1979 Minnesota Twins
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionWest
BallparkMetropolitan Stadium
CityBloomington, Minnesota
OwnersCalvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes)
General managersCalvin Griffith
ManagersGene Mauch
TelevisionKMSP-TV
(Bob Kurtz, Larry Osterman)
Radio830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, Joe McConnell)
← 1978 Seasons 1980 →

The 1979 Minnesota Twins season was a season in American baseball. The team finished 82–80, fourth in the American League West.

Offseason

In January 1979, the Twins attempted to trade first baseman Rod Carew to the New York Yankees in exchange for Chris Chambliss, Juan Beníquez, Dámaso García, and Dave Righetti, but were unable to finalize a deal.[1] Carew would instead be traded to the California Angels on February 3.

Notable transactions

Regular season

Three Minnesota Twins homered in the May 15 win over Texas, the sixteenth straight Minnesota game with at least one Twins homer. The streak will end on May 16. Nine players homered 28 times during the club's record-setting streak.

Only one Twins player made the All-Star Game: shortstop Roy Smalley. Smalley hit 24 HR, drove in 95 runs, and scored 85 runs, all team-leading totals. Ken Landreaux, acquired in the Carew trade, batted .305 with 15 HR and 83 RBI. Ron Jackson, acquired in the Dan Ford trade, hit 14 HR and collected 68 RBI.

Reliever Mike Marshall continued as manager Gene Mauch's all-purpose reliever, pitching in a league-leading 90 games, racking up 10 relief wins along with a league-leading 32 saves. Veteran Jerry Koosman won 20 games. Dave Goltz (14-13) and Geoff Zahn (13-7) had double-digit wins.

Smalley turned 144 double plays this year, setting a major league record for shortstops. The team total of 203 double plays set a new season record.

Third baseman John Castino shared the AL Rookie of the Year award with Alfredo Griffin of the Toronto Blue Jays. Each received 7 first place votes.[7]

1,070,521 fans attended Twins games, the fourth lowest total in the American League. It was only the second time since 1970 the team attracted over one million fans.

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 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 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

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 Butch Wynegar 149 504 136 .270 7 57
1B Ron Jackson 159 583 158 .271 14 68
2B Rob Wilfong 140 419 131 .313 9 59
SS Roy Smalley 162 621 168 .271 24 95
3B John Castino 148 393 112 .285 5 52
LF Bombo Rivera 112 263 74 .281 2 31
CF Ken Landreaux 151 564 172 .305 15 83
RF Hosken Powell 104 338 99 .293 2 36
DH José Morales 92 191 51 .267 2 27

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
Glenn Adams 119 326 98 .301 8 50
Willie Norwood 76 270 67 .248 6 30
Mike Cubbage 94 243 67 .276 2 23
Dave Edwards 96 229 57 .249 8 35
Bob Randall 80 199 49 .246 0 14
Danny Goodwin 58 159 46 .289 5 27
Rick Sofield 35 93 28 .301 0 12
Glenn Borgmann 31 70 14 .200 0 8
Craig Kusick 24 54 13 .241 3 6
Gary Ward 10 14 4 .286 0 1
Jesús Vega 4 7 0 .000 0 0
Dan Graham 2 4 0 .000 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
Jerry Koosman 37 263.2 20 13 3.38 157
Dave Goltz 36 250.2 14 13 4.16 132
Geoff Zahn 26 169.0 13 7 3.57 58
Paul Hartzell 28 163.0 6 10 5.36 44
Roger Erickson 24 123.0 3 10 5.63 47

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
Pete Redfern 40 108.1 7 3 3.49 85
Darrell Jackson 24 69.1 4 4 4.28 43
Gary Serum 20 64.0 1 3 6.61 31

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
Mike Marshall 90 10 15 32 2.65 81
Mike Bacsik 31 4 2 0 4.39 33
Ken Brett 9 0 0 0 4.97 3
Jeff Holly 6 0 0 0 7.11 5
Kevin Stanfield 3 0 0 0 6.00 1
Terry Felton 1 0 0 0 0.00 1
Paul Thormodsgard 1 0 0 0 9.00 1

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Toledo Mud Hens International League Cal Ermer
AA Orlando Twins Southern League Roy McMillan
A Visalia Oaks California League Tom Kelly
A Wisconsin Rapids Twins Midwest League Rick Stelmaszek
Rookie Elizabethton Twins Appalachian League Fred Waters

Notes

  1. ^ United Press International (January 30, 1979). "Yankees, Twins still dickering". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved June 19, 2009.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ Dave Johnson at Baseball-Reference
  3. ^ Dan Ford at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Jerry Koosman at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Mike Marshall at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Rod Carew at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ "Baseball Awards Voting for 1979". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  8. ^ Randy Bush at Baseball Reference
  9. ^ Mike Kinnunen[permanent dead link] at Baseball Reference
  10. ^ Rudy Meoli at Baseball Reference
  11. ^ Craig Kusick at Baseball Reference

References

Categories