1978 San Diego Padres season

1978 San Diego Padres
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1876)
Western Division (since 1969)
Location
San Diego Stadium (since 1967)
San Diego, California (since 1969)
Other information
Owner(s)	Ray Kroc
General manager(s)	Bob Fontaine
Manager(s)	Roger Craig
Local television	XETV (Jerry Gross, Al Schuff)
Local radio	KOGO (Jerry Coleman, Bob Chandler)
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The 1978 San Diego Padres season was the tenth in franchise history. The team finished in fourth place in the National League West with a record of 84-78, 11 games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers.

Offseason

• November 29, 1977: Oscar Gamble was signed as a free agent by the Padres.^[1]
• January 10, 1978: Mike Martin was drafted by the Padres in the 1st round (6th pick) of the 1978 Major League Baseball Draft secondary phase.^[2]
• January 25, 1978: Dave Tomlin was traded along with $125,000 by the Padres to the Texas Rangers for Gaylord Perry.^[3]
• February 2, 1978: Mickey Lolich was signed as a free agent by the Padres.^[4]

Regular season

In 1978, the Padres achieved their first winning season in team history, finishing 84-78 (.519), 6 games over .500. On June 9, the one-third point of the season, the team stood at 23-31 (.426). The last two-thirds of the season, they went 61-47 (.565), which included a 10-game winning streak from July 25 to August 4. The Padres were also extremely impressive at home that season, going 51-30 (.617).

Notable contributing players:

Gaylord Perry became the 2nd Padre in 3 seasons to win the National League Cy Young Award, leading the league in wins (21) and Winning Pct (.778). Rollie Fingers won the leagues Rolaids Relief Award, leading the league in saves (37). As for position players, OF Dave Winfield lead the team with his best offensive season to date (.308, 24 HR, 97 RBI, 21 SB, 151 OPS+). SS Ozzie Smith finished 2nd in the National League Rookie of the Year voting (40 SB). Along with their notable contributions, all 4 players have been inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame. Along with the 1979 season, this is the only time in franchise history that the Padres had 4 future Hall-of-Famers on their roster.

Season standings

NL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Los Angeles Dodgers	95	67	0.586	—	54–27	41–40
Cincinnati Reds	92	69	0.571	2½	49–31	43–38
San Francisco Giants	89	73	0.549	6	50–31	39–42
San Diego Padres	84	78	0.519	11	50–31	34–47
Houston Astros	74	88	0.457	21	50–31	24–57
Atlanta Braves	69	93	0.426	26	39–42	30–51

Record vs. opponents

1978 National League Records Sources:
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	5–7	6–12	8–10	5–13	5–7	6–6	8–4	2–10	8–10	11–7	5–7
Chicago	7–5	—	7–5	6–6	4–8	7–11	11–7	4–14	7–11	7–5	4–8	15–3
Cincinnati	12–6	5–7	—	11–7	9–9	8–4	7–5	7–5	4–7	9–9	12–6	8–4
Houston	10–8	6–6	7–11	—	7–11	6–6	7–5	6–6	4–8	8–10	6–12	7–5
Los Angeles	13–5	8–4	9–9	11–7	—	8–4	7–5	7–5	7–5	9–9	11–7	5–7
Montreal	7–5	11–7	4–8	6–6	4–8	—	8–10	9–9	7–11	6–6	5–7	9–9
New York	6–6	7–11	5–7	5–7	5–7	10–8	—	6–12	7–11	5–7	3–9	7–11
Philadelphia	4-8	14–4	5–7	6–6	5–7	9–9	12–6	—	11–7	8–4	6–6	10–8
Pittsburgh	10–2	11–7	7–4	8–4	5–7	11–7	11–7	7–11	—	5–7	4–8	9–9
San Diego	10–8	5–7	9–9	10–8	9–9	6–6	7–5	4–8	7–5	—	8–10	9–3
San Francisco	7–11	8–4	6–12	12–6	7–11	7–5	9–3	6–6	8–4	10–8	—	9–3
St. Louis	7–5	3–15	4–8	5–7	7–5	9–9	11–7	8–10	9–9	3–9	3–9	—

Notable transactions

• May 26, 1978: George Hendrick was traded by the Padres to the St. Louis Cardinals for Eric Rasmussen.^[5]
• June 5, 1978: Steve Hamrick (minors) was traded by the Padres to the Kansas City Royals for a player to be named later. The Royals completed the deal by sending Gary Lance to the Padres on September 29.^[6]
• June 6, 1978: 1978 Major League Baseball Draft
  • Andy Hawkins was drafted by the Padres in the 1st round (5th pick).^[7]
  • Doug Gwosdz was drafted by the Padres in the 2nd round.^[8]
  • Steve Fireovid was drafted by the Padres in the 7th round.^[9]
• June 14, 1978: Dan Spillner was traded by the Padres to the Cleveland Indians for Dennis Kinney.^[10]

