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)
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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 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 league championship series since Major League Baseball went to divisions in 1969. It would be Cincinnati's last postseason appearance until 1990.

The Reds played their home games at Riverfront Stadium.

Offseason

Regular season

Season standings

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 Records

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

Roster

1979 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

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
C Johnny Bench 120 393 102 .260 23 73
1B Dan Driessen 153 524 131 .250 16 70
2B Joe Morgan 132 441 104 .236 13 75
3B Ray Knight 159 655 198 .302 7 52
SS Dave Concepción 153 565 170 .301 6 67
LF George Foster 158 604 170 .281 40 120
CF César Gerónimo 122 296 67 .226 5 27
RF Ken Griffey 158 614 177 .288 10 63

[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

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

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. ^ "1978 Cincinnati Reds Statistics".

References

Categories