1981 San Diego Padres season

Major League Baseball team season

1981 San Diego Padres

League| National League
Division| West
Ballpark| San Diego Stadium
City| San Diego, California
Record| 41–69 (.373)
Divisional place| 6th
Owners| Ray Kroc
General managers| Jack McKeon
Managers| Frank Howard
Television| KFMB-TV
Radio| KFMB (AM)
(Ed Doucette, Dave Campbell, Jerry Coleman, Bob Chandler, Ted Leitner)
| <- 1980 | Seasons | 1982 ->

|
|

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

## Offseason

[edit]

* 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.[1]
* December 8, 1980: Chuck Baker was traded by the Padres to the Minnesota Twins for Dave Edwards.[2]
* December 8, 1980: Mario Ramírez was selected by the Padres from the New York Mets in the rule 5 draft.[3]
* December 15, 1980: Randy Jones was traded by the Padres to the New York Mets for John Pacella and José Moreno.[4]
* December 15, 1980: Rick Sweet was purchased from the Padres by the Seattle Mariners.[5]
* 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.[6]
* 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).[7]
* March 27, 1981: Eric Rasmussen was released by the Padres.[8]

## Regular season

[edit]

### Season standings

[edit]

* v
* t
* e

NL 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

|
|
|
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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

[edit]

1981 National League record

* v
* t
* e

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

Team  | ATL  | CHC  | CIN  | HOU  | LAD  | MTL  | 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

[edit]

* June 8, 1981: 1981 Major League Baseball draft
* Kevin McReynolds was drafted by the Padres in the 1st round (6th pick).[9]
* Tony Gwynn was drafted by the Padres in the 3rd round. Player signed June 16, 1981.[10]
* Greg Booker was drafted by the Padres in the 10th round.[11]
* John Kruk was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 3rd round of the Secondary Phase.[12]

### Roster

[edit]

1981 San Diego Padres

Roster
Pitchers

* 36 Mike Armstrong
* 30 Danny Boone
* 51 John Curtis
* 13 Juan Eichelberger
* 62 Steve Fireovid
* 41 Fred Kuhaulua
* 50 John Littlefield
* 48 Tim Lollar
* 25 Gary Lucas
* 27 Steve Mura
* 44 Eric Show
* 38 John Urrea
* 26 Chris Welsh
* 40 Rick Wise

|  | Catchers

* 10 Doug Gwosdz
* 16 Terry Kennedy
* 9 Steve Swisher

Infielders

* 5 Randy Bass
* 3 Juan Bonilla
* 8 Barry Evans
* 6 Tim Flannery
* 15 Broderick Perkins
* 10 Mike Phillips
* 14 Mario Ramírez
* 4 Luis Salazar
* 1 Ozzie Smith

|  | Outfielders

* 24 Dave Edwards
* 22 Ruppert Jones
* 18 Joe Lefebvre
* 14 José Moreno
* 17 Gene Richards
* 20 Jerry Turner
* 2 Alan Wiggins

Other batters

* 7 Craig Stimac

|  | Manager

* 33 Frank Howard

Coaches

* 37 Ed Brinkman
* 23 Chuck Estrada
* 34 Jack Krol
* 28 Bobby Tolan

## Player stats

[edit]

### Batting

[edit]

#### Starters by position

[edit]

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

|
|
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|
|
|
|

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

[edit]

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

|
|
|
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|

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

[edit]

#### Starting pitchers

[edit]

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player  | G  | IP  | W  | L  | ERA  | SO

|
|
|
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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

[edit]

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player  | G  | IP  | W  | L  | ERA  | SO

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

#### Relief pitchers

[edit]

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

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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

[edit]

* 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

[edit]

