1979 Cincinnati Reds season

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1979 Cincinnati Reds
National League West Champions
LeagueNational League
DivisionWest
BallparkRiverfront Stadium
CityCincinnati
Record90–71 (.559)
Divisional place1st
OwnersLouis Nippert
General managersDick Wagner
ManagersJohn McNamara
TelevisionWLWT
(Ray Lane, Bill Brown)
RadioWLW
(Marty Brennaman, Joe Nuxhall)
← 1978 Seasons 1980 →

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]

NL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cincinnati Reds 90 71 0.559 48–32 42–39
Houston Astros 89 73 0.549 52–29 37–44
Los Angeles Dodgers 79 83 0.488 11½ 46–35 33–48
San Francisco Giants 71 91 0.438 19½ 38–43 33–48
San Diego Padres 68 93 0.422 22 39–42 29–51
Atlanta Braves 66 94 0.412 23½ 34–45 32–49

Record vs. opponents[edit]


Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
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 8–10–1 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 7–11–1
Pittsburgh 8–4 12–6 4–8 8–4 8–4 11–7 10–8–1 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 11–7–1 7–11 8–4 7–5


Notable transactions[edit]

Roster[edit]

1979 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

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
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

[6]

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
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
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
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
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
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: PITPhil Garner (1)   Willie Stargell (1)   CINGeorge Foster (1)

Game 2[edit]

October 3, Riverfront Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
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
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: CINJohnny Bench (1)   PITWillie Stargell (2)   Bill Madlock (1)

Farm system[edit]

Level Team League Manager
AAA Indianapolis Indians American Association Roy Majtyka
AA Nashville Sounds Southern League George Scherger
A Tampa Tarpons Florida State League Mike Compton
A Greensboro Hornets Western Carolinas League Jim Lett
A-Short Season Eugene Emeralds Northwest League Greg Riddoch
Rookie Billings Mustangs Pioneer League Jim Hoff

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Nashville

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Bill Bordley page at Baseball-Reference
  2. ^ Paul Blair page at Baseball-Reference
  3. ^ Champ Summers page at Baseball-Reference
  4. ^ Jeff Jones page at Baseball-Reference
  5. ^ Pedro Borbón page at Baseball-Reference
  6. ^ "1979 Cincinnati Reds Statistics".

References[edit]