1979 San Francisco Giants season

The 1979 San Francisco Giants season was the Giants' 97th season in Major League Baseball, their 22nd season in San Francisco since their move from New York following the 1957 season, and their 20th at Candlestick Park. The team finished in fourth place in the National League West with a 71–91 record, 19½ games behind the Cincinnati Reds.

1979 San Francisco Giants
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1883) Western Division (since 1969)
Location
Candlestick Park (since 1960) San Francisco, California (since 1958)
Other information
Owner(s)	Bob Lurie
General manager(s)	Spec Richardson
Manager(s)	Joe Altobelli, Dave Bristol
Local television	KTVU (Lindsey Nelson, Gary Park)
Local radio	KNBR (Lindsey Nelson, Hank Greenwald)
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Offseason

• December 4, 1978: Max Venable was drafted by the Giants from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1978 rule 5 draft.^[1]
• December 5, 1978: Darrell Evans was signed as a free agent by the Giants.^[2]
• February 24, 1979: Bill Bordley was signed as an amateur free agent by the Giants.^[3]

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	—

Opening Day starters

• Vida Blue
• Jack Clark
• Darrell Evans
• Marc Hill
• Mike Ivie
• Bill Madlock
• Roger Metzger
• Billy North
• Terry Whitfield^[4]

Notable transactions

• April 1, 1979: Joe Coleman was signed as a free agent by the Giants.^[5]
• April 21, 1979: Joe Coleman was released by the Giants.^[5]
• June 5, 1979: Scott Garrelts was drafted by the Giants in the 1st round (15th pick) of the 1979 Major League Baseball draft.^[6]
• June 13, 1979: John Tamargo was traded by the Giants to the Montreal Expos for a player to be named later and cash. The Expos completed the deal by sending Joe Pettini to the Giants on March 15, 1980.^[7]
• June 17, 1979: Dan Gladden was signed by the Giants as an amateur free agent.^[8]
• June 28, 1979: Bill Madlock, Lenny Randle and Dave Roberts were traded by the Giants to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Ed Whitson, Fred Breining, and Al Holland.^[9]
• June 28, 1979: Héctor Cruz was traded by the Giants to the Cincinnati Reds for Pedro Borbón.^[10]

Roster

1979 San Francisco Giants
Roster
Pitchers 14 Vida Blue 34 Pedro Borbón 29 Joe Coleman 40 John Curtis 43 Tom Griffin 28 Ed Halicki 19 Al Holland 39 Bob Knepper 46 Gary Lavelle 38 Greg Minton 17 Randy Moffitt 26 John Montefusco 25 Philip Nastu 37 Ed Plank 25 Dave Roberts 32 Ed Whitson		Catchers  2 Marc Hill 30 Bob Kearney 47 Dennis Littlejohn  3 Mike Sadek 30 John Tamargo Infielders 21 Rob Andrews 41 Darrell Evans 15 Mike Ivie 10 Johnnie LeMaster 18 Bill Madlock 44 Willie McCovey 16 Roger Metzger 20 Joe Strain		Outfielders 22 Jack Clark  9 Héctor Cruz 31 Larry Herndon 18 Greg Johnston 36 Billy North 49 Max Venable 45 Terry Whitfield		Manager  6 Joe Altobelli  1 Dave Bristol Coaches  1 Dave Bristol (Third Base) 12 Jim Davenport (First Base/Third Base)  5 Tom Haller (Bullpen) -- Salty Parker (First Base) -- Hank Sauer (Hitting)  8 Larry Shepard (Pitching)

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	Dennis Littlejohn	63	193	38	.197	1	13
1B	Willie McCovey	117	353	88	.249	15	57
2B	Joe Strain	67	257	62	.241	1	12
SS	Johnnie LeMaster	108	343	87	.254	3	29
3B	Darrell Evans	160	562	142	.253	17	70
LF	Terry Whitfield	133	394	113	.287	5	44
CF	Bill North	142	460	119	.259	5	30
RF	Jack Clark	143	527	144	.273	26	86

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
Mike Ivie	133	402	115	.286	27	89
Larry Herndon	132	354	91	.257	7	36
Roger Metzger	94	259	65	.251	0	31
Bill Madlock	69	249	65	.261	7	41
Marc Hill	63	169	35	.207	3	15
Rob Andrews	75	154	40	.260	2	13
Mike Sadek	63	126	30	.238	1	11
Max Venable	55	85	14	.165	0	3
Greg Johnston	42	74	15	.203	1	7
John Tamargo	30	60	12	.200	2	6
Héctor Cruz	16	25	3	.120	0	1
Bob Kearney	2	0	0	----	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
Vida Blue	34	237.0	14	14	5.01	138
Bob Knepper	34	207.1	9	12	4.64	123
John Montefusco	22	137.0	3	8	3.94	76
John Curtis	27	120.2	10	9	4.18	85
Ed Whitson	18	100.1	5	8	3.95	62

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
Ed Halicki	33	125.2	5	8	4.58	81
Phil Nastu	25	100.0	3	4	4.32	47

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
Gary Lavelle	70	7	9	20	2.51	80
Tom Griffin	59	5	6	2	3.91	82
Greg Minton	46	4	3	4	1.81	33
Pedro Borbón	30	4	3	3	4.89	26
Randy Moffitt	28	2	5	2	7.71	16
Dave Roberts	26	0	2	3	2.57	23
Joe Coleman	5	0	0	0	0.00	0
Ed Plank	4	0	0	0	7.36	1
Al Holland	3	0	0	0	0.00	7

Awards and honors

All-Stars

All-Star Game

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Phoenix Giants	Pacific Coast League	Rocky Bridges
AA	Shreveport Captains	Texas League	Andy Gilbert
A	Fresno Giants	California League	Jack Mull
A	Cedar Rapids Giants	Midwest League	Wayne Cato
Rookie	Great Falls Giants	Pioneer League	Ernie Rodriguez

References

1. Max Venable at Baseball-Reference
2. Darrell Evans at Baseball-Reference
3. Bill Bordley at Baseball-Reference
4. "1979 San Francisco Giants Roster by Baseball Almanac".
5. Joe Coleman at Baseball-Reference
6. Scott Garrelts at Baseball-Reference
7. John Tamargo at Baseball-Reference
8. Dan Gladden at Baseball-Reference
9. Bill Madlock at Baseball-Reference
10. Pedro Borbón at Baseball-Reference

External links

• 1979 San Francisco Giants team at Baseball-Reference
• 1979 San Francisco Giants team page at