| 1981 Chicago White Sox | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| League | American League | |||
| Division | West | |||
| Ballpark | Comiskey Park | |||
| City | Chicago | |||
| Owners | Jerry Reinsdorf | |||
| General managers | Roland Hemond | |||
| Managers | Tony La Russa | |||
| Television | WGN-TV (Harry Caray,Jimmy Piersall,Lou Brock) | |||
| Radio | WBBM (AM) (Harry Caray,Joe McConnell,Rich King) | |||
| ||||
The1981Chicago White Sox season was the White Sox's 81st season in the major leagues, and their 82nd season overall. They finished with a record of 54–52, good enough for third place in theAmerican League West, 8.5 games behind the first placeOakland Athletics. However, due to aplayer's strike, the Athletics would play the 50-53Kansas City Royals, who had finished behind the White Sox.
OwnerBill Veeck attempted to sell the club toEd DeBartolo, but the offer was turned down by the other owners.[1] Veeck was then forced to sell to a different investment group headed byJerry Reinsdorf andEddie Einhorn.[1]
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oakland Athletics | 64 | 45 | .587 | — | 35–21 | 29–24 |
| Texas Rangers | 57 | 48 | .543 | 5 | 32–24 | 25–24 |
| Chicago White Sox | 54 | 52 | .509 | 8½ | 25–24 | 29–28 |
| Kansas City Royals | 50 | 53 | .485 | 11 | 19–28 | 31–25 |
| California Angels | 51 | 59 | .464 | 13½ | 26–28 | 25–31 |
| Seattle Mariners | 44 | 65 | .404 | 20 | 20–37 | 24–28 |
| Minnesota Twins | 41 | 68 | .376 | 23 | 24–36 | 17–32 |
| AL West First Half Standings | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oakland Athletics | 37 | 23 | .617 | — |
| Texas Rangers | 33 | 22 | .600 | 1+1⁄2 |
| Chicago White Sox | 31 | 22 | .585 | 2+1⁄2 |
| California Angels | 31 | 29 | .517 | 6 |
| Kansas City Royals | 20 | 30 | .400 | 12 |
| Seattle Mariners | 21 | 36 | .368 | 14+1⁄2 |
| Minnesota Twins | 17 | 39 | .304 | 18 |
| AL West Second Half Standings | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas City Royals | 30 | 23 | .566 | — |
| Oakland Athletics | 27 | 22 | .551 | 1 |
| Texas Rangers | 24 | 26 | .480 | 4+1⁄2 |
| Minnesota Twins | 24 | 29 | .453 | 6 |
| Seattle Mariners | 23 | 29 | .442 | 6+1⁄2 |
| Chicago White Sox | 23 | 30 | .434 | 7 |
| California Angels | 20 | 30 | .400 | 8+1⁄2 |
Sources:[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | — |
| 1981 Chicago White Sox | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
| Pitchers | Catchers Infielders | Outfielders
Other batters | Manager Coaches | ||||||
| = Indicates team leader |
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; BB = Base on balls; SO = Strikeouts; AVG = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases
| Player | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG | SB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bill Almon, SS | 103 | 349 | 46 | 105 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 41 | 21 | 60 | .301 | 16 |
| Harold Baines, RF | 82 | 280 | 42 | 80 | 11 | 7 | 10 | 41 | 12 | 41 | .286 | 6 |
| Tony Bernazard, 2B | 106 | 384 | 53 | 106 | 14 | 4 | 6 | 34 | 54 | 66 | .276 | 4 |
| Jim Essian, C | 27 | 52 | 6 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 5 | .308 | 0 |
| Carlton Fisk, C | 96 | 338 | 44 | 89 | 12 | 0 | 7 | 45 | 38 | 37 | .263 | 3 |
| Jerry Hairston, OF | 9 | 25 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 4 | .280 | 0 |
| Marc Hill, C | 16 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 0 |
| Lamar Johnson, 1B, DH | 41 | 134 | 10 | 37 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 5 | 14 | .276 | 0 |
| Rusty Kuntz, OF, DH | 67 | 55 | 15 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 8 | .255 | 1 |
| Ron LeFlore, LF, CF | 82 | 337 | 46 | 83 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 24 | 28 | 70 | .246 | 36 |
| Chet Lemon, CF | 94 | 328 | 50 | 99 | 23 | 6 | 9 | 50 | 33 | 48 | .302 | 5 |
| Jay Loviglio, 3B, 2B | 14 | 15 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .267 | 2 |
| Greg Luzinski, DH | 104 | 378 | 55 | 100 | 15 | 1 | 21 | 62 | 58 | 80 | .265 | 0 |
| Bob Molinaro, OF, DH | 47 | 42 | 7 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 8 | 1 | .262 | 1 |
| Jim Morrison, 3B | 90 | 290 | 27 | 68 | 8 | 1 | 10 | 34 | 10 | 29 | .234 | 3 |
| Wayne Nordhagen, OF | 65 | 208 | 19 | 64 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 33 | 10 | 25 | .308 | 0 |
| Greg Pryor, 3B, SS, 2B | 47 | 76 | 4 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 8 | .281 | 0 |
| Mike Squires, 1B | 92 | 294 | 35 | 78 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 22 | 17 | .265 | 7 |
| Leo Sutherland, OF | 11 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | .167 | 2 |
| Jerry Turner, RF | 10 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | .167 | 0 |
Team Totals | 106 | 3615 | 476 | 982 | 135 | 27 | 76 | 438 | 322 | 518 | .272 | 86 |
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; HR = Home runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts
| Player | W | L | ERA | G | GS | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | K |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Juan Agosto | 0 | 0 | 4.76 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5.2 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Francisco Barrios | 1 | 3 | 3.96 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 36.1 | 45 | 23 | 16 | 3 | 15 | 12 |
| Ross Baumgarten | 5 | 9 | 4.07 | 19 | 19 | 0 | 101.2 | 101 | 56 | 46 | 9 | 43 | 52 |
| Britt Burns | 10 | 6 | 2.64 | 24 | 23 | 0 | 156.2 | 139 | 52 | 46 | 14 | 50 | 108 |
| Richard Dotson | 9 | 8 | 3.77 | 24 | 24 | 0 | 141.0 | 145 | 67 | 59 | 13 | 49 | 73 |
| Ed Farmer | 3 | 3 | 4.61 | 42 | 0 | 10 | 52.2 | 53 | 33 | 27 | 5 | 35 | 42 |
| Kevin Hickey | 0 | 2 | 3.65 | 41 | 0 | 3 | 44.1 | 38 | 22 | 18 | 3 | 23 | 17 |
| LaMarr Hoyt | 9 | 3 | 3.57 | 43 | 1 | 10 | 90.2 | 80 | 40 | 36 | 10 | 29 | 60 |
| Jerry Koosman | 1 | 4 | 3.33 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 27.0 | 27 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 7 | 21 |
| Dennis Lamp | 7 | 6 | 2.41 | 27 | 10 | 0 | 127.0 | 103 | 41 | 34 | 4 | 44 | 71 |
| Lynn McGlothen | 0 | 0 | 4.15 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 21.2 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 12 |
| Reggie Patterson | 0 | 1 | 13.50 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 7.1 | 14 | 11 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
| Dewey Robinson | 1 | 0 | 4.50 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| Steve Trout | 8 | 7 | 3.47 | 20 | 18 | 0 | 124.2 | 122 | 53 | 48 | 7 | 38 | 54 |
Team Totals | 54 | 52 | 3.47 | 106 | 106 | 23 | 940.2 | 891 | 423 | 363 | 73 | 353 | 529 |