1978 New York Yankees season

1978 New York Yankees
1978 AL East Champions
1978 AL Champions
1978 World Series Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) George Steinbrenner
General manager(s) Cedric Tallis
Manager(s) Billy Martin, Dick Howser, Bob Lemon
Local television

WPIX

(Phil Rizzuto, Frank Messer, Bill White)
Local radio WINS (AM)
(Frank Messer, Phil Rizzuto, Bill White, Fran Healy)
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The 1978 New York Yankees season was the 76th season for the Yankees. The team finished with a record of 100–63, finishing one game ahead of the Boston Red Sox to win their third American League East title. The two teams were tied after 162 games, leading to a one-game playoff, which the Yankees won.

In the ALCS, they defeated the Kansas City Royals in 4 games. In the World Series, they defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in 6 games in a rematch of the 1977 World Series. New York was managed by Billy Martin, Dick Howser and Bob Lemon. The Yankees played at Yankee Stadium.

The season was tumultuous for the Yankees, as Jackson was suspended in a midseason showdown with Billy Martin, which later resulted in Martin resigning mid-season.

Offseason

Regular season

During the season, Ron Guidry became the last pitcher to win at least 25 games in one season for the Yankees in the 20th century.[5] Guidry won the Cy Young Award by unanimous vote. In 273 2/3 innings, he compiled a record of 25–3, with 248 strikeouts, 1.74 ERA, and 9 shutouts.

Relief pitcher Goose Gossage won Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award, leading the American League with 27 saves.

Season summary

In July, the team was 14 games behind the Boston Red Sox, but rallied in the second half of the season to finish tied for first place. The Yankees were victorious over the Red Sox in the one-game playoff for the AL East title. This game featured Bucky Dent's famous 3-run go-ahead home run in the 7th inning. For decades people have mistakenly thought the Yankees trailed by 14.5 games but it was never more than 14 games. The Yankees were 14 games behind the Red Sox on July 17 and July 19, 1978.

Game log

AL East tie-breaker game

October 2, 1978 at Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts
Team123456789RHE
New York Yankees000000410580
Boston Red Sox0100100204110
WP: Ron Guidry (25-3)   LP: Mike Torrez (16-13)   Sv: Goose Gossage (27)
Home runs:
NYY: Bucky Dent, Reggie Jackson
BOS: Carl Yastrzemski

Season standings

AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 10063 0.613 — 55–26 45–37
Boston Red Sox 9964 0.607 1 59–23 40–41
Milwaukee Brewers 9369 0.574 6½ 54–27 39–42
Baltimore Orioles 9071 0.559 9 51–30 39–41
Detroit Tigers 8676 0.531 13½ 47–34 39–42
Cleveland Indians 6990 0.434 29 42–36 27–54
Toronto Blue Jays 59102 0.366 40 37–44 22–58

Record vs. opponents

1978 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —7–84–68–19–67–82–87–85–56–911–09–17–48–7
Boston 8–7—9–27–37–812–34–610–59–27–95–57–33–711–4
California 6–42–9—8–76–44–79–65–512–35–59–69–65–107–3
Chicago 1–83–77–8—8–22–98–74–78–71–97–87–811–44–6
Cleveland 6–98–74–62–8—5–105–65–105–56–94–68–11–910–4
Detroit 8–73–127–49–210–5—4–67–84–64–116–48–27–39–6
Kansas City 8–26–46–97–86–56–4—6–47–86–510–512–37–85–5
Milwaukee 8–75–105–57–410–58–74–6—4–710–59–15–56–412–3
Minnesota 5–52–93–127–85–56–48–77–4—3–79–66–96–96–4
New York 9–69–75–59–19–611–45–65–107–3—8–26–56–411–4
Oakland 0–115–56–98–76–44–65–101–96–92–8—13–26–97–4
Seattle 1–93–76–98–71–82–83–125–59–65–62–13—3–128–2
Texas 4–77–310–54–119–13–78–74–69–64–69–612–3—4–7
Toronto 7–84–113–76–44–106–95–53–124–64–114–72–87–4—

Notable transactions

Draft picks

Roster

1978 New York Yankees
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

Notable events

The defending World Series champions got off to a slow start in 1978, prompting owner George Steinbrenner to put pressure on manager Billy Martin. Compounding the issue was the already-tumultuous relationship between Martin and Reggie Jackson, and Steinbrenner was pressuring him as well. On July 17, with the team at 47-42 and in fourth place in the American League East, it came to a head during a home contest with the Kansas City Royals. With the score tied 5-5 in the bottom of the 10th inning and Thurman Munson on first, Martin sent Jackson to the plate with orders to lay down a sacrifice bunt. Jackson tried to bunt the first pitch, but failed. Martin then relayed to third-base coach Dick Howser for Jackson to swing and Howser passed it on, but Jackson ignored Howser and attempted another bunt. Howser called time and talked with Jackson, but to no avail. On his final bunt attempt, Jackson fouled out to the catcher. Martin then removed Jackson from the game and suspended him for five games.

As Jackson's suspension was ending, Martin commented in a later post-game interview that (referring to Jackson and Steinbrenner, respectively) 'one's a born liar, and the other's convicted.' The Steinbrenner reference was alluding to a past incident where the Yankee owner made illegal U.S. presidential campaign contributions. Later, Martin appeared on live television and tearfully announced his resignation as Yankees manager, but most sources believed he was actually fired by Steinbrenner for the "convicted" comment. Howser was acting manager for the next few games until Bob Lemon was named as manager for the rest of the season.

