1979 Minnesota Twins season

1979 Minnesota Twins
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) Calvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes)
General manager(s) Calvin Griffith
Manager(s) Gene Mauch
Local television KMSP-TV
(Bob Kurtz, Larry Osterman)
Local radio 830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, Joe McConnell)
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The 1979 Minnesota Twins season was a season in American baseball. The team finished 82-80, fourth in the American League West.

Offseason

In January 1979, the Twins attempted to trade first baseman Rod Carew to the New York Yankees in exchange for Chris Chambliss, Juan Beníquez, Dámaso García, and Dave Righetti, but were unable to finalize a deal.[1] Carew would instead be traded to the California Angels on February 3.

Notable transactions

Regular season

Three Minnesota Twins homered in the May 15 win over Texas, the sixteenth straight Minnesota game with at least one Twins homer. The streak will end on May 16. Nine players homered 28 times during the club's record-setting streak.

Only one Twins player made the All-Star Game: shortstop Roy Smalley. Smalley hit 24 HR, drove in 95 runs, and scored 85 runs, all team-leading totals. Ken Landreaux, acquired in the Carew trade, batted .305 with 15 HR and 83 RBI. Ron Jackson, acquired in the Dan Ford trade, hit 14 HR and collected 68 RBI.

Reliever Mike Marshall continued as manager Gene Mauch's all-purpose reliever, pitching in a league-leading 90 games, racking up 10 relief wins along with a league-leading 32 saves. Veteran Jerry Koosman won 20 games. Dave Goltz (14-13) and Geoff Zahn (13-7) had double-digit wins.

Smalley turned 144 double plays this year, setting a major league record for shortstops. The team total of 203 double plays set a new season record.

Third baseman John Castino shared the AL Rookie of the Year award with Alfredo Griffin of the Toronto Blue Jays. Each received 7 first place votes.[7]

1,070,521 fans attended Twins games, the fourth lowest total in the American League. It was only the second time since 1970 the team attracted over one million fans.

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:

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

Roster

1979 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

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
1B Jackson, RonRon Jackson 159 583 158 .271 14 68
SS Smalley, RoyRoy Smalley 162 621 168 .271 24 95
LF Landreaux, KenKen Landreaux 151 564 172 .305 15 83

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
Norwood, WillieWillie Norwood 76 270 67 .248 6 30
Rivera, BomboBombo Rivera 112 263 74 .281 2 31
Edwards, DaveDave Edwards 96 229 57 .249 8 35
Randall, BobBob Randall 80 199 49 .246 0 14
Morales, JoséJosé Morales 92 191 51 .267 2 27
Goodwin, DannyDanny Goodwin 58 159 46 .289 5 27
Borgmann, GlennGlenn Borgmann 31 70 14 .200 0 8
Kusick, CraigCraig Kusick 24 54 13 .241 3 6
Vega, JesúsJesús Vega 4 7 0 .000 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
Koosman, JerryJerry Koosman 37 263.2 20 13 3.38 157
Goltz, DaveDave Goltz 36 250.2 14 13 4.16 132
Hartzell, PaulPaul Hartzell 28 163 6 10 5.36 44
Zahn, GeoffGeoff Zahn 26 169 13 7 3.57 58
Erickson, RogerRoger Erickson 24 123 3 10 5.63 47

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
Redfern, PetePete Redfern 40 108.1 7 3 3.49 85
Jackson, DarrellDarrell Jackson 24 69.1 4 4 4.28 43
Serum, GaryGary Serum 20 64 1 3 6.61 31

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
Marshall, MikeMike Marshall 90 10 15 32 2.65 81
Bacsik, MikeMike Bacsik 31 4 2 0 4.39 33
Brett, KenKen Brett 9 0 0 0 4.97 3
Holly, JeffJeff Holly 6 0 0 0 7.11 5
Stanfield, KevinKevin Stanfield 3 0 0 0 6.00 1
Felton, TerryTerry Felton 1 0 0 0 0.00 1

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Toledo Mud Hens International League Cal Ermer
AA Orlando Twins Southern League Roy McMillan
A Visalia Oaks California League Tom Kelly
A Wisconsin Rapids Twins Midwest League Rick Stelmaszek
Rookie Elizabethton Twins Appalachian League Fred Waters

Notes

  1. United Press International (January 30, 1979). "Yankees, Twins still dickering". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved June 19, 2009.
  2. Dave Johnson at Baseball-Reference
  3. Dan Ford at Baseball Reference
  4. Jerry Koosman at Baseball Reference
  5. Mike Marshall at Baseball Reference
  6. Rod Carew at Baseball Reference
  7. "Baseball Awards Voting for 1979". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
  8. Randy Bush at Baseball Reference
  9. Mike Kinnunen at Baseball Reference
  10. Rudy Meoli at Baseball Reference
  11. Craig Kusick at Baseball Reference

References

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