1979 Seattle Mariners season

1979 Seattle Mariners
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1977)
Western Division (since 1977)
Location
Kingdome (since 1977)
Seattle, Washington (since 1977)
Other information
Owner(s)	Stanley Golub, Danny Kaye, Walter Schoenfeld, Lester Smith, James Stillwell, Jr. and James A. Walsh
General manager(s)	Lou Gorman
Manager(s)	Darrell Johnson
Local television	KING-TV 5
Local radio	KVI 570 AM (Dave Niehaus, Ken Wilson, Bill Freehan)
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The 1979 Seattle Mariners season was the franchise's third since its creation. The Mariners ended the season in sixth place in the American League West, finishing with a record of 67-95. The Mariners hosted the 1979 All-Star Game.

Offseason

• December 5, 1978: Enrique Romo, Rick Jones, and Tom McMillan were traded by the Mariners to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Odell Jones, Rafael Vásquez, and Mario Mendoza.^[1]
• December 8, 1978: Craig Reynolds was traded by the Mariners to the Houston Astros for Floyd Bannister.^[2]
• December 21, 1978: Mario Díaz was signed as an amateur free agent by the Mariners.^[3]
• January 27, 1979: Willie Horton was signed as a free agent by the Mariners.^[4]
• February 8, 1979: Jim Todd was released by the Mariners.^[5]
• February 22, 1979: Mike Davey was purchased by the Mariners from the Atlanta Braves.^[6]

Regular season

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	—

Opening Day lineup

1. Julio Cruz, 2B
2. Bill Stein, 3B
3. Dan Meyer, 1B
4. Leon Roberts, RF
5. Willie Horton, DH
6. Ruppert Jones, CF
7. Tom Paciorek, LF
8. Larry Cox, C
9. Mario Mendoza, SS

• Glenn Abbott, starting pitcher

Notable transactions

• April 10, 1979: Bobby Valentine was signed as a free agent by the Mariners.^[7]
• June 5, 1979: 1979 Major League Baseball Draft
  • Mike Hart was drafted by the Mariners in the 13th round.^[8]
  • Bud Black was drafted by the Mariners in the 17th round.^[9]
  • Tom Henke was drafted by the Mariners in the 20th round, but did not sign.^[10]
• June 7, 1979: Paul Mitchell was traded by the Mariners to the Milwaukee Brewers for Randy Stein.^[11]
• July 6, 1979: Juan Bernhardt was traded by the Mariners to the Chicago White Sox for Rich Hinton.^[12]

All-Star Game

The 1979 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 50th playing of the midsummer classic between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 17, 1979 at The Kingdome, the home of the Seattle Mariners of the American League. The game resulted in the National League defeating the American League 7-6.

Roster

1979 Seattle Mariners
Roster
Pitchers 17 Glenn Abbott 38 Floyd Bannister 29 Roy Branch 35 Joe Decker 24 Rob Dressler 37 Rich Hinton 40 Rick Honeycutt 36 Odell Jones 26 Jim Lewis 27 Byron McLaughlin 34 Paul Mitchell 25 John Montague 20 Mike Parrott 41 Shane Rawley 33 Randy Stein 35 Wayne Twitchell 21 Rafael Vásquez		Catchers  5 Larry Cox 15 Bob Stinson Infielders 12 Charlie Beamon 23 Bruce Bochte  6 Julio Cruz 11 Mario Mendoza  7 Dan Meyer 10 Larry Milbourne  1 Bill Stein  2 Bobby Valentine		Outfielders 19 Rod Craig 43 John Hale  9 Ruppert Jones 14 Tom Paciorek  8 Leon Roberts 18 Joe Simpson Other batters 26 Juan Bernhardt 53 Willie Horton		Manager 22 Darrell Johnson Coaches 31 Don Bryant 30 Bill Mazeroski 28 Vada Pinson 32 Wes Stock

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	Cox, LarryLarry Cox	100	293	63	.215	4	36
2B	Cruz, JulioJulio Cruz	107	414	112	.271	1	29
3B	Meyer, DanDan Meyer	144	525	146	.278	20	74
SS	Mendoza, MarioMario Mendoza	148	373	74	.198	1	24
LF	Paciorek, TomTom Paciorek	103	310	83	.267	6	42
CF	Jones, RuppertRuppert Jones	162	622	166	.267	21	78
RF	Roberts, LeonLeon Roberts	140	450	122	.271	15	54
DH	Horton, WillieWillie Horton	162	646	180	.279	29	106

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
Stein, BillBill Stein	88	250	62	.248	7	27
Valentine, BobbyBobby Valentine	62	98	27	.276	0	7
Beamon, CharlieCharlie Beamon	27	25	5	.276	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
Honeycutt, RickRick Honeycutt	33	194	11	12	4.04	83
Bannister, FloydFloyd Bannister	30	182.1	10	15	4.05	115
Abbott, GlennGlenn Abbott	23	116.2	4	10	5.17	25
Jones, OdellOdell Jones	25	118.2	3	11	6.07	72
Branch, RoyRoy Branch	2	11.1	0	1	7.94	6

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
Dressler, RobRob Dressler	21	104	3	2	4.93	36
Mitchell, PaulPaul Mitchell	10	36.2	1	4	4.42	18
Decker, JoeJoe Decker	9	27.1	0	1	4.28	12

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
Montague, JohnJohn Montague	41	6	4	1	5.57	60
Stein, RandyRandy Stein	23	2	3	0	5.88	39
Hinton, RichRich Hinton	14	0	2	0	5.40	7
Vásquez, RafaelRafael Vásquez	9	1	0	0	5.06	9
Lewis, JimJim Lewis	2	0	0	0	15.43	0

Awards and honors

All-Stars

1979 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

• Bruce Bochte, reserve

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Spokane Indians	Pacific Coast League	Rene Lachemann
A	San Jose Missions	California League	Bob Didier
A	Alexandria Mariners	Carolina League	Bobby Floyd
A-Short Season	Bellingham Mariners	Northwest League	Jeff Scott

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: San Jose^[13]

Notes

1. Enrique Romo page at Baseball Reference
2. Floyd Bannister page at Baseball Reference
3. Mario Díaz page at Baseball Reference
4. Willie Horton page at Baseball Reference
5. Jim Todd page at Baseball Reference
6. Mike Davey page at Baseball Reference
7. Bobby Valentine page at Baseball Reference
8. Mike Hart page at Baseball Reference
9. Bud Black page at Baseball Reference
10. Tom Henke page at Baseball Reference
11. Randy Stein page at Baseball Reference
12. Rich Hinton page at Baseball Reference
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

• 1979 Seattle Mariners
• 1979 Seattle Mariners team page at www.baseball-almanac.com