1981 Texas Rangers season

The 1981 Texas Rangers season was the 21st of the Texas Rangers franchise overall, their 10th in Arlington as the Rangers, and the 10th season at Arlington Stadium. The Rangers finished second in the American League West with a record of 57 wins and 48 losses. The season was suspended for 50 days due to the infamous 1981 players strike and the league chose as its playoff teams, the division winners from the first and second halves of the season, respectively.

Offseason

December 12, 1980: Richie Zisk, Rick Auerbach, Ken Clay, Jerry Don Gleaton, Brian Allard, and Steve Finch were traded by the Rangers to the Seattle Mariners for Willie Horton, Larry Cox, Rick Honeycutt, Mario Mendoza, and Leon Roberts.
December 18, 1980: Bob Jones was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.
Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

April 1, 1981: Willie Horton was released by the Rangers.
June 8, 1981: Ron Darling was drafted by the Rangers in the 1st round of the 1981 Major League Baseball draft.
Roster

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	Jim Sundberg	102	339	94	.277	3	28
1B	Pat Putnam	95	297	79	.266	8	35
2B	Bump Wills	102	410	103	.251	2	41
SS		88	229	53	.231	0	22
3B	Buddy Bell	97	360	106	.294	10	64
LF	Billy Sample	66	230	65	.283	3	25
CF	Mickey Rivers	99	399	114	.286	3	26
RF	Johnny Grubb	67	199	46	.231	3	26
DH	Al Oliver	102	421	130	.309	4	55

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
Leon Roberts	72	233	65	.279	4	31
Bill Stein	53	115	38	.330	2	22
	50	85	22	.259	1	14
Tom Poquette	30	64	10	.156	0	7
John Ellis	23	58	8	.138	1	7
	10	34	9	.265	3	7
Wayne Tolleson	14	24	4	.167	0	1
Bob Johnson	6	18	5	.278	2	4
Rick Lisi	9	16	5	.313	0	1
Dan Duran	13	16	4	.250	0	0
	5	13	3	.231	0	1
	7	13	3	.231	0	2
Don Werner	2	8	2	.250	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
	22	146.0	9	9	3.64	98
Doc Medich	20	143.1	10	6	3.08	65
	20	127.2	11	6	3.31	40
Fergie Jenkins	19	106.0	5	8	4.50	63
Jon Matlack	17	104.1	4	7	4.14	43

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
Charlie Hough	21	82.0	4	1	2.96	69
	5	27.2	1	2	1.63	19
Len Whitehouse	2	3.1	0	1	16.20	2

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
	36	8	2	6	2.56	22
John Henry Johnson	24	3	1	2	2.66	8
Jim Kern	23	1	2	6	2.70	20
	16	1	1	0	2.20	18
Dave Scmiidt	14	0	1	1	3.13	13
Mark Mercer	7	0	1	2	4.70	8
Bob Lacey	1	0	0	0	9.00	0

Awards and honors

Buddy Bell, 3B, Gold Glove 1981
Al Oliver, Silver Slugger Award, 1981
Jim Sundberg, C, Gold Glove, 1981

'''All-Star Game'''