1979 Oakland Athletics | |
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Major League affiliations | |
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Location | |
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Results | |
Record | 54–108 (.333) |
Divisional place | 7th |
Other information | |
Owner(s) | Charles O. Finley |
Manager(s) | Jim Marshall |
Local television | KPIX-TV (Monte Moore, Bob Waller) |
Local radio | KKIS (Hal Ramey, Red Rush) |
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The 1979 Oakland Athletics season involved the A's finishing 7th in the American League West Division with a record of 54 wins and 108 losses. Only 306,763 paying customers (an average of 3,984 for 77 home dates; there were four doubleheaders) showed up to watch the A's in 1979, the team's worst attendance since leaving Philadelphia.
Team owner Charlie Finley nearly sold the team to buyers who would have moved them to New Orleans for 1979. Any deal to relocate fell through when the city of Oakland refused to release the A's from their lease. The city was in the midst of its battle with the Oakland Raiders over their move to Los Angeles and didn't want to lose both teams.
The Athletics' 54-108 finish remains, as of 2020, their worst (by far) since moving to Oakland in 1968. On a brighter note, the season saw the debut of Rickey Henderson. Henderson, a future Hall-of-Famer, would play for the team (in four separate stints) between 1979 and 1998.
On April 17, 1979, the A's had their smallest home crowd (and one of the smallest in a major league baseball game in the 20th century) when only 653 people came to the nearly 50,000 seat Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum[5] to see them beat the Seattle Mariners, 6 to 5.
On June 24, Rickey Henderson made his major league debut against the Texas Rangers. In four at bats, Henderson had two hits and a stolen base.[6]
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 |
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 | — |
1979 Oakland Athletics | |||||||||
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Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
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Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
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Manager
Coaches
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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 |
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C | Jeff Newman | 143 | 516 | 119 | .231 | 22 | 71 |
1B | Dave Revering | 125 | 472 | 136 | .288 | 19 | 77 |
2B | Mike Edwards | 122 | 400 | 93 | .233 | 1 | 23 |
SS | Rob Picciolo | 115 | 348 | 88 | .253 | 2 | 27 |
3B | Wayne Gross | 138 | 442 | 99 | .224 | 14 | 50 |
LF | Rickey Henderson | 89 | 351 | 96 | .274 | 1 | 26 |
CF | Dwayne Murphy | 121 | 388 | 99 | .255 | 11 | 40 |
RF | Tony Armas | 80 | 278 | 69 | .248 | 11 | 34 |
DH | Mitchell Page | 133 | 478 | 118 | .247 | 9 | 42 |
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 |
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Jim Essian | 98 | 313 | 76 | .243 | 8 | 40 |
Mike Heath | 74 | 258 | 66 | .256 | 3 | 27 |
Larry Murray | 105 | 226 | 42 | .186 | 2 | 20 |
Dave Chalk | 66 | 212 | 47 | .222 | 2 | 13 |
Mario Guerrero | 46 | 166 | 38 | .229 | 0 | 18 |
Derek Bryant | 39 | 106 | 19 | .179 | 0 | 13 |
Miguel Diloné | 30 | 91 | 17 | .187 | 1 | 6 |
Glenn Burke | 23 | 89 | 19 | .213 | 0 | 4 |
Joe Wallis | 23 | 78 | 11 | .141 | 1 | 3 |
Mickey Klutts | 24 | 73 | 14 | .192 | 1 | 4 |
Milt Ramírez | 28 | 62 | 10 | .161 | 0 | 3 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
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Rick Langford | 34 | 218.2 | 12 | 16 | 4.28 | 101 |
Steve McCatty | 31 | 185.2 | 11 | 12 | 4.22 | 87 |
Matt Keough | 30 | 176.2 | 2 | 17 | 5.04 | 95 |
Brian Kingman | 18 | 112.2 | 8 | 7 | 4.31 | 58 |
John Henry Johnson | 14 | 84.2 | 2 | 8 | 4.36 | 50 |
Mike Morgan | 13 | 77.1 | 2 | 10 | 5.94 | 17 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
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Mike Norris | 29 | 146.1 | 5 | 8 | 4.80 | 96 |
Craig Minetto | 36 | 118.1 | 1 | 5 | 5.55 | 64 |
Dave Hamilton | 40 | 82.2 | 3 | 4 | 3.70 | 52 |
Alan Wirth | 5 | 12.0 | 1 | 0 | 6.00 | 7 |
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
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Dave Heaverlo | 62 | 4 | 11 | 9 | 4.20 | 40 |
Jim Todd | 51 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 6.56 | 26 |
Bob Lacey | 42 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 5.85 | 33 |
See also: Minor League Baseball |