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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. Offseason * December 4, 1980: Don Sutton was signed as a free agent by the Astros. * December 8, 1980: Chris Bourjos was traded by the San Francisco Giants with Bob Knepper to the Houston Astros for Enos Cabell. * March 27, 1981: Julio González was released by the Astros. Regular season Season standings Record vs. opponents Notable transactions * April 1, 1981: Chris Bourjos was traded by the Houston Astros with cash to the Baltimore Orioles for Kiko G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National League West
The National League West is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. This division was formed for the 1969 season when the National League expanded to 12 teams by adding the San Diego Padres and the Montreal Expos. For purpose of keeping a regular-season of 162 games, half of the teams were put into the new National League East, East Division and half into the new West Division. Within each division, the teams played 18 games each against their five division mates (90 games), and also 12 games against the teams in the opposite division (72 games), totaling 162 games. Geography Despite the geography, the owners of the Chicago Cubs insisted that their team be placed into the East Division along with the teams in New York City, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Also, the owners of the St. Louis Cardinals wanted that team to be in the same division with their natural rivals of the Cubs. The league could have insisted on a purely geographical alignment like the American League did. But ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chris Bourjos
Christopher Bourjos (born October 16, 1954) is an American former professional baseball player who played part of one season for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball. He has worked as an Arizona-based scout. Playing career Bourjos attended Northern Illinois University, where he played baseball for the Huskies in 1975 and 1976. He was signed as an amateur free agent by the Giants on March 26, 1977, and was called up by the Giants late in the 1980 season after playing four years in the minor leagues. Bourjos was traded by the Giants with Bob Knepper to the Houston Astros in exchange for Enos Cabell December 8, 1980, and by the Astros with cash to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for Kiko Garcia April 1, 1981, but didn't play for either the Astros or Orioles. He returned to the minor leagues, his last season being with Portland ( PCL) in 1983. Scouting career After his retirement as an active player, Bourjos served as a baseball scout with the Toronto Blue Jays fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vern Ruhle
Vernon Gerald Ruhle ( ; January 25, 1951 – January 20, 2007) was an American professional baseball right-handed pitcher and coach, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily for the Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros for 13 seasons, from to . Early life Ruhle was born in Coleman, Michigan, and attended Olivet College, where he was a member of the Kappa Sigma Alpha fraternity. He was selected by the Detroit Tigers, in the 17th round of the 1972 Major League Baseball draft. Baseball career Ruhle made his debut with Detroit, in September 1974. He joined the Tigers' starting rotation the following year, posting a record of 11 wins and 12 losses, on a team that finished 57–102. On August 12, Ruhle was presented with his university degree from Olivet College, during a pre-game ceremony at Tiger Stadium. Ruhle gave up a third-inning single to Hank Aaron on May 1, 1975, driving in Sixto Lezcano for Aaron's record-breaking 2,210th run batted in (RBI), to surpass Babe Ruth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gordie Pladson
Gordon Cecil Pladson (born July 31, 1956 in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after .... He played parts of four seasons for the Astros, from until . Reichler, J, L. 1988. Macmillan Publishers. pp2075-2076. References
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Joe Niekro
Joseph Franklin Niekro ( ; November 7, 1944 – October 27, 2006) was an American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He was the younger brother of pitcher Phil Niekro, and the father of former Major League first baseman Lance Niekro. Niekro was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio, and attended Bridgeport High School in Bridgeport, Ohio and West Liberty University in West Liberty, West Virginia. During a 22-year baseball career, he pitched from 1967 to 1988 for seven different teams, primarily for the Houston Astros. Career Draft and Chicago Cubs Niekro was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the seventh round of the 1966 amateur draft, but he did not sign with the club. On June 7, he was drafted in the third round of the draft by the Chicago Cubs. Niekro went 10–7 in 1967, throwing 169.2 innings while having a 3.34 ERA and 77 strikeouts. Niekro started the following season's Opening Day game for the Cubs at Crosley Field against the Cincinnati Reds. He went innings while givin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank LaCorte
Frank Joseph LaCorte ( ; born October 13, 1951) is an Americans, American former professional baseball player who pitcher, pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1975–1984 for the Atlanta Braves, Houston Astros, and Los Angeles Angels, California Angels. A right-handed, right-hander, he stood tall and weighed . Early career LaCorte attended Gilroy High School then Gavilan College and was signed by the Braves as an undrafted free agent in 1972. He broke into the Majors late in his third professional season, and would play all or part of ten years in the MLB. Initially a starting pitcher, LaCorte hurled for the perennially struggling late-1970s Braves for the first 44 games pitched of his MLB career. He won only four of 28 decision (baseball), decisions (.143) and compiled a poor 6.23 earned run average in 179 innings pitched during his tenure with the Braves. Effective member of Astros' bullpen On May 25, 1979, he was traded to Houston (for pitcher Bo McLaughlin) and eventu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Knepper
