# 1981 Atlanta Braves season

The 1981 Atlanta Braves season was the 16th in Atlanta and the 111th overall.

## Offseason

* November 15, 1980: Claudell Washington was signed as a free agent by the Braves.
* December 12, 1980: Doyle Alexander was traded by the Braves to the San Francisco Giants for John Montefusco and Craig Landis (minors).
* January 12, 1981: Gaylord Perry was signed as a free agent by the Braves.
* March 25, 1981: Gary Matthews was traded by the Braves to the Philadelphia Phillies for Bob Walk.

## 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 | — |

### 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 | Bruce Benedict | 90 | 295 | 78 | .264 | 5 | 35 |
| 1B | Chris Chambliss | 107 | 404 | 110 | .272 | 8 | 51 |
| 2B | Glenn Hubbard | 99 | 361 | 85 | .235 | 6 | 33 |
| SS | Rafael Ramírez | 95 | 307 | 67 | .218 | 2 | 20 |
| 3B | Bob Horner | 79 | 300 | 83 | .277 | 15 | 42 |
| LF | Rufino Linares | 78 | 253 | 67 | .265 | 5 | 25 |
| CF | Dale Murphy | 104 | 369 | 91 | .247 | 13 | 50 |
| RF | Claudell Washington | 85 | 320 | 93 | .291 | 5 | 37 |

#### 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 |
| Eddie Miller | 50 | 134 | 31 | .231 | 0 | 7 |
| Brett Butler | 40 | 126 | 32 | .254 | 0 | 4 |
| Biff Pocoroba | 57 | 122 | 22 | .180 | 0 | 8 |
| Jerry Royster | 64 | 93 | 19 | .204 | 0 | 9 |
| Brian Asselstine | 56 | 86 | 22 | .256 | 2 | 10 |
| Terry Harper | 40 | 73 | 19 | .260 | 2 | 8 |
| Luis Gómez | 35 | 35 | 7 | .200 | 0 | 1 |
| Matt Sinatro | 12 | 32 | 9 | .281 | 0 | 4 |
| Paul Runge | 10 | 27 | 7 | .259 | 0 | 2 |
| Larry Owen | 13 | 16 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Bob Porter | 17 | 14 | 4 | .286 | 0 | 4 |
| Bill Nahorodny | 14 | 13 | 3 | .231 | 0 | 2 |
| Mike Lum | 10 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 0 | 0 |
| Brook Jacoby | 11 | 10 | 2 | .200 | 0 | 1 |
| Larry Whisenton | 9 | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Ken Smith | 5 | 3 | 1 | .333 | 0 | 0 |
| Albert Hall | 6 | 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 |
| Gaylord Perry | 23 | 150.2 | 8 | 9 | 3.94 | 60 |
| Tommy Boggs | 25 | 142.2 | 3 | 13 | 4.10 | 81 |
| Phil Niekro | 22 | 139.1 | 7 | 7 | 3.10 | 62 |
| Larry McWilliams | 6 | 37.2 | 2 | 1 | 3.11 | 23 |

#### 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 |
| Rick Mahler | 34 | 112.1 | 8 | 6 | 2.80 | 54 |
| John Montefusco | 26 | 77.1 | 2 | 3 | 3.49 | 34 |
| Bob Walk | 12 | 43.1 | 1 | 4 | 4.57 | 16 |

#### 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 |
| Rick Camp | 48 | 9 | 3 | 17 | 1.78 | 47 |
| Gene Garber | 35 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 2.61 | 34 |
| Larry Bradford | 25 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3.71 | 14 |
| Al Hrabosky | 24 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.07 | 13 |
| Preston Hanna | 20 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6.37 | 22 |
| Steve Bedrosian | 15 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4.44 | 9 |
| Rick Matula | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.43 | 0 |
| Jose Alvarez | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 |
| Luis Gómez | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27.00 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Richmond Braves | International League | Eddie Haas |
| AA | Savannah Braves | Southern League | Andy Gilbert |
| A | Durham Bulls | Carolina League | Al Gallagher |
| A | Anderson Braves | South Atlantic League | Sonny Jackson |
| Rookie | GCL Braves | Gulf Coast League | Pedro González |