1981 Chicago Cubs season

The 1981 Chicago Cubs season was the 110th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 106th in the National League and the 66th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished the first-half in last place at 15–37, 17½ games behind the Philadelphia Phillies, and the second-half in fifth place at 23–28, six games behind the eventual NL East Champion Montreal Expos in the National League East. It was also the final season for the Cubs under the Wrigley family ownership, as the Tribune Company took over the club late in the year.

1981 Chicago Cubs
League	National League
Division	East
Ballpark	Wrigley Field
City	Chicago
Owners	William Wrigley III, Tribune Company
General managers	Bob Kennedy, Herman Franks, Dallas Green
Managers	Joey Amalfitano
Television	WGN-TV (Jack Brickhouse, Lou Boudreau, Milo Hamilton)
Radio	WGN (Vince Lloyd, Lou Boudreau)
Stats	ESPN.com Baseball Reference
Seasons

Offseason

• December 9, 1980: Bruce Sutter was traded by the Cubs to the St. Louis Cardinals for Leon Durham, Ken Reitz, and a player to be named later. The Cardinals completed the deal by sending Tye Waller to the Cubs on December 22.
• December 12, 1980: Jerry Martin, Jesús Figueroa and a player to be named later was traded by the Cubs to the San Francisco Giants for Joe Strain and Philip Nastu. The Cubs completed the deal by sending Mike Turgeon (minors) to the Giants on August 11, 1981.
• February 26, 1981: George Riley was released by the Cubs.
• March 28, 1981: Dennis Lamp was traded by the Cubs to the Chicago White Sox for Ken Kravec.

Regular season

Season standings

NL East

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Cardinals	59	43	.578	—	32‍–‍21	27‍–‍22
Montreal Expos	60	48	.556	2	38‍–‍18	22‍–‍30
Philadelphia Phillies	59	48	.551	2½	36‍–‍19	23‍–‍29
Pittsburgh Pirates	46	56	.451	13	22‍–‍28	24‍–‍28
New York Mets	41	62	.398	18½	24‍–‍27	17‍–‍35
Chicago Cubs	38	65	.369	21½	27‍–‍30	11‍–‍35

NL East First Half Standings	W	L	Pct.	GB
Philadelphia Phillies	34	21	.618	—
St. Louis Cardinals	30	20	.600	1+1⁄2
Montreal Expos	30	25	.545	4
Pittsburgh Pirates	25	23	.521	5+1⁄2
New York Mets	17	34	.333	15
Chicago Cubs	15	37	.288	17+1⁄2

NL East Second Half Standings	W	L	Pct.	GB
Montreal Expos	30	23	.566	—
St. Louis Cardinals	29	23	.558	1⁄2
Philadelphia Phillies	25	27	.481	4+1⁄2
New York Mets	24	28	.462	5+1⁄2
Chicago Cubs	23	28	.451	6
Pittsburgh Pirates	21	33	.389	9+1⁄2

Record vs. opponents

1981 National League record Sources: [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]
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

• April 6, 1981: Butch Benton was acquired by the Cubs from the New York Mets as part of a conditional deal.
• June 8, 1981: Joe Carter was drafted by the Cubs in the 1st round (2nd pick) of the 1981 Major League Baseball draft. Player signed June 12, 1981.
• June 12, 1981: Rick Reuschel was traded by the Cubs to the New York Yankees for Doug Bird, a player to be named later, and $400,000. The Yankees completed the trade by sending Mike Griffin on August 5.
• August 19, 1981: The Cubs traded players to be named later to the New York Yankees for Pat Tabler. The Cubs completed the trade by sending Bill Caudill to the Yankees on April 1, 1982, and Jay Howell to the Yankees on August 2, 1982.

Roster

1981 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers 47 Doug Bird 35 Doug Capilla 36 Bill Caudill 49 Rawly Eastwick 40 Dave Geisel 50 Mike Griffin 38 Willie Hernández 45 Jay Howell 37 Ken Kravec 39 Mike Krukow 34 Randy Martz 40 Lynn McGlothen 48 Rick Reuschel 46 Lee Smith 41 Dick Tidrow		Catchers  9 Tim Blackwell  7 Jody Davis  8 Barry Foote 16 Bill Hayes Infielders 22 Bill Buckner 27 Héctor Cruz 11 Iván DeJesús 15 Steve Dillard 20 Scott Fletcher 44 Ken Reitz 20 Joe Strain 19 Pat Tabler 18 Mike Tyson 21 Tye Waller		Outfielders 25 Bobby Bonds 10 Leon Durham 32 Mel Hall 28 Steve Henderson 30 Carlos Lezcano 33 Mike Lum 24 Jerry Morales 25,29 Scot Thompson 23 Jim Tracy Other batters 47 Gene Krug		Manager  5 Joey Amalfitano Coaches  3 Gene Clines  4 Jack Hiatt  2 Peanuts Lowrey  6 Les Moss  1 Cookie Rojas

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	Jody Davis	56	180	46	.256	4	21
1B	Bill Buckner	106	421	131	.311	10	75
2B	Pat Tabler	35	101	19	.188	1	5
SS	Iván DeJesús	106	403	78	.194	0	13
3B	Ken Reitz	82	260	56	.215	2	28
LF	Steve Henderson	82	287	84	.293	5	35
CF	Jerry Morales	84	245	70	.286	1	25
RF	Leon Durham	87	328	95	.290	10	35

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
Bobby Bonds	45	163	35	.215	6	19
Tim Blackwell	58	158	37	.234	1	11
Steve Dillard	53	119	26	.218	2	11
Scot Thompson	57	115	19	.165	0	8
Héctor Cruz	53	109	25	.229	7	15
Mike Tyson	50	92	17	.185	2	8
Joe Strain	25	74	14	.189	0	1
Tye Waller	30	71	19	.268	3	13
Jim Tracy	45	63	15	.238	0	5
Mike Lum	41	58	14	.241	2	7
Scott Fletcher	19	46	10	.217	0	1
Barry Foote	9	22	0	.000	0	1
Carlos Lezcano	7	14	1	.071	0	2
Mel Hall	10	11	1	.091	1	2
Gene Krug	7	5	2	.400	0	0
Bill Hayes	1	0	0	----	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
Mike Krukow	25	144.1	9	9	3.68	101
Rick Reuschel	13	85.2	4	7	3.47	53
Doug Bird	12	75.1	4	5	3.58	34

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
Randy Martz	33	107.2	5	7	3.68	32
Ken Kravec	24	78.1	1	6	5.06	50
Bill Caudill	30	71.0	1	5	5.83	45
Lynn McGlothen	20	54.2	1	4	4.77	26
Mike Griffin	16	52.0	2	5	4.50	20
Jay Howell	10	22.1	2	0	4.84	10
Dave Geisel	11	16.0	2	0	0.56	7

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
Dick Tidrow	51	3	10	9	5.06	39
Doug Capilla	42	1	0	0	3.18	28
Lee Smith	40	3	6	1	3.51	50
Rawly Eastwick	30	0	1	1	2.28	24
Willie Hernández	12	0	0	2	3.95	13

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Iowa Cubs	American Association	Randy Hundley and Roy Hartsfield
AA	Midland Cubs	Texas League	Roy Hartsfield and George Enright
A	Quad Cities Cubs	Midwest League	Rich Morales
A-Short Season	Geneva Cubs	New York–Penn League	Bob Hartsfield
Rookie	GCL Cubs	Gulf Coast League	Hugh Yancy

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
• 1981 Chicago Cubs season at Baseball Reference