1981 Oakland Athletics season

MLB yearly infobox
name = Oakland Athletics
season = 1981
misc = 1981 AL West Champions

current league = American League
y1 = 1901
division = Western Division
y2 = 1969
Uniform
ballpark = Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
y4 = 1968
city = Oakland, California
y5 = 1968
owners = Walter A. Haas, Jr.
managers = Billy Martin
television = KPIX-TV
(Bill King, Harmon Killebrew)
radio = KSFO
(Bill King, Lon Simmons, Wayne Hagin)
KIQI
(Amaury Pi-Gonzalez, Julio Gonzalez)|The Oakland Athletics' 1981 season involved the A's finishing 1st in the American League West with a record of 64 wins and 45 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.

Walter Haas restored the official name of the club to "Athletics" in 1981, but retained the nickname "A's" for marketing purposes. At first, the word "Athletics" was restored only to the club's logo, underneath the much larger stylized-"A" that had come to represent the team since the early days. Former owner Charlie O. Finley banned the word "Athletics" from the club's name because he felt that name was too closely associated with former Philadelphia Athletics owner Connie Mack

Offseason

*December 8, 1980: Brian Doyle was drafted by the Athletics from the New York Yankees in the 1980 rule 5 draft. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/d/doylebr01.shtml Brian Doyle page at Baseball Reference] ]
*December 11, 1980: Michael King (minors) was traded by the Athletics to the Chicago Cubs for Cliff Johnson and Keith Drumright. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/d/drumrke01.shtml Keith Drumright page at Baseball Reference] ]
*January 13, 1981: Steve Kiefer was drafted by the Athletics in the 1st round of the 1981 Major League Baseball Draft. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kiefest01.shtml Steve Kiefer page at Baseball Reference] ]
*February 10, 1981: The Athletics traded a player to be named later to the Houston Astros for Jimmy Sexton. The Athletics completed the trade by sending Rick Lysander to the Astros on October 20. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/l/lysanri01.shtml Rick Lysander page at Baseball Reference] ]

Ownership

Charlie O. Finley's wife sought a divorce and would not accept part of a baseball team in a property settlement. With most of his money tied up in the A's or his insurance empire, Finley had to sell the team. Though Finley found a buyer in businessman Marvin Davis, who would have moved the Athletics to Denver, the tentative deal hit a snag when the Raiders announced their move to Los Angeles. Oakland and Alameda County officials, not wanting to be held responsible for losing Oakland's status as a big-league city in its own right, refused to let Finley break the lease with the Coliseum. Finley then looked to local buyers, selling the A's to San Francisco clothing manufacturer Walter A. Haas, Jr., president of Levi Strauss & Co. prior to the by|1981 season. During the Finley era, average home attendance from 1968–1980 was 777,000 per season, with 1,075,518 in 1975 being the highest attendance for a Finley-owned team. In marked contrast, during the first year of Haas' ownership, the Athletics drew 1,304,052—in a season shortened by a player strike. Were it not for the strike, the A's were on a pace to draw over 2.2 million in 1981. The A’s finished with the second-best overall record in baseball, and the best record in the American League.

Regular season

On April 25, 1981, in a game against the Seattle Mariners, manager Maury Wills advised the Kingdome groundskeepers to enlarge the batter's box by a foot. [http://espn.go.com/page2/s/list/cheaters/ballplayers.html] A's manager Billy Martin noticed. Martin showed umpire Bill Kunkel that the batter's box was seven feet long instead of six feet. Martin felt that batters being able to move up a foot in the box could cut at pitches before a curveball broke. Wills was suspended for two games and fined $500. [http://espn.go.com/page2/s/list/cheaters/ballplayers.html]

eason standings

Transactions

*March 27, 1981: Bob Lacey and Roy Moretti (minors) were traded by the Athletics to the San Diego Padres for Kevin Bell, Tony Phillips and Eric Mustad (minors). [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/phillto02.shtml Tony Phillips page at Baseball Reference] ]
*March 30, 1981: Alan Wirth was released by the Athletics. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/w/wirthal01.shtml Alan Wirth page at Baseball Reference] ]
*April 6, 1981: The Athletics traded a player to be named later and cash to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Bob Owchinko. The Athletics completed the trade by sending Ernie Camacho to the Pirates on April 10. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/camacer01.shtml Ernie Camacho page at Baseball Reference] ]
*April 9, 1981: Dave Heaverlo was signed as a free agent by the Athletics. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/h/heaveda01.shtml Dave Heaverlo page at Baseball Reference] ]
*April 10, 1981: Gorman Heimueller was signed as a free Agent by the Athletics. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/h/heimugo01.shtml Gorman Heimueller page at Baseball Reference] ]
*April 14, 1981: Chris Codiroli was signed as a free Agent by the Athletics. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/codirch01.shtml Chris Codiroli page at Baseball Reference] ]
*May 20, 1981: Dave Revering, Mike Patterson and Chuck Dougherty (minors) were traded by the Athletics to the New York Yankees for Jim Spencer and Tom Underwood. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/reverda01.shtml Dave Revering page at Baseball Reference] ]
*June 10, 1981: Rick Bosetti was purchased by the Athletics from the Toronto Blue Jays. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bosetri01.shtml Rick Bosetti page at Baseball Reference] ]
*August 27, 1981: Tim Hosley was released by the Athletics. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hosleti01.shtml Tim Hosley page at Baseball Reference] ]

Draft Picks

*June 8, 1981: 1981 Major League Baseball Draft
**Mike Gallego was drafted by the Athletics in the 2nd round (33rd pick). Player signed June 12, 1981. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/g/gallemi01.shtml Mike Gallego page at Baseball Reference] ]
**Rick Rodriguez was drafted by the Athletics in the 2nd round (41st pick). [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/rodriri01.shtml Rick Rodriguez page at Baseball Reference] ]
**Mickey Tettleton was drafted by the Athletics in the 5th round. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/t/tettlmi01.shtml Mickey Tettleton page at Baseball Reference] ]

Roster

Pitching

Starting pitchers

ALDS

Oakland wins series, 3-0.

ALCS

Yankees win the Series, 3-0

Awards and Honors

* Billy Martin, Associated Press AL Manager of the Year

References

* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/OAK/1981.shtml 1981 Oakland Athletics team page at Baseball Reference]
* [http://baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1981&t=OAK 1981 Oakland Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com]

succession box
title = AL West Championship Season
years = 1981
before = Kansas City Royals
1980
after = California Angels
1982