| 1981 American League Championship Series | ||||||||||
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| Dates | October 13–15 | |||||||||
| MVP | Graig Nettles (New York) | |||||||||
| Umpires | Nick Bremigan Russ Goetz Jerry Neudecker Marty Springstead Durwood Merrill Vic Voltaggio | |||||||||
| Broadcast | ||||||||||
| Television | NBC KPIX (OAK) WPIX (NYY) | |||||||||
| TV announcers | NBC:Joe Garagiola andTony Kubek KPIX:Bill King andWayne Walker WPIX:Frank Messer,Phil Rizzuto andBill White | |||||||||
| Radio | CBS | |||||||||
| Radio announcers | Ernie Harwell andCurt Gowdy | |||||||||
| ALDS |
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The1981American League Championship Series was a best-of-fiveplayoff baseball series inMajor League Baseball's1981 postseason played between theAmerican League East championNew York Yankees and theAmerican League West championOakland Athletics from October 13–15 to determine theAmerican League champion for the1981 Major League Baseball season. The Yankees swept the Athletics three games to none to win their 33rd American League pennant in franchise history. New York advanced to face theLos Angeles Dodgers in theWorld Series, but lost in six games.
The 1981 Major League Baseball season had been interrupted by aplayers' strike from June 12 to August 10, forcing the cancellation of 713 regular-season games, or 38 percent of the schedule. As a result of this unique situation, the MLB team owners met at the O'Hare Hilton in Chicago on August 6 and decided to split the season into two halves. The teams that finished in first place in their respective divisions in each half of the season would face each other in theAmerican League Division Series (ALDS) andNational League Division Series (NLDS) to determine the champions of each of the four MLB divisions – the American League East, American League West,National League East, andNational League West. If the same team finished first in a division in both halves of a season, the first-half winner would play the team with the second-best overall record.[1] The winners of these series would meet in the American League Championship Series (ALCS) andNational League Championship Series (NLCS) to determine the league champions, who would play each other in the World Series.
The Yankees had finished in first place in the American League East in the first half of the season with a 59-48 record, while theMilwaukee Brewers finished first in the AL East in the second half with a 62-47 mark. In the American League West, the Athletics clinched the first-half title with a record of 64-45, and theKansas City Royals claimed the second-half crown with a 50-53 record. This meant that the Yankees would play the Brewers in one ALDS, while the Athletics would face the Royals in the other ALDS.
The Yankees almost blew a 2-0 series lead to Milwaukee in their ALDS, but prevailed in the deciding Game 5 athome. In the other ALDS, Oakland's superb pitching staff ofMike Norris,Steve McCatty, andRick Langford allowed the Royals only two runs total as they swept aside Kansas City in three straight games. This set the stage for an ALCS clash between the East champion Yankees and the West champion Athletics.
New York won the series, 3–0.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
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| 1 | October 13 | Oakland Athletics – 1,New York Yankees – 3 | Yankee Stadium (I) | 2:52 | 55,740[2] |
| 2 | October 14 | Oakland Athletics – 3,New York Yankees – 13 | Yankee Stadium (I) | 3:08 | 48,497[3] |
| 3 | October 15 | New York Yankees – 4, Oakland Athletics – 0 | Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum | 3:19 | 47,302[4] |
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oakland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| New York | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 3 | 7 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WP:Tommy John (1–0) LP:Mike Norris (0–1) Sv:Goose Gossage (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
InBilly Martin's return to Yankee Stadium (for the first time since the Yankees fired him in 1979), the Yankees drew first blood in front of their old skipper.Graig Nettles' three-run bases-loaded double in the first inning was all the run support thatTommy John needed.
