1981 – Rafael Landestoy steals a base and scores on a single by Terry Puhl as Houston outlasts the Giants, 8-7, in 14 innings. The Astros blew a lead in the ninth then blew a three-run lead in the 13th before putting this one away. Houston tallies 21 hits in the effort, including three by Joe Niekro.
Montreal trades OF Ellis Valentine to the Mets for P Jeff Reardon and OF Dan Norman. Valentine will play just 159 games for the Mets‚ while Reardon will blossom into one of baseball’s best relievers.
A’s manager Billy Martin flies into a rage and heaves two handfuls of dirt on home plate umpire Terry Cooney’s back after being ejected for arguing ball and strike calls. He will be suspended by American League president Lee MacPhail for 7 days.
On May 27, 1981, Lenny Randle of the Seattle Mariners tries to blow a ground ball into foul territory. After initially calling the ball foul, home plate umpire Larry McCoy reverses his call and awards Amos Otis of the Kansas City Royals with a controversial infield single. Randle’s explanation that he was merely yelling at…
5/26/1981: In a game against the Giants, George Foster of the Reds hit a home run off Tom Griffin in the first inning with two men on and no one out. The game was rained out.
May 25, 1981 Carl Yastrzemski becomes just the 4th player ever to appear in 3,000 games. He finishes his career with 3,308 games played, second only to Pete Rose.
Bill Stein of the Texas Rangers hits a pinch-hit single off Doug Corbett to beat the Minnesota Twins. It is the 7th consecutive pinch-hit for Stein, breaking the American Leaguerecord set by Bob Johnson in 1964.
1981 – Art Howe triples off Vida Blue to set a club-record 23-game hitting streak. San Francisco wins, however, 2-1. The only Houston run is on a solo shot by Luis Pujols.
Minnesota and Kansas City go 14 innings without scoring before Willie Wilson’s RBI single in the 15th ends it‚ 1 – 0. Paul Splittorff goes 11 innings while Roger Erickson goes 9 1/3 innings.
Coach Billy Gardner replaces the fired Johnny Goryl as manager of the Twins. Minnesota (11-25) has lost eight consecutive games, but shuts out Kansas City, 7 – 0, in Gardner’s managerial debut.
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