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.

However, the Reds lost the NLCS 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 league championship series since Major League Baseball began divisional play in 1969. It would be Cincinnati's last postseason appearance until 1990.

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

v t e NL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cincinnati Reds	90	71	0.559	—	48–32	42–39
Houston Astros	89	73	0.549	1½	52–29	37–44
Los Angeles Dodgers	79	83	0.488	11½	46–35	33–48
San Francisco Giants	71	91	0.438	19½	38–43	33–48
San Diego Padres	68	93	0.422	22	39–42	29–51
Atlanta Braves	66	94	0.412	23½	34–45	32–49

Record vs. opponents

1979 National League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	4–8	6–12	7–11	12–6	1–9	4–8	7–5	4–8	6–12	11–7	4–8
Chicago	8–4	—	7–5	6–6	5–7	6–12	8–10	9–9	6–12	9–3	8–4	8–10
Cincinnati	12–6	5–7	—	8–10	11–7	6–6	8–4	8–4	8–4	10–7	6–12	8–4
Houston	11–7	6–6	10–8	—	10–8	7–5	9–3	5–7	4–8	14–4	7–11	6–6
Los Angeles	6–12	7–5	7–11	8–10	—	6–6	9–3	3–9	4–8	9–9	14–4	6–6
Montreal	9–1	12–6	6–6	5–7	6–6	—	15–3	11–7	7–11	7–5	7–5	10–8
New York	8–4	10–8	4–8	3–9	3–9	3–15	—	5–13	8–10–1	4–8	8–4	7–11
Philadelphia	5-7	9–9	4–8	7–5	9–3	7–11	13–5	—	8–10	9–3	6–6	7–11–1
Pittsburgh	8–4	12–6	4–8	8–4	8–4	11–7	10–8–1	10–8	—	7–5	9–3	11–7
San Diego	12–6	3–9	7–10	4–14	9–9	5–7	8–4	3–9	5–7	—	8–10	4–8
San Francisco	7–11	4–8	12–6	11–7	4–14	5–7	4–8	6–6	3–9	10–8	—	5–7
St. Louis	8–4	10–8	4–8	6–6	6–6	8–10	11–7	11–7–1	7–11	8–4	7–5	—

Notable transactions

May 8, 1979: Paul Blair was signed as a free agent by the Reds.^[2]
May 25, 1979: Champ Summers was traded by the Reds to the Detroit Tigers for a player to be named later. The Tigers completed the deal by sending Sheldon Burnside to the Reds on October 25.^[3]
June 5, 1979: Jeff Jones was drafted by the Reds in the 20th round of the 1979 Major League Baseball Draft.^[4]
June 28, 1979: Pedro Borbón was traded by the Reds to the San Francisco Giants for Héctor Cruz.^[5]

Roster

1979 Cincinnati Reds

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

5 Johnny Bench
9 Vic Correll

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

21 Rafael Santo Domingo

Manager

3 John McNamara

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
C	Johnny Bench	130	464	128	.276	22	80
1B	Dan Driessen	150	515	129	.250	18	75
2B	Joe Morgan	127	436	109	.250	9	32
3B	Ray Knight	150	551	175	.318	10	79
SS	Dave Concepción	149	590	166	.281	16	84
LF	George Foster	121	440	133	.302	30	98
CF	César Gerónimo	123	356	85	.239	4	38
RF	Ken Griffey	95	380	120	.316	8	32

^[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 Collins	122	396	126	.318	3	35
Junior Kennedy	83	220	60	.273	1	17
Héctor Cruz	74	182	44	.242	4	27
Paul Blair	75	140	21	.150	2	15
Rick Auerbach	62	100	21	.210	1	12
Champ Summers	27	60	12	.200	1	11
Harry Spilman	43	56	12	.214	0	5
Arturo DeFreites	23	34	7	.206	0	4
Ken Henderson	10	13	3	.231	0	2
Rafael Santo Domingo	7	6	1	.167	0	0
Ron Oester	6	3	0	.000	0	0
Sam Mejias	7	2	1	.500	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
Tom Seaver	32	215.0	16	6	3.14	131
Mike LaCoss	35	205.2	14	8	3.50	73
Fred Norman	34	195.1	11	13	3.64	95
Bill Bonham	29	175.2	9	7	3.79	78

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 Hume	57	163.0	10	9	2.76	80
Paul Moskau	21	106.0	5	4	3.89	58
Frank Pastore	30	95.1	6	7	4.25	63

Note: Tom Hume led the Reds in saves with 17.