Robert Wesley Knepper (born May 25, 1954) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher. From 1976 to 1990, he pitched 15 seasons for the San Francisco Giants and Houston Astros, earning two All-Star appearances as well as the 1981 NL Comeback Player of the Year award. He gained notoriety with his 1988 remarks disparaging umpire Pam Postema, the National Organization for Women, and gay people. Biography Born in Akron, Ohio, his family moved to the Napa Valley when he was nine years old, where he attended Calistoga High School. Career In the September 1978 issue of ''Sport'', Jay Stuller wrote an extraordinarily positive article on Knepper, entitled, "You Can't Compare Him To Koufax...Yet". When Knepper's career failed to reach that standard, critics would later refer to that article and say, "You Can't Compare Him to Koufax...Ever." On December 8, 1980, Knepper was traded from the Giants along with Chris Bourjos to the Astros for Enos Cabell. Knepper welcomed the trade, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
California Angels
The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team has played its home games at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California. The franchise was founded in Los Angeles in 1961 by Gene Autry as one of MLB's first two expansion teams and the first to originate in California. Deriving its name from an earlier Los Angeles Angels franchise that played in the Pacific Coast League (PCL), the team was based in Los Angeles until moving to Anaheim in 1966. Due to the move, the franchise was known as the California Angels from 1965 to 1996 and the Anaheim Angels from 1997 to 2004. "Los Angeles" was added back to the name in 2005, but because of a lease agreement with Anaheim that required the city to also be in the name, the franchise was known as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim until 2015. The current Lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nolan Ryan
Lynn Nolan Ryan Jr. (born January 31, 1947), nicknamed "the Ryan Express", is an American former professional baseball pitcher and sports executive. Over a record 27-year playing career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanning four decades, Ryan pitched for the New York Mets, California Angels, Houston Astros, and Texas Rangers. After his retirement in 1993, Ryan served as chief executive officer (CEO) of the Texas Rangers and an executive advisor to the Houston Astros. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999,Pitching Splits and Daily Pitching Logs aRetrosheetanBaseball-Reference.com and is widely considered to be one of the best MLB pitchers of all time. Ryan was a right-handed pitcher who consistently threw pitches that were clocked above 100 miles per hour (161 km/h). He maintained this velocity throughout his pitching career. Ryan was also known to throw a devastating 12–6 curveball at exceptional velocity for a breaking ball. Ryan had a lifetime win– ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Scott (baseball)
Anthony Scott (born September 18, 1951) is a former American professional baseball center fielder and coach. Career Montreal Expos Scott was drafted by the Montreal Expos in the 71st round of the 1969 Major League Baseball draft. After five seasons in their farm system, he received a September call-up to the Expos in . He appeared in eleven games as a pinch runner, and received only one at-bat, in which he struck out. After repeating the same formula with Scott in , the Expos named him their starting centerfielder in . He batted .191 with eleven runs batted in and no home runs through the All-Star break, and was replaced in center by Pepe Mangual for the rest of the season. He spent all of with the Triple-A Denver Bears, with whom he batted .311. St. Louis Cardinals After the 1976 season, he was traded with Steve Dunning and Pat Scanlon to the St. Louis Cardinals for Bill Greif, Ángel Torres and Sam Mejías. Scott enjoyed moderate success with the Cardinals, as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joaquín Andújar
Joaquín Andújar (; December 21, 1952 – September 8, 2015) was a Dominican professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals, and Oakland Athletics from 1976 through 1988. Andújar was a four-time MLB All-Star and a Gold Glove Award winner.Schudel, Matt (September 11, 2015) "Pitcher reveled in tough, fiery image" ''The Washington Post'', page B-/ref> Early years Andújar signed with the Cincinnati Reds in , one month shy of his 17th birthday. He posted a 33–41 record with a 4.33 earned run average over six seasons in the Reds' farm system. Following the season, he was dealt to the Houston Astros for two players to be named later (on December 12, 1975, the Reds received reliever Luis Sanchez and third baseman and catcher Carlos Alfonso). Playing career Houston Astros (1976–1981) Andújar made his Major League debut in the season opener against his former franchise. After two relief appearances against ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Clyde
David Eugene Clyde (born April 22, 1955) is a former left-handed Major League Baseball pitcher who played for five seasons with the Texas Rangers (1973–1975) and Cleveland Indians (1978–1979). He is noted for his once promising baseball career, which ended at age 26 because of arm and shoulder injuries. Billed as the next Sandy Koufax, Clyde had a stellar high school career at Westchester High School. He was drafted with the first overall pick in the 1973 Major League Baseball draft. The Rangers planned to have Clyde pitch his first two professional games in the major leagues before moving him down to the minor leagues, but Rangers owner Bob Short decided to keep him in the roster for monetary purposes, where he had a 5.01 earned run average in 18 starts. Journalists criticized the Rangers for promoting Clyde too soon, and after an uneventful 1974 campaign, he developed shoulder trouble and was sent down to the minor leagues in 1975, where he pitched three seasons. He wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
