1979 Detroit Tigers season

The 1979 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 79th season and the 68th season at Tiger Stadium. The Tigers finished in fifth place in the American League East with a record of 85–76, 18 games behind the Orioles. They outscored their opponents 770 to 738. The Tigers drew 1,630,929 fans to Tiger Stadium in 1979, ranking 7th of the 14 teams in the American League. This season is most notable for both the Tigers' involvement in the infamous Disco Demolition Night, of which they were the visiting team to the Chicago White Sox and declared winners by forfeit, as well as for their mid-season hiring of Sparky Anderson as manager. Anderson would manage the Tigers through the end of the 1995 season, winning the 1984 World Series along with two American League Eastern Division titles in 1984 and 1987.

1979 Detroit Tigers
League	American League
Division	East
Ballpark	Tiger Stadium
City	Detroit, Michigan
Owners	John Fetzer
General managers	Jim Campbell
Managers	Les Moss, Dick Tracewski, Sparky Anderson
Television	WDIV-TV (George Kell, Mike Barry, Al Kaline)
Radio	WJR (Ernie Harwell, Paul Carey)
← 1978 Seasons 1980 →

Offseason

• March 20, 1979: Steve Dillard was traded by the Tigers to the Chicago Cubs for a player to be named later. The Cubs completed the deal by sending Ed Putman to the Tigers on March 24.^[1]

Regular season

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

AL East

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Baltimore Orioles	102	57	.642	—	55‍–‍24	47‍–‍33
Milwaukee Brewers	95	66	.590	8	52‍–‍29	43‍–‍37
Boston Red Sox	91	69	.569	11½	51‍–‍29	40‍–‍40
New York Yankees	89	71	.556	13½	51‍–‍30	38‍–‍41
Detroit Tigers	85	76	.528	18	46‍–‍34	39‍–‍42
Cleveland Indians	81	80	.503	22	47‍–‍34	34‍–‍46
Toronto Blue Jays	53	109	.327	50½	32‍–‍49	21‍–‍60

Record vs. opponents

1979 American League record v t e Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	8–5	9–3	8–3	8–5	7–6	6–6	8–5	8–4	5–6	8–4	10–2	6–6	11–2
Boston	5–8	—	5–7	5–6	6–7	8–5	8–4	8–4	9–3	5–8	9–3	8–4	6–6	9–4
California	3–9	7–5	—	9–4	6–6	4–8	7–6	7–5	9–4	7–5	10–3	7–6	5–8	7–5
Chicago	3–8	6–5	4–9	—	6–6	3–9	5–8	5–7	5–8	4–8	9–4	5–8	11–2	7–5
Cleveland	5–8	7–6	6–6	6–6	—	6–6	6–6	4–9	8–4	5–8	8–4	7–5	5–7	8–5
Detroit	6–7	5–8	8–4	9–3	6–6	—	5–7	6–7	4–8	7–6	7–5	7–5	6–6	9–4
Kansas City	6–6	4–8	6–7	8–5	6–6	7–5	—	5–7	7–6	5–7	9–4	7–6	6–7	9–3
Milwaukee	5–8	4–8	5–7	7–5	9–4	7–6	7–5	—	8–4	9–4	6–6	9–3	9–3	10–3
Minnesota	4–8	3–9	4–9	8–5	4–8	8–4	6–7	4–8	—	7–5	9–4	10–3	4–9	11–1
New York	6–5	8–5	5–7	8–4	8–5	6–7	7–5	4–9	5–7	—	9–3	6–6	8–4	9–4
Oakland	4–8	3–9	3–10	4–9	4–8	5–7	4–9	6–6	4–9	3–9	—	8–5	2–11	4–8
Seattle	2–10	4–8	6–7	8–5	5–7	5–7	6–7	3–9	3–10	6–6	5–8	—	6–7	8–4
Texas	6–6	6–6	8–5	2–11	7–5	6–6	7–6	3–9	9–4	4–8	11–2	7–6	—	7–5
Toronto	2–11	4–9	5–7	5–7	5–8	4–9	3–9	3–10	1–11	4–9	8–4	4–8	5–7	—

Notable transactions

• May 25, 1979: The Tigers traded a player to be named later to the Cincinnati Reds for Champ Summers. The Tigers completed the deal by sending Sheldon Burnside to the Reds on October 25.^[2]
• June 5, 1979: University of Michigan football quarterback Rick Leach was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 1st round (13th pick) of the 1979 Major League Baseball draft.^[3]
• July 20, 1979: Rusty Staub was traded by the Tigers to the Montreal Expos for a player to be named later and cash. The Expos completed the deal by sending Randy Schafer (minors) to the Tigers on December 3.^[4]

