1981 Birmingham Barons

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1981 Barons souvenir program

The 1981 Birmingham Barons was the first Birmingham Barons team to take the field since 1965, and marked the return of professional baseball to Rickwood Field for the first time since the Birmingham A's ended their run following the 1975 season.

The team, which had played previously as the Montgomery Rebels, was the AA affiliate of the Detroit Tigers and competed in the western division of the Southern League. Their move from Montgomery was engineered in part by team vice-president and general manager Art Clarkson. The Barons' president was Jack Levin and chairman of the board was John Walter Stowers. Gary Sanders provided play-by-play for 30 home games broadcast on WAPI-AM.

A new scoreboard, new box seats, field and parking lot lighting and behind-the-plate netting was installed at Rickwood Field for the 1981 season. The opening night attendance of 9,185 on April 14 bested every opener since the 1950 season, and the Barons turned in a 6-5 win over the Jacksonville Suns. The next night a blown fuse at an Alabama Power substation forced the game to be called early and a double-header scheduled for the following day.

Under manager Roy Majtyka, who came over with the Rebels, the 1981 Barons swept the Columbus Astros on the road to finish the regular season with 1 win over .500 (71-70), good enough for the 5th best record in the league, but not good enough to make the playoffs. The Orlando Twins went on to win that year's Southern League Championship.

Schedule (71-70)

  • April 9-12: at Nashville Sounds (won 1, lost 3)
  • April 14-16: Jacksonville Suns (won 3, lost 1)
  • April 17-20: Savannah Braves (lost 4)
  • April 21-24: at Chattanooga Lookouts (won 1, lost 3)
  • April 25-28: Charlotte Orioles (won 3, lost 1)
  • April 29-May 2: at Knoxville Blue Jays (won 2, lost 2)
  • May 3-6: Orlando Twins (won 2, lost 2)
  • May 7-10: Memphis Chicks (won 2, lost 2)
  • May 11-14: at Columbus Astros (won 1, lost 3)
  • May 15-18: at Memphis (won 1, lost 3)
  • May 19-22: Chattanooga (won 2, lost 2)
  • May 23-26: at Charlotte (won 1, lost 3)
  • May 28-30: at Savannah (won 2, lost 2)
  • June 1-4: Knoxville (won 3, lost 1)
  • June 5-8: Nashville Sounds (won 2, lost 2)
  • June 9-12: at Jacksonville, (won 3, lost 1)
  • June 13-16: at Orlando (won 2, lost 2)
  • June 17-20: Columbus (won 2, lost 2)
  • June 22-24: Jacksonville (won 3)
  • June 26-29: at Nashville (won 3, lost 1)
  • June 31-July 3: Savannah (won 2, lost 2)
  • July 4-7: at Chattanooga (won 2, lost 2)
  • July 8-11: Charlotte (won 2, lost 2)
  • July 12-15: at Knoxville (won 2, lost 2)
  • July 16-19: Orlando (won 3, lost 1)
  • July 20-23: Memphis (won 1, lost 3)
  • July 24-27: at Columbus (won 1, lost 3)
  • July 28-31: at Memphis (won 3, lost 1)
  • August 1-4: Chattanooga (won 2, lost 2)
  • August 5-8: at Charlotte (won 2, lost 2)
  • August 10-11: at Savannah (won 2, lost 1)
  • August 13-16: Knoxville (won 1, lost 3)
  • August 17-20: Nashville (won 1, lost 3)
  • August 21-24: at Jacksonville (won 4, lost 1)
  • August 25-26: at Orlando (lost 2)
  • August 29-September 1: Columbus (won 3)

Roster

Of the players on the 1981 roster, several went on to the Major Leagues. Howard Johnson played for 14 years, mostly with the New York Mets. Glenn Wilson played for 10 seasons, largely with Philadelphia. Mike Laga played sparingly for 9 seasons in Detroit, St Louis and San Francisco. Dwight Lowry was promoted to the Tigers in 1984 and played 4 seasons in the Majors. Barbaro Garbey played three seasons for the Tigers. Dave Gumpert went 3-2 in 86 appearances over 5 seasons. Ron Mathis went 3-6 in 31 appearances with Houston. Mike Chris went on to San Francisco and appeared in 16 games.

References

External links

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