See also: Minor League Baseball

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

[13]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Rollie Fingers at Baseball Reference
2. ^ Dave Edwards at Baseball Reference
3. ^ Mario Ramírez at Baseball Reference
4. ^ José Moreno at Baseball Reference
5. ^ Rick Sweet at Baseball Reference
6. ^ "Eric Bullock Stats".
7. ^ Tony Phillips at Baseball Reference
8. ^ Eric Rasmussen at Baseball Reference
9. ^ Kevin McReynolds at Baseball Reference
10. ^ Tony Gwynn at Baseball Reference
11. ^ Greg Booker at Baseball Reference
12. ^ John Kruk at Baseball Reference
13. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

## External links

[edit]

* 1981 San Diego Padres at Baseball Reference
* 1981 San Diego Padres at Baseball Almanac

* v
* t
* e

1981 MLB season by team

| AL East|

* Baltimore
* Boston
* Cleveland
* Detroit
* Milwaukee
* New York
* Toronto

|

AL West|

* California
* Chicago
* Kansas City
* Minnesota
* Oakland
* Seattle
* Texas

| NL East|

* Chicago
* Montréal
* New York
* Philadelphia
* Pittsburgh
* St. Louis

|

NL West|

* Atlanta
* Cincinnati
* Houston
* Los Angeles
* San Diego
* San Francisco

* 1981 MLB draft
* 1981 All-Star Game
* 1981 strike
* 1981 World Series

* v
* t
* e

San Diego Padres

* Established in 1969
* Based in San Diego, California

Franchise|

* History
* Expansion and draft
* Seasons
* Players
* Managers
* Owners and executives
* Division
* Hall of Fame
* Award winners and league leaders
* Broadcasters
* First-round draft picks
* Opening Day starting pitchers
* Records
* No-hitters

Ballparks|

* Qualcomm Stadium
* Petco Park

Spring training|

Keegan Field
Desert Sun Stadium
Peoria Sports Complex

Culture|

* The Kid from Left Field
* An American Journey
* Pitch
* Gallagher Square
* San Diego Chicken
* San Diego Padres (PCL)
* Swinging Friar
* Trevor Time
* Rally Goose

Lore|

* "Oh, doctor!"
* 1984 NLCS Game 4
* 1984 Braves–Padres bean brawl
* Roseanne Barr sings national anthem
* Padres Paradise Series
* 2007 NL Wild Card tie-breaker game
* MLB China Series
* MLB Mexico City Series

Rivalries|

* Los Angeles Dodgers

Retired numbers|

* 6
* 19
* 31
* 35
* 42
* 51

Key personnel|

* Chairman: John Seidler
* General Manager: A. J. Preller
* Manager: Mike Shildt

League pennants (2)|

* 1984
* 1998

Division titles (5)|

* 1984
* 1996
* 1998
* 2005
* 2006

Wild card berths (3)|

* 2020
* 2022
* 2024

Minor league affiliates|

* Player overview
* Triple-A: El Paso Chihuahuas
* Double-A: San Antonio Missions
* High-A: Fort Wayne TinCaps
* Single-A: Lake Elsinore Storm
* Rookie: ACL Padres
* DSL Padres Brown
* DSL Padres Gold

Broadcasting|

| Television|

* MLB-produced

|

Radio|

* La Poderosa 860 AM
* 97.3 FM The Fan

Seasons (57)

1960s|

* 1960 · 1961 · 1962 · 1963 · 1964 · 1965 · 1966 · 1967 · 1968 ·  1969

1970s|

* 1970
* 1971
* 1972
* 1973
* 1974
* 1975
* 1976
* 1977
* 1978
* 1979

1980s|

* 1980
* 1981
* 1982
* 1983
* 1984
* 1985
* 1986
* 1987
* 1988
* 1989

1990s|

* 1990
* 1991
* 1992
* 1993
* 1994
* 1995
* 1996
* 1997
* 1998
* 1999

2000s|

* 2000
* 2001
* 2002
* 2003
* 2004
* 2005
* 2006
* 2007
* 2008
* 2009

2010s|

* 2010
* 2011
* 2012
* 2013
* 2014
* 2015
* 2016
* 2017
* 2018
* 2019

2020s|

* 2020
* 2021
* 2022
* 2023
* 2024
* 2025

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