# 1981 San Diego Padres season

The 1981 San Diego Padres season was the 13th season in franchise history.

## Offseason

* December 8, 1980: Rollie Fingers, Bob Shirley, Gene Tenace and a player to be named later were traded by the Padres to the St. Louis Cardinals for Terry Kennedy, Steve Swisher, Mike Phillips, John Littlefield, John Urrea, Kim Seaman, and Al Olmsted. The Padres completed the deal by sending Bob Geren to the Cardinals on December 10.
* December 8, 1980: Chuck Baker was traded by the Padres to the Minnesota Twins for Dave Edwards.
* December 8, 1980: Mario Ramírez was selected by the Padres from the New York Mets in the rule 5 draft.
* December 15, 1980: Randy Jones was traded by the Padres to the New York Mets for John Pacella and José Moreno.
* December 15, 1980: Rick Sweet was purchased from the Padres by the Seattle Mariners.
* January 13, 1981: Eric Bullock was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 1st round (5th pick) of the 1981 amateur draft (secondary phase), but did not sign.
* March 27, 1981: Tony Phillips, Kevin Bell and Eric Mustad (minors) was traded by the Padres to the Oakland Athletics for Bob Lacey and Roy Moretti (minors).
* March 27, 1981: Eric Rasmussen was released by the Padres.

## 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: 1981 Major League Baseball draft
** Kevin McReynolds was drafted by the Padres in the 1st round (6th pick).
** Tony Gwynn was drafted by the Padres in the 3rd round. Player signed June 16, 1981.
** Greg Booker was drafted by the Padres in the 10th round.
** John Kruk was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 3rd round of the Secondary Phase.

### 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 | Terry Kennedy | 101 | 382 | 115 | .301 | 2 | 41 |
| 1B | Broderick Perkins | 92 | 254 | 71 | .280 | 2 | 40 |
| 2B | Juan Bonilla | 99 | 369 | 107 | .290 | 1 | 25 |
| SS | Ozzie Smith | 110 | 450 | 100 | .222 | 0 | 21 |
| 3B | Luis Salazar | 109 | 400 | 121 | .303 | 3 | 38 |
| LF | Gene Richards | 104 | 393 | 113 | .288 | 3 | 42 |
| CF | Ruppert Jones | 105 | 397 | 99 | .249 | 4 | 39 |
| RF | Joe Lefebvre | 86 | 246 | 63 | .256 | 8 | 31 |

#### 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 |
| Randy Bass | 69 | 176 | 37 | .210 | 4 | 20 |
| Dave Edwards | 58 | 112 | 24 | .214 | 2 | 13 |
| Barry Evans | 54 | 93 | 30 | .323 | 0 | 7 |
| Tim Flannery | 37 | 67 | 17 | .254 | 0 | 6 |
| José Moreno | 34 | 48 | 11 | .229 | 0 | 6 |
| Jerry Turner | 33 | 31 | 7 | .226 | 2 | 6 |
| Mike Phillips | 14 | 29 | 6 | .207 | 0 | 0 |
| Steve Swisher | 16 | 28 | 4 | .143 | 0 | 0 |
| Doug Gwosdz | 16 | 24 | 4 | .167 | 0 | 3 |
| Alan Wiggins | 15 | 14 | 5 | .357 | 0 | 0 |
| Mario Ramírez | 13 | 13 | 1 | .077 | 0 | 1 |
| Craig Stimac | 9 | 9 | 1 | .111 | 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 |
| Juan Eichelberger | 25 | 141.1 | 8 | 8 | 3.50 | 81 |
| Steve Mura | 23 | 138.2 | 5 | 14 | 4.28 | 70 |
| Chris Welsh | 22 | 123.2 | 6 | 7 | 3.78 | 51 |
| Rick Wise | 18 | 98.0 | 4 | 8 | 3.77 | 27 |
| Fred Kuhaulua | 5 | 29.1 | 1 | 0 | 2.45 | 16 |
| Steve Fireovid | 5 | 26.1 | 0 | 1 | 2.73 | 11 |

#### 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 |
| Tim Lollar | 24 | 76.2 | 2 | 8 | 6.10 | 38 |
| John Curtis | 28 | 66.2 | 2 | 6 | 5.13 | 31 |

#### 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 |
| Gary Lucas | 57 | 90.0 | 7 | 7 | 13 | 2.00 | 53 |
| John Littlefield | 42 | 64.0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3.66 | 19 |
| John Urrea | 38 | 49.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2.39 | 19 |
| Danny Boone | 37 | 63.1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2.84 | 43 |
| Eric Show | 15 | 23.0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3.13 | 22 |
| Mike Armstrong | 10 | 12.0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6.00 | 9 |

## Awards and honors

* Ozzie Smith, SS, Gold Glove Award
* Ozzie Smith, National League Leader Games Played (110)
* Ozzie Smith, National League Leader At-Bats (450)
1981 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Hawaii Islanders | Pacific Coast League | Doug Rader |
| AA | Amarillo Gold Sox | Texas League | Eddie Watt |
| A | Reno Silver Sox | California League | Jack Maloof |
| A | Salem Redbirds | Carolina League | Glenn Ezell |
| A-Short Season | Walla Walla Padres | Northwest League | Bill Bryk |
| Rookie | GCL Padres | Gulf Coast League | Jim Zerilla |