John gave way toRon Davis after six innings. Davis had an easy seventh, but the A's mounted a threat in the eighth where Martin tried some of his "Billyball" tactics. AfterDwayne Murphy walked with one out, Davis ran up a 1–2 count on the next batter,Cliff Johnson. During the at-bat, Johnson stepped in and out of the batter's box (on Martin's orders) on each pitch to break Davis' rhythm. After fouling off a pitch, Johnson showed his bat to plate umpireNick Bremigan and asked to get a new one. Johnson walked slowly to and from the A's dugout, taking his time getting a new bat, and Bremigan ordered him to get back to the plate more quickly. Once at the plate, Johnson stepped out one more time, and Bremigan ordered him back in, prompting an argument from Johnson. Yankee managerBob Lemon came out of the dugout as well. Bremigan then ordered Johnson into the batter's box, but also ordered Davis to resume pitching immediately. This, in turn, infuriated Davis, who was angry that Johnson had delayed the game so long. BothGraig Nettles and Lemon tried to calm Davis down, and Bremigan exacerbated the situation by charging Lemon with a mound visit. A clearly rattled Davis threw two pitches well out of the strike zone, after which Yankee catcherRick Cerone came out to talk to Davis. Davis then threw ball four to walk Johnson and called Cerone out again to talk (presumably to give closerGoose Gossage time to warm up). Martin then stormed out of the dugout to protest Davis' actions. Lemon then returned from the dugout to the mound and removed Davis (as MLB rules require on a second mound visit in an inning) and brought in Gossage earlier than expected to faceTony Armas. Armas, the A's leading home run and RBI man in 1981, was now at bat with the tying runs on base with less than 2 outs. Gossage retired Armas andWayne Gross to end the inning and closed out the win the rest of the way.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Oakland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| New York | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | X | 13 | 19 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WP:George Frazier (1–0) LP:Steve McCatty (0–1) Home runs: OAK: None NYY:Lou Piniella (1),Graig Nettles (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Yankees struck first in Game 2 onReggie Jackson's RBI groundout in the bottom of the first with runners on first and second off of American LeagueERA leaderSteve McCatty, but Oakland tied the score in the third whenRick Bosetti hit a leadoff double and scored onRickey Henderson's one-out triple. Next inning, three consecutive one-out singles put Oakland up 2–1 and knock Yankees' starterRudy May out of the game.George Frazier intentionally walkedKeith Drumright beforeFred Stanley's RBI single made it 3–1 Oakland, who were poised to tie the series going home. It could have been worse, butDave Winfield made a leaping catch in the second to robTony Armas of a homer.
But,Graig Nettles led off the bottom of the fourth with a single andRick Cerone was hit by a McCatty pitch with one out. AfterWillie Randolph singled in Nettles,Jerry Mumphrey walked.Dave Beard came on in relief and proceeded to give up an RBI single toLarry Milbourne, a two-run double to Winfield, and a three-run homer toLou Piniella. Beard gave up two more hits and loaded the bases after that, but Cerone flied out to end the disastrous inning. The Yankees now led 8–3.
In the sixth, the Yankees added another run on an RBI single byBob Watson off ofJeff Jones after a walk and hit-by-pitch. Next inning, they loaded the bases on three singles with one out off ofBrian Kingman.Oscar Gamble's sacrifice fly scored a run off ofBob Owchinko beforeGraig Nettles capped the scoring with a three-run home run to make it 13–3 Yankees. Frazier pitched5+2⁄3 innings in relief to earn the win as the Yankees took a 2–0 series lead.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| New York | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Oakland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WP:Dave Righetti (1–0) LP:Matt Keough (0–1) Home runs: NYY:Willie Randolph (1) OAK: None | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prior to the game,Bob Lemon inexplicably droppedWillie Randolph from the leadoff spot in the batting order to ninth. Randolph kept any ill feelings to himself and broke a scoreless pitching duel betweenDave Righetti andMatt Keough with a homer in the sixth. That run would be all Righetti would need through six innings. Series MVPGraig Nettles plated three more runs in the ninth with a bases-loaded double resulting when A's center fielderRick Bosetti turned the wrong way on his fly ball.
Dave Righetti pitched six shutout innings andRon Davis pitched two scoreless innings before giving way toGoose Gossage, who retired the side in the ninth to clinch the pennant.
The most widely accepted debut of"the wave" at a major League baseball game occurred during Game 3, led byKrazy George Henderson.
1981 ALCS(3–0):New York Yankees overOakland Athletics
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| New York Yankees | 4 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 20 | 36 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Oakland Athletics | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 22 | 4 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Total attendance: 151,539 Average attendance: 50,513 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||