1979 Cincinnati Reds season
1979 Cincinnati Reds | ||
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National League West Champions | ||
League | National League | |
Division | West | |
Ballpark | Riverfront Stadium | |
City | Cincinnati | |
Record | 90–71 (.559) | |
Divisional place | 1st | |
Owners | Louis Nippert | |
General managers | Dick Wagner | |
Managers | John McNamara | |
Television | WLWT (Ray Lane, Bill Brown) | |
Radio | WLW (Marty Brennaman, Joe Nuxhall) | |
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The 1979 Cincinnati Reds season consisted of the Reds winning the National League West under their first-year manager John McNamara, with a record of 90–71, 1½ games better than the Houston Astros. It was a year of great change for the Reds, who lost long-time star Pete Rose to the Philadelphia Phillies, who signed Rose as an unrestricted free agent. Also, long-time manager and future Hall of Famer Sparky Anderson was fired by new general manager Dick Wagner when Anderson refused to make changes in his coaching staff. McNamara guided the Reds to its first West Division title in three years. Wagner replaced long-time GM Bob Howsam, who retired after running the Reds for 12 years. Through some good drafts and several key trades, Howsam built a team that won six division titles, and played in four World Series, winning two, during the 1970s.
However, the Reds lost the NLCS to the eventual World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates in three straight games. It was the first time in four tries the Pirates had upended the Reds in a league championship series since Major League Baseball began divisional play in 1969. It would be Cincinnati's last postseason appearance until 1990.
The Reds played their home games at Riverfront Stadium.
Offseason
[edit]- January 9, 1979: Bill Bordley was drafted by the Reds in 1979, but the pick was voided.[1]
Regular season
[edit]Season standings
[edit]Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
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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 |
Record vs. opponents
[edit]Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] | |||||||||||||||||
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Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL | |||||
Atlanta | — | 4–8 | 6–12 | 7–11 | 12–6 | 1–9 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 4–8 | 6–12 | 11–7 | 4–8 | |||||
Chicago | 8–4 | — | 7–5 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 6–12 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 9–3 | 8–4 | 8–10 | |||||
Cincinnati | 12–6 | 5–7 | — | 8–10 | 11–7 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 10–7 | 6–12 | 8–4 | |||||
Houston | 11–7 | 6–6 | 10–8 | — | 10–8 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 14–4 | 7–11 | 6–6 | |||||
Los Angeles | 6–12 | 7–5 | 7–11 | 8–10 | — | 6–6 | 9–3 | 3–9 | 4–8 | 9–9 | 14–4 | 6–6 | |||||
Montreal | 9–1 | 12–6 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 6–6 | — | 15–3 | 11–7 | 7–11 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 10–8 | |||||
New York | 8–4 | 10–8 | 4–8 | 3–9 | 3–9 | 3–15 | — | 5–13 | 8–10 | 4–8 | 8–4 | 7–11 | |||||
Philadelphia | 5–7 | 9–9 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 7–11 | 13–5 | — | 8–10 | 9–3 | 6–6 | 7–11 | |||||
Pittsburgh | 8–4 | 12–6 | 4–8 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 11–7 | 10–8 | 10–8 | — | 7–5 | 9–3 | 11–7 | |||||
San Diego | 12–6 | 3–9 | 7–10 | 4–14 | 9–9 | 5–7 | 8–4 | 3–9 | 5–7 | — | 8–10 | 4–8 | |||||
San Francisco | 7–11 | 4–8 | 12–6 | 11–7 | 4–14 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 3–9 | 10–8 | — | 5–7 | |||||
St. Louis | 8–4 | 10–8 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 11–7 | 7–11 | 8–4 | 7–5 | — |
Notable transactions
[edit]- May 8, 1979: Paul Blair was signed as a free agent by the Reds.[2]
- May 25, 1979: Champ Summers was traded by the Reds to the Detroit Tigers for a player to be named later. The Tigers completed the deal by sending Sheldon Burnside to the Reds on October 25.[3]
- June 5, 1979: Jeff Jones was drafted by the Reds in the 20th round of the 1979 Major League Baseball Draft.[4]
- June 28, 1979: Pedro Borbón was traded by the Reds to the San Francisco Giants for Héctor Cruz.[5]
Roster
[edit]1979 Cincinnati Reds | |||||||||
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Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
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Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
Other batters |
Manager
Coaches
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Game log
[edit]Regular season
[edit]1979 regular season game log: 90–71 (Home: 48–32; Away: 42–39) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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May: 15–13 (Home: 8–4; Away: 7–9)
