1979 Detroit Tigers
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionEast
BallparkTiger Stadium
CityDetroit, Michigan
OwnersJohn Fetzer
General managersJim Campbell
ManagersLes Moss, Dick Tracewski, Sparky Anderson
TelevisionWDIV-TV
(George Kell, Mike Barry, Al Kaline)
RadioWJR
(Ernie Harwell, Paul Carey)
← 1978 Seasons 1980 →

The 1979 Detroit Tigers finished in fifth place in the American League East with a record of 85–76, 18 games behind the Orioles. They outscored their opponents 770 to 738. The Tigers drew 1,630,929 fans to Tiger Stadium in 1979, ranking 7th of the 14 teams in the American League. This season is most notable for both the Tigers' involvement in the infamous Disco Demolition Night, of which they were the visiting team to the Chicago White Sox and declared winners by forfeit, as well as for their mid-season hiring of Sparky Anderson as manager. Anderson would manage the Tigers through the end of the 1995 season, winning the 1984 World Series along with two American League Eastern Division titles in 1984 and 1987.

Offseason

Regular season

Season standings

AL East 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Baltimore Orioles 102 57 0.642 — 55–24 47–33
Milwaukee Brewers 95 66 0.590 8 52–29 43–37
Boston Red Sox 91 69 0.569 11½ 51–29 40–40
New York Yankees 89 71 0.556 13½ 51–30 38–41
Detroit Tigers 85 76 0.528 18 46–34 39–42
Cleveland Indians 81 80 0.503 22 47–34 34–46
Toronto Blue Jays 53 109 0.327 50½ 32–49 21–60

Record vs. opponents

1979 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
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 —


Notable transactions

Roster

1979 Detroit Tigers
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 Lance Parrish 143 493 136 .276 19 65
1B Jason Thompson 145 492 121 .246 20 79
2B Lou Whitaker 127 423 121 .286 3 42
3B Aurelio Rodríguez 106 343 87 .254 5 36
SS Alan Trammell 142 460 127 .276 6 50
LF Steve Kemp 134 490 156 .318 26 105
RF Jerry Morales 129 440 93 .211 14 56
CF Ron LeFlore 148 600 180 .300 9 57
DH Rusty Staub 68 246 58 .236 9 40

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
Champ Summers 90 246 77 .313 20 51
John Wockenfuss 87 231 61 .264 15 46
Lynn Jones 95 213 63 .296 4 26
Tom Brookens 60 190 50 .263 4 21
Mark Wagner 75 146 40 .274 1 13
Phil Mankowski 42 99 22 .222 0 8
Al Greene 29 59 8 .136 3 6
Ed Putman 21 39 9 .231 2 4
Kirk Gibson 12 38 9 .237 1 4
Dave Stegman 12 31 6 .194 3 5
Dave Machemer 19 26 5 .192 0 2
Tim Corcoran 18 22 5 .227 0 6
Rick Peters 10 19 5 .263 0 2
Dan Gonzales 7 18 4 .222 0 2
Milt May 6 11 3 .273 0 3

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Jack Morris 27 197.2 17 7 3.28 113
Milt Wilcox 33 196.1 12 10 4.35 109
Dan Petry 15 98.0 6 5 3.95 43
Dave Rozema 16 97.1 4 4 3.51 33
Bruce Robbins 10 46.0 3 3 3.91 22
Mark Fidrych 4 14.2 0 3 10.43 5

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Jack Billingham 35 158.0 10 7 3.30 59
Pat Underwood 27 121.2 6 4 4.59 83
Steve Baker 21 84.0 1 7 6.64 54
Kip Young 13 43.2 2 2 6.39 22
Mike Chris 13 39.0 3 3 6.92 31

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L= Losses; SV = Saves; GF = Games finished; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV GF ERA SO
Aurelio López 61 10 5 21 49 2.41 106
John Hiller 43 4 7 9 30 5.22 46
Dave Tobik 37 3 5 3 19 4.33 48
Sheldon Burnside 10 1 1 0 2 6.33 13
Bruce Taylor 10 1 2 0 8 4.82 8
Fernando Arroyo 6 1 1 0 3 8.25 7

Awards and honors

All-Stars

League top ten finishes

Steve Kemp

Ron LeFlore

Aurelio López

Jack Morris

Bruce Robbins

Alan Trammell

Milt Wilcox

Players ranking among top 100 all time at position

The following members of the 1979 Detroit Tigers are among the Top 100 of all time at their position, as ranked by The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract in 2001:

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Evansville Triplets American Association Jim Leyland
AA Montgomery Rebels Southern League Dennis Sommers
A Lakeland Tigers Florida State League Fred Hatfield
Rookie Bristol Tigers Appalachian League Joe Lewis

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Evansville

Notes

  1. ^ Ed Putman at Baseball-Reference
  2. ^ Champ Summers at Baseball-Reference
  3. ^ Rick Leach at Baseball-Reference
  4. ^ Rusty Staub at Baseball-Reference

References

External links

1979 MLB season by team
Detroit Tigers
Categories