Wikipedia

1979 Kansas City Royals season

1979 Kansas City Royals
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Ewing Kauffman
General manager(s)Joe Burke
Manager(s)Whitey Herzog (fourth full season)
Local televisionKBMA
(Steve Shannon, Dave Nelson)
Local radioWIBW (AM)
(Denny Matthews, Fred White)
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The 1979 Kansas City Royals season was their 11th season in Major League Baseball. The Royals finished second in the American League West at 85-77, three games behind the California Angels and ending Kansas City's run of three consecutive division titles. Darrell Porter tied a single-season franchise record with 112 runs batted in. George Brett led the American League in hits (212) and triples (20). Manager Whitey Herzog was fired following the season.

Offseason

  • January 9, 1979: Mike Bielecki was drafted by the Royals in the 6th round of the 1979 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.[1]
  • February 26, 1979: Eduardo Rodríguez was purchased by the Royals from the Milwaukee Brewers.[2]

Regular season

Season standings

AL West 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
California Angels 88 74 0.543 — 49–32 39–42
Kansas City Royals 85 77 0.525 3 46–35 39–42
Texas Rangers 83 79 0.512 5 44–37 39–42
Minnesota Twins 82 80 0.506 6 39–42 43–38
Chicago White Sox 73 87 0.456 14 33–46 40–41
Seattle Mariners 67 95 0.414 21 36–45 31–50
Oakland Athletics 54 108 0.333 34 31–50 23–58

Record vs. opponents

1979 American League Records

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
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

  • April 3, 1979: Doug Bird was traded by the Royals to the Philadelphia Phillies for Todd Cruz.[3]
  • April 27, 1979: George Throop was traded by the Royals to the Houston Astros for a player to be named later. The Astros completed the deal by sending Keith Drumright to the Royals on October 26.[4]
  • June 5, 1979: 1979 Major League Baseball draft
    • Atlee Hammaker was drafted by the Royals in the 1st round (21st pick).[5]
    • Dan Marino was drafted by the Royals in the 4th round (99th pick overall).[6]
    • John Elway was drafted by the Royals in the 18th round (463rd pick overall).[7]

Roster

1979 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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
2B Frank White 127 467 124 .266 10 48
3B George Brett 154 645 212 .329 23 107
SS Freddie Patek 106 306 77 .252 1 37
LF Willie Wilson 154 588 185 .315 6 49

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
U L Washington 101 268 68 .254 2 25
George Scott 44 146 39 .267 1 20
Todd Cruz 55 118 24 .203 2 15
Steve Braun 58 116 31 .267 4 10
Jerry Terrell 31 40 12 .300 1 2
Germán Barranca 5 5 3 .600 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Larry Gura 39 233.2 13 12 4.47 85
Rich Gale 34 181.2 9 10 5.65 103
Craig Chamberlain 10 69.2 4 4 3.75 30

Other pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Steve Busby 22 94.1 6 6 3.63 45

Relief pitchers

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

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Eduardo Rodríguez 29 4 1 2 4.84 26
Bill Paschall 7 0 1 0 6.59 3
Gary Christenson 6 0 0 0 3.38 4
Craig Eaton 5 0 0 0 2.70 4
George Throop 4 0 0 0 13.50 1
Jerry Terrell 1 0 0 0 0.00 0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Omaha Royals American Association Gordon Mackenzie
AA Jacksonville Suns Southern League Joe Jones
A Fort Myers Royals Florida State League Gene Lamont
Rookie GCL Royals Blue Gulf Coast League Brian Murphy
Rookie GCL Royals Gold Gulf Coast League José Martínez

Notes

  1. ^ Mike Bielecki at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Eduardo Rodríguez page on Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Todd Cruz at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Keith Drumright at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Atlee Hammaker at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/index.cgi?year_ID=1979&round=4&draft_type=junreg
  7. ^ https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/index.cgi?year_ID=1979&round=18&draft_type=junreg

References

  • 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.
  • 1979 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference
  • 1979 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac
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