The Cincinnati Reds trade outfielder Ken Griffey to the New York Yankees for pitcher Fred Toliver and minor leaguer Brian Ryder. Griffey was about to become a free agent.
The Philadelphia Phillies announce that Pat Corrales will be the club manager next season, replacing Dallas Green, who quit to become the Chicago Cubs’ general manager.
1981 – Milwaukee Brewers reliever Rollie Fingers, with a 6-3 record, 28 saves and a 1.04 ERA, wins the 1981 American League Cy Young Award, collecting 22 of 28 possible first-place votes. The other six go to Steve McCatty of the Oakland Athletics.
1981 – Bill Giles, Phillies vice president for the past 11 years, heads a group that purchases the club for just over $30 million, the highest price paid to date for a major league club. Giles is the son of long-time National League president and Hall of Fame member Warren C. Giles.
Entering Game 6 of the World Series in the fifth inning, Yankee right-hander George Frazier, relieving starter Tommy John, gives up three go-ahead runs in the team’s 9-2 elimination loss to the Dodgers at Yankee Stadium. The 27 year-old right-hander becomes the first pitcher to lose three games in a best of seven World Series, and the second hurler to drop that many decisions in any Fall Classic, joining White Sox southpaw Lefty Williams, who also lost a trio of games in the best-of-nine series played in 1919.
1981 – Steve Yeager and Pedro Guerrero hit consecutive home runs in the 7th inning, leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 2 – 1 victory over the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the World Series.
1981 – The Los Angeles Dodgers come back to beat the New York Yankees, 8 – 7, in a sloppy three-hour marathon and tie the World Series, 2-2. The Yankees blow a 6 – 3 lead. On one play, Reggie Jackson loses the ball in the sun and it bounces off his shoulder for a two-base error.
1981 – Los Angeles beats the Yankees, 5 – 4, in Game 3 of the World Series, narrowing the Yankees’ lead to 2-1.
On October 22, 1981 The Atlanta Braves name Joe Torre as their new manager. He will have a successful run with the Braves winning 53% of his games and winning the division in his first year.
On October 21, 1981, the St. Louis Cardinals make one of their best trades ever when they acquire outfielder 22 year old Willie McGee from the New York Yankees for pitcher Bob Sykes. McGee will play 18 years in the major leagues, mostly with St. Louis. McGee was their 1977 first-round (15th overall). Mcgee we…