1981 ALCS
| 1981 American League Championship Series | |||||||||||||
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| Teams | |||||||||||||
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| Dates | October 13 – 15 | ||||||||||||
| MVP | Graig Nettles (New York) | ||||||||||||
| Umpires | Nick Bremigan, Russ Goetz, Jerry Neudecker, Marty Springstead, Durwood Merrill, Vic Voltaggio | ||||||||||||
| ALDS |
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| Broadcast | |||||||||||||
| Television | NBC | ||||||||||||
| TV announcers | Joe Garagiola and Tony Kubek | ||||||||||||
| Radio | CBS | ||||||||||||
| Radio announcers | Ernie Harwell and Curt Gowdy | ||||||||||||
| Team (Wins) | Manager | Season | |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York Yankees (3) | Bob Lemon | 34–22, .607, GA: 2 (1st half) 25–26, .490, GB: 5 (2nd half) |
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| Oakland Athletics (0) | Billy Martin | 37–23, .617, GA: 1½ (1st half) 27–22, .551, GB: 1 (2nd half) |
The 1981 American League Championship Series was a best-of-five series between the New York Yankees and the Oakland Athletics.
Due to a strike-shortened season, each team had to win two playoff series to reach the World Series. Oakland had swept the Kansas City Royals three games to none and the Yankees had beaten the Milwaukee Brewers three games to two in the 1981 American League Division Series. The Yankees swept the Athletics three games to none in the Series and moved on to the 1981 World Series, where they would lose to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
New York won the series, 3–0.
Tuesday, October 13, 1981, at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York
In Billy Martin's return to Yankee Stadium (for the first time since the Yankees fired him in 1979), the Yankees drew first blood in front of their old skipper. Graig Nettles' three-run bases-loaded double in the first inning was all the run support that Tommy John needed.
John gave way to Ron Davis after six innings. Davis had an easy seventh, but the A's mounted a threat in the eighth where Martin tried some of his "Billyball" tactics. After Dwayne Murphy walked with one out, Davis ran up a 1–2 count on the next batter, Cliff Johnson. During the at-bat, Johnson stepped in and out of the batter's box (on Martin's orders) on each pitch to break Davis' rhythm. After fouling off a pitch, Johnson showed his bat to plate umpire Nick Bremigan and asked to get a new one. Johnson walked slowly to and from the A's dugout in the process, and Bremigan ordered him to get back to the plate more quickly. Subsequently, when Davis tried to compose himself on the mound, Bremigan ordered him to pitch immediately, and Davis began to loudly complain that he should have been granted time as Johnson was. Both Graig Nettles and Yankee manager Bob Lemon, coming out of the dugout, tried to calm Davis down. Bremigan then exacerbated the situation by charging Lemon with a mound visit. A clearly rattled Davis threw three straight balls well out of the strike zone to walk Johnson. Lemon then removed Davis and brought in closer Goose Gossage earlier than expected to face Tony Armas. Armas was the tying run at that point and was also the A's leading home run and RBI man. Gossage retired Armas and Wayne Gross to end the inning and closed out the win the rest of the way.
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