Roster

1979 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers 36 Fernando Arroyo 31 Steve Baker 41 Jack Billingham 42 Sheldon Burnside 43 Mike Chris 20 Mark Fidrych 18 John Hiller 29 Aurelio López 47 Jack Morris 46 Dan Petry 48 Bruce Robbins 19 Dave Rozema 32 Bruce Taylor 38 Dave Tobik 40 Pat Underwood 39 Milt Wilcox 37 Kip Young		Catchers 12 Milt May 13 Lance Parrish 12 Ed Putman Infielders 16 Tom Brookens  9 Dave Machemer  2 Phil Mankowski 32 Rick Peters  4 Aurelio Rodríguez 30 Jason Thompson  3 Alan Trammell  5 Mark Wagner  1 Lou Whitaker 14 John Wockenfuss		Outfielders 25 Tim Corcoran 23 Kirk Gibson 34 Dan Gonzales 21 Al Greene 35 Lynn Jones 33 Steve Kemp  8 Ron LeFlore 27 Jerry Morales 22 Dave Stegman 24 Champ Summers Other batters 10 Rusty Staub		Manager 7,11 Sparky Anderson 54 Les Moss 53 Dick Tracewski Coaches 51 Ed Brinkman 26 Gates Brown 50 Billy Consolo 52 Johnny Grodzicki 53 Dick Tracewski

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Lance Parrish	143	493	136	.276	19	65
1B	Jason Thompson	145	492	121	.246	20	79
2B	Lou Whitaker	127	423	121	.286	3	42
3B	Aurelio Rodríguez	106	343	87	.254	5	36
SS	Alan Trammell	142	460	127	.276	6	50
LF	Steve Kemp	134	490	156	.318	26	105
RF	Jerry Morales	129	440	93	.211	14	56
CF	Ron LeFlore	148	600	180	.300	9	57
DH	Rusty Staub	68	246	58	.236	9	40

Other batters

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

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Champ Summers	90	246	77	.313	20	51
John Wockenfuss	87	231	61	.264	15	46
Lynn Jones	95	213	63	.296	4	26
Tom Brookens	60	190	50	.263	4	21
Mark Wagner	75	146	40	.274	1	13
Phil Mankowski	42	99	22	.222	0	8
Al Greene	29	59	8	.136	3	6
Ed Putman	21	39	9	.231	2	4
Kirk Gibson	12	38	9	.237	1	4
Dave Stegman	12	31	6	.194	3	5
Dave Machemer	19	26	5	.192	0	2
Tim Corcoran	18	22	5	.227	0	6
Rick Peters	10	19	5	.263	0	2
Dan Gonzales	7	18	4	.222	0	2
Milt May	6	11	3	.273	0	3

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Jack Morris	27	197.2	17	7	3.28	113
Milt Wilcox	33	196.1	12	10	4.35	109
Dan Petry	15	98.0	6	5	3.95	43
Dave Rozema	16	97.1	4	4	3.51	33
Bruce Robbins	10	46.0	3	3	3.91	22
Mark Fidrych	4	14.2	0	3	10.43	5

Other pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Jack Billingham	35	158.0	10	7	3.30	59
Pat Underwood	27	121.2	6	4	4.59	83
Steve Baker	21	84.0	1	7	6.64	54
Kip Young	13	43.2	2	2	6.39	22
Mike Chris	13	39.0	3	3	6.92	31

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L= Losses; SV = Saves; GF = Games finished; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	GF	ERA	SO
Aurelio López	61	10	5	21	49	2.41	106
John Hiller	43	4	7	9	30	5.22	46
Dave Tobik	37	3	5	3	19	4.33	48
Sheldon Burnside	10	1	1	0	2	6.33	13
Bruce Taylor	10	1	2	0	8	4.82	8
Fernando Arroyo	6	1	1	0	3	8.25	7

Awards and honors

• Steve Kemp, Tiger of the Year Award, from Detroit baseball writers

All-Stars

• Steve Kemp, reserve

League top ten finishes

Steve Kemp

• #4 in AL in OPS (.939)
• #8 in AL in batting average (.318)

Ron LeFlore

• #2 in MLB in stolen bases (78)
• #3 in AL in singles (139)
• #4 in AL in times caught stealing (14)
• #5 in AL in triples (10)
• #7 in AL in runs scored (110)

Aurelio López

• #3 in AL in saves (21)
• #5 in AL in games finished (49)

Jack Morris

• #4 in AL in Adjusted ERA+ (133)
• #5 in AL in ERA (3.28)
• #5 in AL in wins (17)
• #5 in AL win percentage (.708)
• #4 in AL in hits allowed per 9 innings (8.15)

Bruce Robbins

• 3rd youngest player in the AL

Alan Trammell

• #4 in AL in times caught stealing (14)

Milt Wilcox

• #2 in MLB in hit batsmen (11)

Players ranking among top 100 all time at position

The following members of the 1979 Detroit Tigers are among the Top 100 of all time at their position, as ranked by The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract in 2001:

• Lance Parrish: 19th best catcher of all time (played 12 games as a rookie)
• Lou Whitaker: 13th best second baseman of all time (played 11 games as a rookie)
• Alan Trammell: 9th best shortstop of all time (played 19 games as a rookie)
• Aurelio Rodríguez: 91st best third baseman of all time
• Ron LeFlore: 80th best center fielder of all time

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Evansville Triplets	American Association	Jim Leyland
AA	Montgomery Rebels	Southern League	Dennis Sommers
A	Lakeland Tigers	Florida State League	Fred Hatfield
Rookie	Bristol Tigers	Appalachian League	Joe Lewis

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Evansville