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 Bair	65	11	7	16	4.29	86
Dave Tomlin	53	2	2	1	2.62	30
Pedro Borbón	30	2	2	2	3.43	23
Mario Soto	25	3	2	0	5.30	32
Manny Sarmiento	23	0	4	0	4.66	23
Doug Capilla	5	1	0	0	8.53	0
Charlie Leibrandt	3	0	0	0	0.00	1

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	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	5	10	0
Cincinnati	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	7	0
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	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	3	11	0
Cincinnati	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	8	0
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	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	8	1
Pittsburgh	1	1	2	2	0	0	0	1	X	7	7	0
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

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

Notes

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.

v t e National League West champions
1960s	1969: Atlanta Braves
1970s	1970: Cincinnati Reds 1971: San Francisco Giants 1972: Cincinnati Reds 1973: Cincinnati Reds 1974: Los Angeles Dodgers 1975: Cincinnati Reds 1976: Cincinnati Reds 1977: Los Angeles Dodgers 1978: Los Angeles Dodgers 1979: Cincinnati Reds
1980s	1980: Houston Astros 1981: Los Angeles Dodgers 1982: Atlanta Braves 1983: Los Angeles Dodgers 1984: San Diego Padres 1985: Los Angeles Dodgers 1986: Houston Astros 1987: San Francisco Giants 1988: Los Angeles Dodgers 1989: San Francisco Giants
1990s	1990: Cincinnati Reds 1991: Atlanta Braves 1992: Atlanta Braves 1993: Atlanta Braves 1994: No champion 1995: Los Angeles Dodgers 1996: San Diego Padres 1997: San Francisco Giants 1998: San Diego Padres 1999: Arizona Diamondbacks
2000s	2000: San Francisco Giants 2001: Arizona Diamondbacks 2002: Arizona Diamondbacks 2003: San Francisco Giants 2004: Los Angeles Dodgers 2005: San Diego Padres 2006: San Diego Padres 2007: Arizona Diamondbacks 2008: Los Angeles Dodgers 2009: Los Angeles Dodgers
2010s	2010: San Francisco Giants 2011: Arizona Diamondbacks 2012: San Francisco Giants 2013: Los Angeles Dodgers 2014: Los Angeles Dodgers 2015: Los Angeles Dodgers 2016: Los Angeles Dodgers 2017: Los Angeles Dodgers 2018: Los Angeles Dodgers 2019: Los Angeles Dodgers
2020s	2020: Los Angeles Dodgers 2021: San Francisco Giants 2022: Los Angeles Dodgers 2023: Los Angeles Dodgers

1979 MLB season by team

AL East	Baltimore Boston Cleveland Detroit Milwaukee New York Toronto
AL West	California Chicago Kansas City Minnesota Oakland Seattle Texas

NL East	Chicago Montréal New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis
NL West	Atlanta Cincinnati Houston Los Angeles San Diego San Francisco

Cincinnati Reds

Established in 1882
Formerly the Cincinnati Red Stockings and the Cincinnati Redlegs
Based in Cincinnati, Ohio

Franchise

Ballparks

Spring training: Majestic Park; Tinker Field; Estadio Sixto Escobar; Plant Field; Al Lopez Field; Plant City Stadium; Ed Smith Stadium; Goodyear Ballpark

Culture

Lore

Rivalries

Key personnel

Owner: Robert Castellini
President of Baseball Operations: Dick Williams
General Manager: Nick Krall
Manager: David Bell

World Series Championships (5)

National League pennants (9)

AA pennants (1)

1882

Division titles (10)

National League Central: 1995; 2010; 2012
National League West: 1970; 1972; 1973; 1975; 1976; 1979; 1990

Minor league affiliates

Louisville Bats (Triple-A)
Chattanooga Lookouts (Double-A)
Dayton Dragons (High-A)
Daytona Tortugas (Single-A)
ACL Reds (Rookie)
DSL Reds (Rookie)

Media

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