1979 Cincinnati Reds season

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.

1979 Cincinnati Reds
1979 NL West Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record90–71 (.559)
Divisional place1st
Other information
Owner(s)Louis Nippert
General manager(s)Dick Wagner
Manager(s)John McNamara
Local televisionWLWT
(Ray Lane, Bill Brown)
Local radioWLW
(Marty Brennaman, Joe Nuxhall)
< Previous season     Next season >

However, the Reds lost the National League Championship Series 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 divisional playoff series since Major League Baseball went to divisions in 1969. The Reds played their home games at Riverfront Stadium.

Offseason
  • January 9, 1979: Bill Bordley was drafted by the Reds in 1979, but the pick was voided.[1]

Regular season

Season standings
NL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cincinnati Reds 9071 0.559 — 48–32 42–39
Houston Astros 8973 0.549 1½ 52–29 37–44
Los Angeles Dodgers 7983 0.488 11½ 46–35 33–48
San Francisco Giants 7191 0.438 19½ 38–43 33–48
San Diego Padres 6893 0.422 22 39–42 29–51
Atlanta Braves 6694 0.412 23½ 34–45 32–49

Record vs. opponents
1979 National League Records

Sources:
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta—4–86–127–1112–61–94–87–54–86–1211–74–8
Chicago8–4—7–56–65–76–128–109–96–129–38–48–10
Cincinnati12–65–7—8–1011–76–68–48–48–410–76–128–4
Houston11–76–610–8—10–87–59–35–74–814–47–116–6
Los Angeles 6–127–57–118–10—6–69–33–94–89–914–46–6
Montreal9–112–66–65–76–6—15–311–77–117–57–510–8
New York8–410–84–83–93–93–15—5–138–10–14–88–47–11
Philadelphia5-79–94–87–59–37–1113–5—8–109–36–67–11–1
Pittsburgh8–412–64–88–48–411–710–8–110–8—7–59–311–7
San Diego12–63–97–104–149–95–78–43–95–7—8–104–8
San Francisco7–114–812–611–74–145–74–86–63–910–8—5–7
St. Louis8–410–84–86–66–68–1011–711–7–17–118–47–5—

Notable transactions

Roster
1979 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders
  • 30 Ken Griffey

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
CJohnny Bench120393102.2602373
1BDan Driessen153524131.2501670
2BJoe Morgan132441104.2361375
3BRay Knight159655198.302752
SSDave Concepción153565170.301667
LFGeorge Foster158604170.28140120
CFCésar Gerónimo12229667.226527
RFKen Griffey158614177.2881063

[6]

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
Dave Collins122396126.318335
Junior Kennedy8322060.273117
Héctor Cruz7418244.242427
Paul Blair7514021.150215
Rick Auerbach6210021.210112
Champ Summers276012.200111
Harry Spilman435612.21405
Arturo DeFreites23347.20604
Ken Henderson10133.23102
Rafael Santo Domingo761.16700
Ron Oester630.00000
Sam Mejias721.50000

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
Tom Seaver322151663.14131
Mike LaCoss35205.21483.5073
Fred Norman34195.111133.6495
Bill Bonham29175.2973.7978

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
Tom Hume571631092.7680
Paul Moskau21106543.8958
Frank Pastore3095.1674.2563

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
Doug Bair65117164.2986
Dave Tomlin532212.6230
Pedro Borbón302223.4323
Mario Soto253205.3032
Manny Sarmiento230404.6623
Doug Capilla51008.530
Charlie Leibrandt30000.001

National League Championship Series
Main article: 1979 National League Championship Series

Game 1

October 2, Riverfront Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E
Pittsburgh 002 000 000 03 5100
Cincinnati 000 200 000 00 270
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

October 3, Riverfront Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Pittsburgh 000 110 000 1 3110
Cincinnati 010 000 001 0 280
W: Don Robinson (1-0)  L: Doug Bair (0-1)   SV: None
HRs: PIT – None   CIN – None

Game 3

October 5, Three Rivers Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cincinnati 000 001 000 181
Pittsburgh 112 200 01X 770
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
See also: Minor League Baseball
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
  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. https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CIN/1978.shtml

References
  • 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.
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