1981 Pittsburgh Pirates season

The 1981 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 100th season of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise; their 95th in the National League. The Pirates finished fourth in the National League East in the first half of the season with a record of 25–23 and sixth in the second half with a record of 21–33.

Regular season
Officials of the Louisiana Superdome met with Pirates management in April 1981 about moving the club to New Orleans when the Pirates were unhappy with their lease at Three Rivers Stadium.

Game log

 * Legend:      = Win       = Loss       = Tie Bold = Pirates team member
 * Legend:      = Win       = Loss       = Tie Bold = Pirates team member

Player stats
''Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in''
 * Batting

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

Awards and honors
1981 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
 * Dave Parker, RF, starter
 * Bill Madlock, 3B, reserve
 * Mike Easler, OF, reserve
 * Phil Garner, 2B, reserve

Transactions

 * October 22, 1980 – Jesse Jefferson granted free agency.
 * October 22, 1980 – John Milner granted free agency.
 * October 29, 1980 – Traded a player to be named later and cash to the Seattle Mariners. Received Odell Jones. The Pittsburgh Pirates sent Larry Andersen (October 29, 1980) to the Seattle Mariners to complete the trade.
 * December 9, 1980 – Traded Bert Blyleven and Manny Sanguillén to the Cleveland Indians. Received Gary Alexander, Victor Cruz, Bob Owchinko and Rafael Vasquez.
 * January 13, 1981 – Drafted John Kruk in the 3rd round of the 1981 amateur draft (January), but did not sign the player.
 * January 19, 1981 – Signed Larvell Blanks as a free agent.
 * January 20, 1981 – Signed Rusty Torres as a free agent.
 * January 23, 1981 – Signed John Milner as a free agent.
 * February 23, 1981 – Signed Luis Tiant as a free agent.
 * April 1, 1981 – Traded Mickey Mahler and Ed Ott to the California Angels. Received Jason Thompson.
 * April 5, 1981 – Purchased Jim Smith from the Baltimore Orioles.
 * April 5, 1981 – Traded Dave Dravecky to the San Diego Padres. Received Bobby Mitchell (minors).
 * April 6, 1981 – Traded Bob Owchinko to the Oakland Athletics. Received a player to be named later and cash. The Oakland Athletics sent Ernie Camacho (April 10, 1981) to the Pittsburgh Pirates to complete the trade.
 * May 4, 1981 – Signed Willie Horton as a free agent.
 * June 8, 1981 – Drafted Ray Krawczyk in the 1st round (4th pick) of the 1981 amateur draft (June Secondary).
 * June 8, 1981 – Drafted Jim Winn in the 1st round (14th pick) of the 1981 amateur draft.
 * June 8, 1981 – Drafted Lee Tunnell in the 2nd round of the 1981 amateur draft.
 * June 8, 1981 – Drafted Bip Roberts in the 5th round of the 1981 amateur draft, but did not sign the player.
 * June 8, 1981 – Drafted Scott Bankhead in the 17th round of the 1981 amateur draft, but did not sign the player.
 * June 8, 1981 – Drafted Chris Bosio in the 29th round of the 1981 amateur draft, but did not sign the player.
 * June 8, 1981 – Drafted Lance Johnson in the 30th round of the 1981 amateur draft, but did not sign the player.
 * June 25, 1981 – Signed Denny González as an amateur free agent.
 * July 11, 1981 – Signed Bobby Bonilla as an amateur free agent.
 * August 20, 1981 – Traded John Milner to the Montreal Expos. Received Willie Montañez.
 * August 31, 1981 – Traded Phil Garner to the Houston Astros. Received players to be named later and Johnny Ray. The Houston Astros sent Randy Niemann (September 9, 1981) and Kevin Houston (minors) (September 9, 1981) to the Pittsburgh Pirates to complete the trade.
 * September 1, 1981 – Sold Grant Jackson to the Montreal Expos for $50,000.
 * October 5, 1981 – Released Luis Tiant.
 * October 23, 1981 – Purchased Manny Sarmiento from the Boston Red Sox.
 * October 26, 1981 – Released Kurt Bevacqua.