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June: 15–14 (Home: 8–5; Away: 7–9)
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July: 17–14 (Home: 8–8; Away: 9–6)
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September: 13–13 (Home: 7–5; Away: 6–8)
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Legend: = Win = Loss = Postponement Bold = Reds team member |
Postseason Game log
[edit]1979 Postseason game log: 0–3 (Home: 0–2; Away: 0–1) |
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NL Championship Series: vs. Pittsburgh Pirates 0–3 (Home: 0–2; Away: 0–1) |
Legend: = Win = Loss Bold = Reds team member |
Player stats
[edit]Batting
[edit]Starters by position
[edit]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 |
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C | Johnny Bench | 130 | 464 | 128 | .276 | 22 | 80 |
1B | Dan Driessen | 150 | 515 | 129 | .250 | 18 | 75 |
2B | Joe Morgan | 127 | 436 | 109 | .250 | 9 | 32 |
3B | Ray Knight | 150 | 551 | 175 | .318 | 10 | 79 |
SS | Dave Concepción | 149 | 590 | 166 | .281 | 16 | 84 |
LF | George Foster | 121 | 440 | 133 | .302 | 30 | 98 |
CF | César Gerónimo | 123 | 356 | 85 | .239 | 4 | 38 |
RF | Ken Griffey | 95 | 380 | 120 | .316 | 8 | 32 |
Other batters
[edit]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 |
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Dave Collins | 122 | 396 | 126 | .318 | 3 | 35 |
Junior Kennedy | 83 | 220 | 60 | .273 | 1 | 17 |
Héctor Cruz | 74 | 182 | 44 | .242 | 4 | 27 |
Paul Blair | 75 | 140 | 21 | .150 | 2 | 15 |
Rick Auerbach | 62 | 100 | 21 | .210 | 1 | 12 |
Champ Summers | 27 | 60 | 12 | .200 | 1 | 11 |
Harry Spilman | 43 | 56 | 12 | .214 | 0 | 5 |
Arturo DeFreites | 23 | 34 | 7 | .206 | 0 | 4 |
Ken Henderson | 10 | 13 | 3 | .231 | 0 | 2 |
Rafael Santo Domingo | 7 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
Ron Oester | 6 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Sam Mejias | 7 | 2 | 1 | .500 | 0 | 0 |
Pitching
[edit]Starting pitchers
[edit]Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
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Tom Seaver | 32 | 215.0 | 16 | 6 | 3.14 | 131 |
Mike LaCoss | 35 | 205.2 | 14 | 8 | 3.50 | 73 |
Fred Norman | 34 | 195.1 | 11 | 13 | 3.64 | 95 |
Bill Bonham | 29 | 175.2 | 9 | 7 | 3.79 | 78 |
Other pitchers
[edit]Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
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Tom Hume | 57 | 163.0 | 10 | 9 | 2.76 | 80 |
Paul Moskau | 21 | 106.0 | 5 | 4 | 3.89 | 58 |
Frank Pastore | 30 | 95.1 | 6 | 7 | 4.25 | 63 |
Note: Tom Hume led the Reds in saves with 17.
Relief pitchers
[edit]Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
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Doug Bair | 65 | 11 | 7 | 16 | 4.29 | 86 |
Dave Tomlin | 53 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2.62 | 30 |
Pedro Borbón | 30 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3.43 | 23 |
Mario Soto | 25 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5.30 | 32 |
Manny Sarmiento | 23 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4.66 | 23 |
Doug Capilla | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8.53 | 0 |
Charlie Leibrandt | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |
National League Championship Series
[edit]Game 1
[edit]October 2, Riverfront Stadium
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | R | H | E | |
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Pittsburgh | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 0 | |
Cincinnati | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0 | |
W: Grant Jackson (1–0) L: Tom Hume (0–1) SV: Don Robinson (1) | |||||||||||||||
HRs: PIT – Phil Garner (1) Willie Stargell (1) CIN – George Foster (1) |
Game 2
[edit]October 3, Riverfront Stadium
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E | ||
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Pittsburgh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 0 | ||
Cincinnati | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 | ||
W: Don Robinson (1–0) L: Doug Bair (0–1) SV: None | |||||||||||||||
HRs: PIT – None CIN – None |
Game 3
[edit]October 5, Three Rivers Stadium
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
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Cincinnati | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 1 | |
Pittsburgh | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 7 | 7 | 0 | |
W: Bert Blyleven (1–0) L: Mike LaCoss (0–1) SV: None | |||||||||||||
HRs: CIN – Johnny Bench (1) PIT – Willie Stargell (2) Bill Madlock (1) |
Farm system
[edit]LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Nashville
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- 1979 Cincinnati Reds season at Baseball Reference
- Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.