Roster

1978 San Diego Padres
Roster
Pitchers 16 John D'Acquisto 33 Juan Eichelberger 34 Rollie Fingers 14 Dave Freisleben 35 Randy Jones 48 Dennis Kinney 42 Mark Lee 29 Mickey Lolich 59 Steve Mura 44 Bob Owchinko 36 Gaylord Perry 41 Eric Rasmussen 32 Bob Shirley 48 Dan Spillner 24 Dave Wehrmeister 27 Mark Wiley		Catchers 27 Tony Castillo  7 Bob Davis  3 Dave Roberts  2 Rick Sweet Infielders  6 Bill Almon 46 Tucker Ashford 21 Chuck Baker 10 Mike Champion  8 Barry Evans 8,13 Fernando González 15 Broderick Perkins  1 Ozzie Smith 18 Gene Tenace		Outfielders 14 Jim Beswick 17 Oscar Gamble 25 George Hendrick 26 Don Reynolds 29 Gene Richards 30 Derrel Thomas 20 Jerry Turner 25 Jim Wilhelm 31 Dave Winfield		Manager 38 Roger Craig Coaches 23 Chuck Estrada 22 Billy Herman -- Doug Rader 40 Phil Roof 19 Whitey Wietelmann 28 Don Williams

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
C	Sweet, RickRick Sweet	88	226	50	.221	1	11
2B	González, FernandoFernando González	101	320	80	.250	2	29
CF	Winfield, DaveDave Winfield	158	587	181	.308	24	97
RF	Gamble, OscarOscar Gamble	126	375	103	.275	7	47

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
Perkins, BroderickBroderick Perkins	62	217	52	.240	2	33
Hendrick, GeorgeGeorge Hendrick	36	111	27	.243	3	8
Roberts, DaveDave Roberts	54	97	21	.216	1	7
Evans, BarryBarry Evans	24	90	24	.267	0	4
Champion, MikeMike Champion	32	53	12	.226	0	4
Davis, BobBob Davis	19	40	8	.200	0	2
Castillo, TonyTony Castillo	5	8	1	.125	0	1

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
Perry, GaylordGaylord Perry	37	260.2	21	6	2.73	154
Rasmussen, EricEric Rasmussen	27	146.1	12	10	4.06	59

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
Shirley, BobBob Shirley	50	166	8	11	3.69	102
Freisleben, DaveDave Freisleben	12	26.2	0	3	6.08	16
Wiley, MarkMark Wiley	4	7.2	1	0	5.87	1

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
Fingers, RollieRollie Fingers	67	6	13	37	2.52	72
Lee, MarkMark Lee	56	5	1	2	3.28	31
D'Acquisto, JohnJohn D'Acquisto	45	4	3	10	2.13	104
Lolich, MickeyMickey Lolich	20	2	1	1	1.56	13
Spillner, DanDan Spillner	17	1	0	0	4.56	16
Kinney, DennisDennis Kinney	7	0	1	0	6.43	2
Wehrmeister, DaveDave Wehrmeister	4	1	0	0	6.14	2
Eichelberger, JuanJuan Eichelberger	3	0	0	0	10.80	2

Awards and honors

• Gaylord Perry, Cy Young Award Winner

All-Stars

1978 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

• Rollie Fingers
• Dave Winfield

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Hawaii Islanders	Pacific Coast League	Dick Phillips
AA	Amarillo Gold Sox	Texas League	Glenn Ezell
A	Reno Silver Sox	California League	Eddie Watt
A-Short Season	Walla Walla Padres	Northwest League	Cliff Ditto

^[11]

References

1. Oscar Gamble page at Baseball Reference
2. Mike Martin page at Baseball Reference
3. Gaylord Perry page at Baseball Reference
4. Mickey Lolich page at Baseball Reference
5. Eric Rasmussen page at Baseball Reference
6. Gary Lance page at Baseball Reference
7. Andy Hawkins page at Baseball Reference
8. Doug Gwosdz page at Baseball Reference
9. Steve Fireovid page at Baseball Reference
10. Dan Spillner page at Baseball Reference
11. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

External links

• 1978 San Diego Padres team page at Baseball Reference
• 1978 San Diego Padres team page at Baseball Almanac