |
Source:

## Statistical leaders

| Category | Player | Statistic |
| Youngest player | Rich Gedman John Lickert | 21 |
| Oldest player | Carl Yastrzemski | 41 |
| Wins Above Replacement | Dwight Evans | 6.7 |
Source:

### Batting

| Abbr. | Category | Player | Statistic |
| G | Games played | Dwight Evans | 108 |
| G | Games played | Jim Rice | 108 |
| PA | Plate appearances | Dwight Evans | 504 |
| AB | At bats | Jim Rice | 451 |
| R | Runs scored | Dwight Evans | 84 |
| H | Hits | Carney Lansford | 134 |
| 2B | Doubles | Carney Lansford | 23 |
| 3B | Triples | Dwight Evans | 4 |
| HR | Home runs | Dwight Evans | 22 |
| RBI | Runs batted in | Dwight Evans | 71 |
| SB | Stolen bases | Carney Lansford | 15 |
| CS | Caught stealing | Carney Lansford | 10 |
| BB | Base on balls | Dwight Evans | 85 |
| SO | Strikeouts | Dwight Evans | 85 |
| BA | Batting average | Carney Lansford | .336 |
| OBP | On-base percentage | Dwight Evans | .415 |
| SLG | Slugging percentage | Dwight Evans | .522 |
| OPS | On-base plus slugging | Dwight Evans | .937 |
| OPS+ | Adjusted OPS | Dwight Evans | 163 |
| TB | Total bases | Dwight Evans | 215 |
| GIDP | Grounded into double play | Jim Rice | 14 |
| HBP | Hit by pitch | Jim Rice | 3 |
| SH | Sacrifice hits | Jerry Remy | 13 |
| SF | Sacrifice flies | Jim Rice | 7 |
| IBB | Intentional base on balls | Carl Yastrzemski | 4 |
Source:

### Pitching

| Abbr. | Category | Player | Statistic |
| W | Wins | Bob Stanley | 10 |
| W | Wins | Mike Torrez | 10 |
| L | Losses | Frank Tanana | 10 |
| W-L % | Winning percentage | Mike Torrez | .769 (10–3) |
| ERA | Earned run average | Mike Torrez | 3.68 |
| G | Games pitched | Bob Stanley | 35 |
| GS | Games started | Dennis Eckersley | 23 |
| GS | Games started | Frank Tanana | 23 |
| GF | Games finished | Bill Campbell | 23 |
| CG | Complete games | Dennis Eckersley | 8 |
| SHO | Shutouts | Dennis Eckersley | 2 |
| SHO | Shutouts | Frank Tanana | 2 |
| SV | Saves | Mark Clear | 9 |
| IP | Innings pitched | Dennis Eckersley | 154 |
| SO | Strikeouts | Mark Clear | 82 |
| WHIP | Walks plus hits per inning pitched | Dennis Eckersley | 1.266 |
Source:

## Awards and honors

* Mark Clear – AL Pitcher of the Month (May)
* Dwight Evans – Silver Slugger Award (OF), Gold Glove Award (OF), AL Player of the Month (May)
* Carney Lansford – Silver Slugger Award (3B)

### All-Star Game

* Dwight Evans, reserve OF

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Pawtucket Red Sox | International League | Joe Morgan |
| AA | Bristol Red Sox | Eastern League | Tony Torchia |
| A | Winston-Salem Red Sox | Carolina League | Buddy Hunter |
| A | Winter Haven Red Sox | Florida State League | Rac Slider |
| A-Short Season | Elmira Suns | New York–Penn League | Dick Berardino |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Bristol
Source: