1979 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1979 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1979 in baseball.

The 1979 Major League Baseball season concluded with the Pittsburgh Pirates defeating the Baltimore Orioles in seven games in the 1979 World Series. None of the post-season teams of 1977 or 1978 returned to this year's postseason.

1979 MLB season
League	Major League Baseball
Sport	Baseball
Duration	April 4 – October 17, 1979
Number of games	162
Number of teams	26
TV partner(s)	ABC, NBC, USA
Draft
Top draft pick	Al Chambers
Picked by	Seattle Mariners
Regular season
Season MVP	AL: Don Baylor (CAL) NL: Willie Stargell (PIT)        Keith Hernandez (STL)
Postseason
AL champions	Baltimore Orioles
AL runners-up	California Angels
NL champions	Pittsburgh Pirates
NL runners-up	Cincinnati Reds
World Series
Champions	Pittsburgh Pirates
Runners-up	Baltimore Orioles
World Series MVP	Willie Stargell (PIT)

Angels

White Sox

Royals

Twins

     Athletics

Mariners

Rangers

Orioles

Red
Sox

Indians

Tigers   

Brewers

Yankees

Blue
Jays

Locations of teams for the 1977–1981 American League seasons
West   East

Braves

Reds

Astros

Dodgers

Padres

  Giants

Cubs

Expos

Mets

     Phillies

Pirates  

Cardinals

Locations of teams for the 1977–1992 National League seasons
West   East

Standings

American League

• 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

• v
• t
• e

AL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
California Angels	88	74	.543	—	49‍–‍32	39‍–‍42
Kansas City Royals	85	77	.525	3	46‍–‍35	39‍–‍42
Texas Rangers	83	79	.512	5	44‍–‍37	39‍–‍42
Minnesota Twins	82	80	.506	6	39‍–‍42	43‍–‍38
Chicago White Sox	73	87	.456	14	33‍–‍46	40‍–‍41
Seattle Mariners	67	95	.414	21	36‍–‍45	31‍–‍50
Oakland Athletics	54	108	.333	34	31‍–‍50	23‍–‍58

National League

• v
• t
• e

NL East

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Pittsburgh Pirates	98	64	.605	—	48‍–‍33	50‍–‍31
Montreal Expos	95	65	.594	2	56‍–‍25	39‍–‍40
St. Louis Cardinals	86	76	.531	12	42‍–‍39	44‍–‍37
Philadelphia Phillies	84	78	.519	14	43‍–‍38	41‍–‍40
Chicago Cubs	80	82	.494	18	45‍–‍36	35‍–‍46
New York Mets	63	99	.389	35	28‍–‍53	35‍–‍46

• v
• t
• e

NL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cincinnati Reds	90	71	.559	—	48‍–‍32	42‍–‍39
Houston Astros	89	73	.549	1½	52‍–‍29	37‍–‍44
Los Angeles Dodgers	79	83	.488	11½	46‍–‍35	33‍–‍48
San Francisco Giants	71	91	.438	19½	38‍–‍43	33‍–‍48
San Diego Padres	68	93	.422	22	39‍–‍42	29‍–‍51
Atlanta Braves	66	94	.412	23½	34‍–‍45	32‍–‍49

Postseason

Main article: 1979 Major League Baseball postseason

Bracket

	League Championship Series (ALCS, NLCS)					World Series
	East	Baltimore	3
	West	California	1
						AL	Baltimore	3
						NL	Pittsburgh	4
	East	Pittsburgh	3
	West	Cincinnati	0

Awards and honors

Baseball Hall of Fame

• Warren Giles
• Willie Mays
• Hack Wilson

Further information: 1979 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting

Regular Season Awards

• Most Valuable Player
  • Don Baylor, California Angels, OF (AL)
  • Willie Stargell, Pittsburgh Pirates, 1B and Keith Hernandez, St. Louis Cardinals, 1B (NL)
• Cy Young Award
  • Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles (AL)
  • Bruce Sutter, Chicago Cubs (NL)
• Rookie of the Year
  • John Castino, Minnesota Twins, 3B and Alfredo Griffin, Toronto Blue Jays, SS (AL)
  • Rick Sutcliffe, Los Angeles Dodgers, P (NL)

Postseason Awards

• World Series MVP: Willie Stargell
• American League Championship Series MVP: None
• National League Championship Series MVP: Willie Stargell
• All-Star Game, July 17 at the Kingdome: National League, 7–6; Dave Parker, MVP

Gold Glove Award

• American League
  • Cecil Cooper (1B) Milwaukee Brewers
  • Frank White (2B) Kansas City Royals
  • Buddy Bell (3B) Texas Rangers
  • Rick Burleson (SS) Boston Red Sox
  • Dwight Evans (OF) Boston Red Sox
  • Fred Lynn (OF) Boston Red Sox
  • Sixto Lezcano (OF) Milwaukee Brewers
  • Jim Sundberg (C) Texas Rangers
  • Jim Palmer (P) Baltimore Orioles
• National League
  • Keith Hernandez (1B) St. Louis Cardinals
  • Manny Trillo (2B) Philadelphia Phillies
  • Mike Schmidt (3B) Philadelphia Phillies
  • Dave Concepcion (SS) Cincinnati Reds
  • Garry Maddox (OF) Philadelphia Phillies
  • Dave Parker (OF) Pittsburgh Pirates
  • Dave Winfield (OF) San Diego Padres
  • Bob Boone (C) Philadelphia Phillies
  • Phil Niekro (P) Atlanta Braves

Statistical leaders

Statistic	American League		National League
AVG	Fred Lynn BOS	.333	Keith Hernandez STL	.344
HR	Gorman Thomas MIL	45	Dave Kingman CHC	48
RBI	Don Baylor CAL	139	Dave Winfield SD	118
Wins	Mike Flanagan BAL	23	Joe Niekro HOU Phil Niekro ATL	21
ERA	Ron Guidry NYY	2.78	J. R. Richard HOU	2.71
SO	Nolan Ryan CAL	223	J. R. Richard HOU	313
SV	Mike Marshall MIN	32	Bruce Sutter CHC	37
SB	Willie Wilson KC	83	Omar Moreno PIT	77

Home field attendance

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
Los Angeles Dodgers[1]	79	−16.8%	2,860,954	−14.5%	35,320
Philadelphia Phillies[2]	84	−6.7%	2,775,011	7.4%	34,259
New York Yankees[3]	89	−11.0%	2,537,765	8.6%	31,330
California Angels[4]	88	1.1%	2,523,575	43.8%	31,155
Cincinnati Reds[5]	90	−2.2%	2,356,933	−6.9%	29,462
Boston Red Sox[6]	91	−8.1%	2,353,114	1.4%	29,414
Kansas City Royals[7]	85	−7.6%	2,261,845	0.3%	27,924
Montreal Expos[8]	95	25.0%	2,102,173	47.3%	25,953
Milwaukee Brewers[9]	95	2.2%	1,918,343	19.8%	23,683
Houston Astros[10]	89	20.3%	1,900,312	68.7%	23,461
Baltimore Orioles[11]	102	13.3%	1,681,009	59.8%	21,279
Chicago Cubs[12]	80	1.3%	1,648,587	8.1%	20,353
Detroit Tigers[13]	85	−1.2%	1,630,929	−4.9%	20,387
St. Louis Cardinals[14]	86	24.6%	1,627,256	27.3%	19,845
Texas Rangers[15]	83	−4.6%	1,519,671	5.0%	18,761
San Diego Padres[16]	68	−19.0%	1,456,967	−12.8%	17,987
San Francisco Giants[17]	71	−20.2%	1,456,402	−16.3%	17,980
Pittsburgh Pirates[18]	98	11.4%	1,435,454	48.9%	17,722
Toronto Blue Jays[19]	53	−10.2%	1,431,651	−8.4%	17,675
Chicago White Sox[20]	73	2.8%	1,280,702	−14.1%	16,211
Minnesota Twins[21]	82	12.3%	1,070,521	35.9%	13,216
Cleveland Indians[22]	81	17.4%	1,011,644	26.4%	12,489
Seattle Mariners[23]	67	19.6%	844,447	−3.8%	10,425
New York Mets[24]	63	−4.5%	788,905	−21.7%	9,621
Atlanta Braves[25]	66	−4.3%	769,465	−14.9%	9,740
Oakland Athletics[26]	54	−21.7%	306,763	−41.8%	3,787

Events

January–April

• January 23 – Willie Mays receives 409 of 432 votes in the Baseball Writers' Association of America election to earn enshrinement in the Hall of Fame.
• February 3 – The Minnesota Twins trade Rod Carew to the California Angels for Ken Landreaux, Dave Engle, Paul Hartzell and Brad Havens. His first season with the Angels, he helps his new team reach the post season for the first time, batting over .300 for the next five seasons, and being selected for the next six American League All-Star teams.
• March 7 – The Special Veterans Committee selects Warren Giles and Hack Wilson for the Hall of Fame.
• April – The 1979 Major League umpires strike begins with all umpires walking the picket lines, except two umpires (one from each league) who worked Opening Day with replacement and amateur umpires before leaving for the picket lines.
• April 7 – The Houston Astros' Ken Forsch pitches a no-hitter against the Atlanta Braves in a 6–0 victory. At that time, it marks the earliest calendar date for a no-hitter in major league history, which stands until Hideo Nomo's no-hitter on April 4, 2001.^[27] This also makes him and Bob Forsch, who hurled a no-hitter in 1978, the first brothers in major league history to both pitch no-hit games during their careers.
• April 10 – Houston Astros pitcher J. R. Richard fires six wild pitches in a game.^[28]

May–August

• May 15 – The 1979 Major League umpires strike is settled effective May 18. The umpires gain pay raises and additional vacation time by the addition of another crew, but eight minor league umpires who worked during the strike are promoted to the Major Leagues, causing dissention and ostracizing of the replacements whom the regular umpires referred to as "scabs".
• May 17 – Dave Kingman of the Chicago Cubs hits three home runs and Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies hits two, the second of which proves to be the game winner in the tenth inning, as the Phillies beat the Cubs 23–22 at Wrigley Field. Bill Buckner had a grand slam and seven RBIs for Chicago. The game included a then Major League record 11 home runs and 50 hits.
• May 28 – Texas Rangers first baseman Mike Jorgensen is hit in the head by a pitch from Boston Red Sox pitcher Andy Hassler. Dave Roberts comes into the game to pinch run for Jorgensen, and Pat Putnam takes over as the Rangers' regular first baseman for the next month. Aside from a pinch-hit appearance on May 31, Jorgensen does not play again until July 1. After suffering headaches, it is discovered he has a small blood clot inside his head, which apparently caused a seizure and could have resulted in his early demise.
• June 8 – The Kansas City Royals use their fourth overall pick to draft Dan Marino. In the seventeenth round, they select Stanford's John Elway. Neither player would sign with the Royals, though they would go on to record-breaking careers in the National Football League.
• June 12 – The Detroit Tigers hire Sparky Anderson as their new manager.
• June 24 – In a 5–1 loss to the Rangers, Rickey Henderson debuts for the Oakland Athletics. He singles and doubles; the first of his over 3,000 career hits, and steals the first of his over 1,400 bases.
• July 12 – The Detroit Tigers win the first game of a scheduled doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox, 4–1, on Disco Demolition Night at Chicago's Comiskey Park. Thousands of young fans swarm onto the field between the games, damaging the field and causing mayhem throughout the stadium. The White Sox are forced to forfeit the second game.
• July 17 – The National League wins its eighth straight All-Star Game, 7–6, at Seattle. Lee Mazzilli hits a home run to tie the game in the eighth, and walks in the ninth to bring in the winning run. Dave Parker, with two outstanding throws, is named the MVP, and Pete Rose plays a record five All-Star positions.
• July 24 – Boston's Carl Yastrzemski hits his 400th home run off Oakland Athletics pitcher Mike Morgan in the 7th inning of the Red Sox's 7–3 win over the Athletics at Boston's Fenway Park.
• August 2 – The Chicago White Sox announce that Don Kessinger has been fired as manager, and that he will be replaced by rookie manager Tony La Russa.
• August 3 – Over 51,000 mourners attend a memorial service for New York Yankees captain Thurman Munson at Yankee Stadium, who was killed the day before in a plane crash.
• August 5 – Fred Lynn hits his 100th career home run, helping the Red Sox beat Milwaukee Brewers 7–2.
• August 6 – The entire New York Yankee team flies to Canton, Ohio for captain Thurman Munson's funeral. Hours later, the team returns to New York City and defeats the Baltimore Orioles 5–4 at Yankee Stadium, before a national viewing audience on ABC's Monday Night Baseball. Bobby Murcer, one of Munson's best friends, drives in all five Yankee runs with a three-run home run in the seventh inning and a two-run single in the bottom of the ninth.
• August 13 – The St. Louis Cardinals' Lou Brock slashes his 3,000th hit off the hand of Chicago Cubs pitcher Dennis Lamp in a 3–2 Cardinals win at Busch Memorial Stadium.
• August 29 – In his first pitching appearance in the Major Leagues in his 11-year career, Kansas City Royals utility player Jerry Terrell entered the game in relief against the New York Yankees and got three outs on just three pitches in the ninth inning of a 17–3 loss.^[29]