However, on August 5 at Yankee Stadium, during the Old-Timer's Day ceremony, Yankee public address announcer Bob Sheppard introduced Martin to the crowd and announced that Martin would return as manager for the 1980 season.

Nevertheless, under Lemon, the Yankees went on a tear for the rest of the season and won the division after having been 14 games out of first at one point. They would go on to repeat as World Series champions.

On September 30, 1978, Pitcher Ed Figueroa won his 20th game of the season.[11] As of 2017, Figueroa is the only native of Puerto Rico to win 20 games in a season in the major leagues.[12]

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
CThurman Munson154617183.297671
1BChris Chambliss162625171.2741290
2BWillie Randolph134499139.279342
3BGraig Nettles159587162.2762793
SSBucky Dent12337992.243540
LFLou Piniella130472148.314669
CFMickey Rivers141559148.2651148
RFReggie Jackson139511140.2742797
DHCliff Johnson7617432.184619

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
Roy White10334693.269843
Fred Stanley8116035.21919
Paul Blair7512522.176213
Jim Spencer7115034.227724
Gary Thomasson5411632.276320
Mike Heath339221.22808
Jay Johnstone366517.26216
Brian Doyle395210.19200
Dámaso García18418.19501
George Zeber360.00000
Dell Alston330.00000
Mickey Klutts1221.00000
Dennis Sherrill210.00000
Fran Healy110.00000
Domingo Ramos100---00

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
Ron Guidry35273.22531.74248
Ed Figueroa352532092.9992
Dick Tidrow311857113.8473
Jim Beattie25128693.7365
Catfish Hunter211181263.5856
Don Gullett844.2423.6328
Andy Messersmith622.1035.6416

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
Ken Clay2875.2344.2832
Paul Lindblad718.1004.429
Ken Holtzman517.2104.083
Larry McCall516115.637
Dave Rajsich413.1004.059

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
Goose Gossage631011272.01122
Sparky Lyle599393.4733
Rawly Eastwick82103.2813
Bob Kammeyer70005.8211
Ron Davis400011.570

Postseason

ALCS

Game 1

October 3: Royals Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 011 020 030 7160
Kansas City 000 001 000 122
W: Jim Beattie (1-0)  L: Dennis Leonard (0-1)  S: Ken Clay (1)
HRs: NYY – Reggie Jackson (1)

Game 2

October 4: Royals Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 000 000 220 4121
Kansas City 140 000 32X 10161
W: Larry Gura (1-0)  L: Ed Figueroa (0-1)
HRs: KCR – Freddie Patek (1)

Game 3

October 6: Yankee Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 101 010 020 5101
New York 010 201 02X 6100
W: Goose Gossage (1-0)  L: Doug Bird (0-1)
HRs: KCR – George Brett 3 (3)   NYY – Reggie Jackson (2) Thurman Munson (1)

Game 4

October 7: Yankee Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 100 000 000 170
New York 010 001 00X 240
W: Ron Guidry (1-0)  L: Dennis Leonard (0-2)  S: Goose Gossage (1)
HRs: NYY – Graig Nettles (1) Roy White (1)

World Series

AL New York Yankees (4) vs. NL Los Angeles Dodgers (2)

Game Score Date Location Attendance Time of Game
1Yankees – 5, Dodgers – 11October 10Dodger Stadium55,9972:48
2Yankees – 3, Dodgers – 4October 11Dodger Stadium55,9822:37
3Dodgers – 1, Yankees – 5October 13Yankee Stadium56,4472:27
4Dodgers – 3, Yankees – 4 (10 inns)October 14Yankee Stadium56,4453:17
5Dodgers – 2, Yankees – 12October 15Yankee Stadium56,4482:56
6Yankees – 7, Dodgers – 2October 17Dodger Stadium55,9852:34

Awards and honors

Franchise records

  • Ron Guidry, Yankees single season record, most strikeouts in a season (248)

All-Stars

All-Star Game

Other team leaders

  • Stolen Bases – Willie Randolph, 36
  • Walks – Willie Randolph, 82

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Tacoma Yankees Pacific Coast League Mike Ferraro
AA West Haven Yankees Eastern League Stump Merrill
A Fort Lauderdale Yankees Florida State League Doug Holmquist
A-Short Season Oneonta Yankees New York–Penn League Art Mazmanian

LEAGUE CO-CHAMPION: Tacoma[13]

Notes

  1. ↑ Goose Gossage at Baseball Reference
  2. ↑ Jesús Figueroa at Baseball Reference
  3. ↑ Sergio Ferrer at Baseball Reference
  4. ↑ Stan Thomas at Baseball Reference
  5. ↑ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 99, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  6. ↑ Ken Holtzman at Baseball Reference
  7. ↑ Bobby Brown at Baseball Reference
  8. ↑ Mickey Klutts at Baseball Reference
  9. ↑ Rex Hudler at Baseball Reference
  10. ↑ Steve Balboni at Baseball Reference
  11. ↑ HernÌÁndez, Lou (June 27, 2016). "Chronology of Latin Americans in Baseball, 1871-2015". McFarland – via Google Books.
  12. ↑ "Ed Figueroa - Society for American Baseball Research". sabr.org.
  13. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

References

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