1981 Houston Astros season

The 1981 Houston Astros season was the 20th season for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise in Houston, Texas. The season was divided into two halves because of a players' strike in mid-season. The Astros won the Western Division of the National League in the second half and advanced to the playoffs, which matched the winners of the two halves in a Division Series (the name would be re-introduced fourteen years later). However, they were defeated in five games by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Division Series.

1981 Houston Astros
National League West Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record61–49 (.555)
Divisional place3rd (first half); 1st (second half)
Other information
Owner(s)John McMullen
General manager(s)Al Rosen
Manager(s)Bill Virdon
Local televisionKRIV
Local radioKENR
(Gene Elston, Dewayne Staats, Larry Dierker)
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Offseason
  • December 4, 1980: Don Sutton was signed as a free agent by the Astros.[1]
  • December 8, 1980: Chris Bourjos was traded by the San Francisco Giants with Bob Knepper to the Houston Astros for Enos Cabell.[2]
  • March 27, 1981: Julio González was released by the Astros.[3]

Regular season

Season standings
NL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cincinnati Reds 6642 0.611 — 32–22 34–20
Los Angeles Dodgers 6347 0.573 4 33–23 30–24
Houston Astros 6149 0.555 6 31–20 30–29
San Francisco Giants 5655 0.505 11½ 29–24 27–31
Atlanta Braves 5056 0.472 15 22–27 28–29
San Diego Padres 4169 0.373 26 20–35 21–34
NL West
First Half Standings		 W L Pct. GB
Los Angeles Dodgers3621.632—
Cincinnati Reds3521.6251⁄2
Houston Astros2829.4918
Atlanta Braves2529.4639+1⁄2
San Francisco Giants2732.45810
San Diego Padres2333.41112+1⁄2
NL West
Second Half Standings		 W L Pct. GB
Houston Astros3320.623—
Cincinnati Reds3121.5961+1⁄2
San Francisco Giants2923.5583+1⁄2
Los Angeles Dodgers2726.5096
Atlanta Braves2527.4817+1⁄2
San Diego Padres1836.33315+1⁄2

Record vs. opponents
1981 National League Records

Sources:
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta—3–2–16–54–87–73–73–34–52–39–65–74–3
Chicago2–3–1—1–51–66–44–75–8–12–104–103–35–55–4–1
Cincinnati5–65–1—8–48–85–47–35–24–210–29–50–5
Houston8–46–14–8—4–85–26–34–62–411–39–62–4
Los Angeles 7–74–68–88–4—5–25–13–35–16–57–55–5
Montreal7–37–44–52–52–5—9–37–410–34–22–56–9
New York3–38–5–13–73–61–53–9—7–73–6–12–52–46–5
Philadelphia5-410–22–56–43–34–77–7—7–54–24–37–6
Pittsburgh3–210–42–44–21–53–106–3–15–7—6–43–73–8
San Diego6–93–32–103–115–62–45–22–44–6—6–73–7
San Francisco7–55–55–96–95–75–24–23–47–37–6—2–3
St. Louis3–44–5–15–04–25–59–65–66–78–37–33–2—

Notable transactions
  • April 1, 1981: Chris Bourjos was traded by the Houston Astros with cash to the Baltimore Orioles for Kiko Garcia.[2]
  • April 3, 1981: Gary Rajsich was traded by the Astros to the New York Mets for John Csefalvay (minors).[4]
  • April 17, 1981: David Clyde was signed as a free agent by the Astros.[5]
  • June 7, 1981: Joaquín Andújar was traded by the Astros to the St. Louis Cardinals for Tony Scott.[6]
  • June 8, 1981: Eric Bullock was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 1st round (20th pick) of the 1981 amateur draft (Secondary Phase).[7]

Nolan Ryan's 5th No-Hitter

On September 26, 1981, Nolan Ryan no-hit the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-0, on national television. The 34-year-old right-hander became the first pitcher to throw five career no-hitters.[8] It had been six years since Ryan's last no-hitter; he pitched for the California Angels for the last of four no-hitters.

Roster
1981 Houston Astros
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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
CAlan Ashby8325569.271433
1BCésar Cedeño8230683.271534
2BJoe Pittman5213538.28107
SSCraig Reynolds8732384.260431
3BArt Howe103361107.296336
LFJosé Cruz107409109.2671355
CFTony Scott5522566.293222
RFTerry Puhl9635088.251328

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
Denny Walling6515837.234523
Kiko Garcia4813637.272015
Luis Pujols4011728.239114
Phil Garner3111327.23906
Gary Woods5411023.209012
Danny Heep339624.250011
Dickie Thon499526.27403
Rafael Landestoy357411.14904
Dave Roberts275413.24115
Mike Ivie194210.23806
Harry Spilman283410.29401
Jeffrey Leonard7183.16703
Tim Tolman481.12500
Scott Loucks1074.57100
Alan Knicely374.57122
Dave Bergman661.16711
Bert Peña421.50000

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
Joe Niekro24166.0992.8277
Don Sutton23158.21192.61104
Bob Knepper22156.2952.1875
Nolan Ryan21149.01151.69140
Vern Ruhle20102.0462.9139

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
Joaquín Andújar923.2234.9418

Relief pitchers

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
Joe Sambito4963.255101.8441
Dave Smith4275.05382.7652
Frank LaCorte3742.04253.6440
Bobby Sprowl1528.20105.9718
Billy Smith1020.21113.053
Gordie Pladson24.00009.003

1981 National League Division Series
See also: 1981 National League Division Series

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Houston Astros

Los Angeles wins series, 3-2.

GameScoreDate
1Houston 3, Los Angeles 1October 6
2Houston 1, Los Angeles 0 (11 innings)October 7
3Los Angeles 6, Houston 1October 9
4Los Angeles 2, Houston 1October 10
5Los Angeles 4, Houston 0October 11

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Tucson Toros Pacific Coast League Jimmy Johnson
AA Columbus Astros Southern League Matt Galante
A Daytona Beach Astros Florida State League Carlos Alfonso
Rookie GCL Astros Blue Gulf Coast League Eric Swanson
Rookie GCL Astros Orange Gulf Coast League Lyle Olsen

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Daytona Beach

References
  1. Don Sutton at Baseball Reference
  2. "Chris Bourjos Stats".
  3. Julio González at Baseball Reference
  4. Gary Rajsich at Baseball Reference
  5. David Clyde at Baseball Reference
  6. Joaquín Andújar at Baseball Reference
  7. "Eric Bullock Stats".
  8. "Big Days in Astros History – September 26, 1981 – Nolan Ryan pitches his fifth no-hitter". AstrosDaily.com. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
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