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1981 Minnesota Twins season

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1981 Minnesota Twins
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionWest
BallparkMetropolitan Stadium
CityBloomington, Minnesota
OwnersCalvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes)
General managersCalvin Griffith
ManagersJohnny Goryl, Billy Gardner
TelevisionKMSP-TV
(Bob Kurtz, Larry Osterman)
Radio830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, Frank Quilici)
← 1980 Seasons 1982 →

The 1981 Minnesota Twins finished a combined 41–68, seventh in the American League West. In the strike split season, the Twins were 17–39, seventh place in the first half and 24–29, fourth place in the second half. 469,090 fans attended Twins games, the lowest total in the American League. It was also their 21st and final season at Metropolitan Stadium, before moving their home games to the Metrodome the next season. The franchise would not play another outdoor home game until 2010, when Target Field opened.

Offseason

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Regular season

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Only one Twins player made the All-Star Game: relief pitcher Doug Corbett.

On August 24, first baseman Kent Hrbek made his major league debut, in a Yankee Stadium game. His twelfth-inning home run beat the Yankees 3-2. Later that week, Hrbek was topped by catcher Tim Laudner, who debuted on August 28 and hit home runs in his first two games.

On September 20, Gary Gaetti made his major league debut and started at third base for the Twins. In his first at bat in the second inning, he homered off Texas Rangers pitcher Charlie Hough to become the third Twin to homer in his first-ever at bat. Gaetti joined Rick Renick (1968) and Dave McKay (1975). Later, Andre David (1984) and Eddie Rosario (2015) will join the trio in Twins history.

The Twins played their final game at Metropolitan Stadium on September 30, losing 5-2 to the Kansas City Royals. The club played their last outdoor home game for the next twenty-eight seasons in 56-degree temperature in front of 15,900 fans. "The Met" had been the Twins' home since their Minnesota opener on April 21, 1961 (also a loss). Gary Ward had the final Twins hit in the Met, a single in the ninth inning. Pete Mackanin homered in the second for the final Twins Met Stadium home run.

Offense

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John Castino batted .268 with 6 HR and 36 RBI. Shortstop Roy Smalley had 7 HR and collected 22 RBI.

Team Leaders
Statistic Player Quantity
HR Roy Smalley 7
RBI Mickey Hatcher 37
BA John Castino .268
Runs Gary Ward 42

Pitching

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Reliever Doug Corbett was the Twins' only bright spot on the mound, racking up 17 saves.

Team Leaders
Statistic Player Quantity
ERA Fernando Arroyo 3.93
Wins Pete Redfern 9
Saves Doug Corbett 17
Strikeouts Pete Redfern 77

Season standings

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AL West
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 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+12
Chicago White Sox 31 22 .585 2+12
California Angels 31 29 .517 6
Kansas City Royals 20 30 .400 12
Seattle Mariners 21 36 .368 14+12
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+12
Minnesota Twins 24 29 .453 6
Seattle Mariners 23 29 .442 6+12
Chicago White Sox 23 30 .434 7
California Angels 20 30 .400 8+12

Record vs. opponents

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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


Notable transactions

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Roster

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1981 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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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 Sal Butera 62 167 40 .240 0 18
1B Danny Goodwin 59 151 34 .225 2 17
2B Rob Wilfong 93 305 75 .246 3 19
3B John Castino 101 381 102 .268 6 36
SS Roy Smalley 56 167 44 .263 7 22
LF Gary Ward 85 295 78 .264 3 29
CF Mickey Hatcher 99 377 96 .255 3 37
RF Dave Engle 82 248 64 .258 5 32
DH Glenn Adams 72 220 46 .209 2 24

Other batters

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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
Hosken Powell 80 264 63 .239 2 25
Pete Mackanin 77 225 52 .231 4 18
Ron Jackson 54 175 46 .263 4 28
Butch Wynegar 47 150 37 .247 0 10
Rick Sofield 41 102 18 .176 0 5
Ron Washington 28 84 19 .226 0 5
Kent Hrbek 24 67 16 .239 1 7
Chuck Baker 40 66 12 .182 0 6
Tim Corcoran 22 51 9 .176 0 4
Tim Laudner 14 43 7 .163 2 5
Lenny Faedo 12 41 8 .195 0 6
Ray Smith 15 40 8 .200 1 1
Gary Gaetti 9 26 5 .192 2 3
Greg Johnston 7 16 2 .125 0 0
Mark Funderburk 8 15 3 .200 0 2

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Albert Williams 23 150.0 6 10 4.08 76
Pete Redfern 24 141.2 9 8 4.07 77
Fernando Arroyo 23 128.1 7 10 3.93 39
Jerry Koosman 19 94.1 3 9 4.20 55
Roger Erickson 14 91.1 3 8 3.84 44
Brad Havens 14 78.0 3 6 3.58 43

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Darrell Jackson 14 32.2 3 3 4.41 26

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Doug Corbett 54 2 6 17 2.57 60
Jack O'Connor 28 3 2 0 5.86 16
Don Cooper 27 1 5 0 4.30 33
John Verhoeven 25 0 0 0 3.98 16
Bob Veselic 5 1 1 0 3.18 13
John Hobbs 4 0 0 0 3.18 1
Terry Felton 1 0 0 0 40.50 1

Farm system

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Level Team League Manager
AAA Toledo Mud Hens International League Cal Ermer
AA Orlando Twins Southern League Tom Kelly
A Visalia Oaks California League Dick Phillips
A Wisconsin Rapids Twins Midwest League Ken Staples
Rookie Elizabethton Twins Appalachian League Fred Waters

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Orlando

Notes

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References

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  • Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
  • Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com
  • Team info from www.baseball-almanac.com