September–December

• September 12 – Carl Yastrzemski records his 3000th career hit with a single off of New York Yankees' pitcher Jim Beattie.
• September 15 – As part of a 10–2 win over the Baltimore Orioles, the Red Sox's Bob Watson hits for the cycle. Having done it for the Houston Astros on June 24, 1977, he is the first player to do this in both leagues.
• September 17 – George Brett hits his 20th triple of the season. He is the first player since Willie Mays in 1957 to join the 20–20–20 club.
• September 23 – Lou Brock steals the 938th base of his career, breaking Billy Hamilton's all-time National League record. Brock's St. Louis Cardinals defeat the New York Mets 7–4 in ten innings.
• September 24 – Pete Rose collects his 200th hit of the season, giving him ten seasons with at least 200 hits. This breaks the record set by Ty Cobb.
• September 28 – Garry Templeton of the St. Louis Cardinals collects his 100th hit of the season while batting right-handed. Having already collected 100 hits while batting left-handed, Templeton is the first player in history to accomplish this. He had batted right-handed, exclusively, for the last week of the season to get the needed hits.
• October 17 – In Game Seven of the World Series, Willie Stargell hits his third home run of the Series to send the Pittsburgh Pirates to their third straight win over the Baltimore Orioles, to win the World Series Championship. Stargell wins Series MVP honors. The Pirates came back from a deficit of 3 games-to-1.
• November 13 – For the first time ever, there will be League co-MVPs as Keith Hernandez of the St. Louis Cardinals shares the National League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award with Willie Stargell of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Stargell is the oldest person to win this award (since broken by Barry Bonds in 2004). The Pirates have thus won (or shared) all four "Most Valuable Player" awards for the season (All-Star Game, National League Championship Series, World Series, and National League regular season). This is the first such sweep in Major League history (Stargell had won the awards for the NLCS, World Series, and National League regular season, while teammate Dave Parker won the All-Star Game award).
• November 26 – Third baseman John Castino, who batted .285 for the Minnesota Twins, and shortstop Alfredo Griffin, who hit .287 for the Toronto Blue Jays, tie for the American League Rookie of the Year Award, each receiving seven of the 28 votes. The deadlock precipitates a change in the voting system, effective in 1980.
• November 28 – Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Rick Sutcliffe, who posted a 17–10 record with a 3.46 ERA for a sub-.500 team, receives 20 of 24 votes to earn the National League Rookie of the Year honors. Right fielders Jeffrey Leonard of the Houston Astros (3) and Scot Thompson of the Chicago Cubs (1) receive the other votes.

Television coverage

Twenty-two teams (all but the Atlanta Braves, Houston Astros, New York Mets, and St. Louis Cardinals) signed a one-year cable deal with United Artists Television and Columbia Pictures Television, then-owners of the USA Network.^[30] The deal involved the airing of Thursday Night Baseball^[31] in markets at least 50 miles (80 km) from a major league park.^[32] The deal earned Major League Baseball less than $500,000, but led to a new two-year contract for 40–45 games per season.^[33][34]

ABC aired Monday Night Baseball and the World Series. NBC televised the weekend Game of the Week, the All-Star Game, and both League Championship Series.