1979 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1979 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 98th season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 88th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 86-76 during the season and finished third in the National League East, 12 games behind the eventual NL pennant and World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates.

This article is about the Major League Baseball team. For the National Football League team, see 1979 St. Louis Cardinals (NFL) season.

1979 St. Louis Cardinals
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record86–76 (.531)
Divisional place3rd
Other information
Owner(s)August "Gussie" Busch
General manager(s)John Claiborne
Manager(s)Ken Boyer
Local televisionKSDK
(as KSD-TV before September 8)
KPLR
(September 9 game only)
(Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Jay Randolph, Bob Starr)
Local radioKMOX
(Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Bob Starr)
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Offseason

Regular season

First baseman Keith Hernández won the MVP Award this year, along with Willie Stargell, batting .344, with 11 home runs and 105 RBIs. Hernández also won the Gold Glove. Left fielder Lou Brock collected his 3,000th career hit and played his final season in MLB.

Pete Vuckovich and Silvio Martínez each won 15 games. Garry Templeton became the first switch-hitter to collect 100 hits from each side of the plate and led the league in triples for a third consecutive season.

Season standings
NL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Pittsburgh Pirates 9864 0.605 — 48–33 50–31
Montreal Expos 9565 0.594 2 56–25 39–40
St. Louis Cardinals 8676 0.531 12 42–39 44–37
Philadelphia Phillies 8478 0.519 14 43–38 41–40
Chicago Cubs 8082 0.494 18 45–36 35–46
New York Mets 6399 0.389 35 28–53 35–46

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—

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions
  • June 5, 1979: Andy Van Slyke was drafted by the Cardinals in the 1st round (6th pick) of the 1979 Major League Baseball Draft.[7]

Roster
1979 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders 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
1BKeith Hernandez161610210.34411105
LFLou Brock120405123.304538

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
Mike Phillips449722.22716
Roger Freed34318.25828
Jim Lentine11239.39101
Tom Grieve9153.20000
Mike Dimmel631.33300

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
Bob Forsch33218.211113.8392
Silvio Martínez32206.21583.27102
John Denny312068114.8599
John Fulgham201461062.5375
Bob Sykes1367436.1835

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

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
Darold Knowles482564.0722
Tom Bruno272304.2327
George Frazier252404.4514
Kim Seaman10000.003

Awards and honors

League records
  • Garry Templeton, National League record, league leader in triples for three consecutive seasons[9]

League leaders

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Springfield Redbirds American Association Hal Lanier
AA Arkansas Travelers Texas League Tommy Thompson
A St. Petersburg Cardinals Florida State League Sonny Ruberto
A Gastonia Cardinals Western Carolinas League Johnny Lewis
Rookie Johnson City Cardinals Appalachian League Nick Leyva

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Arkansas

References
  1. Kim Seaman page at Baseball Reference
  2. Bill Mooneyham page at Baseball-Reference
  3. Darold Knowles page at Baseball Reference
  4. Benny Ayala page at Baseball Reference
  5. Will McEnaney page at Baseball-Reference
  6. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1979&t=SLN
  7. Andy Van Slyke page at Baseball Reference
  8. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/awards/aw_hut.shtml
  9. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 95, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
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