1979 Chicago Cubs season explained

Chicago Cubs
Season:	1979
League:	National League
Division:	East
Ballpark:	Wrigley Field
City:	Chicago
Owners:	William Wrigley III
General Managers:	Bob Kennedy
Managers:	Herman Franks, Joey Amalfitano
Television:	WGN-TV (Jack Brickhouse, Lou Boudreau)
Radio:	WGN (Vince Lloyd, Lou Boudreau)
Espntn:	chc
Brtn:	CHC

The 1979 Chicago Cubs season was the 108th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 104th in the National League and the 64th at Wrigley Field, and the first to be beamed via satellite and cable television to viewers all over the United States on WGN Television, thanks to a postseason decision by the company management to uplink its broadcast signals via satellite with the help of Oklahoma-based United Video Satellite Group, making them the pioneer superstation in the country's midwest and the Cubs games of that season the third superstation baseball broadcasts live via satellite relay after the Braves and the Yankees.^[1] It was the first season of over 40 to be broadcast all over the country, slowly making the team a national brand. The Cubs finished fifth in the National League East with a record of 80–82.

Offseason

• October 26, 1978: Rudy Meoli was released by the Cubs.^[2]
• February 23, 1979: Manny Trillo, Greg Gross, and Dave Rader were traded by the Cubs to the Philadelphia Phillies for Barry Foote, Ted Sizemore, Jerry Martin, Derek Botelho, and Henry Mack (minors).^[3]
• March 20, 1979: The Cubs traded a player to be named later to the Detroit Tigers for Steve Dillard. The Cubs completed the deal by sending Ed Putman to the Tigers on March 24.^[4]

Regular season

On May 17, the Phillies beat the Cubs 23–22 at Wrigley Field in ten innings,^[5] with a 30-mph wind blowing out to left field. This was only the second time since 1913 that both teams scored 20 or more runs in a game, the only previous instance also being a Cubs–Phillies game.^[6]

Notable transactions

• May 23, 1979: Ray Burris was traded by the Cubs to the New York Yankees for Dick Tidrow.^[7]
• June 26, 1979: Bobby Murcer was traded by the Cubs to the New York Yankees for Paul Semall (minors).^[8]
• August 17, 1979: Ted Sizemore was traded by the Cubs to the Boston Red Sox for a player to be named later and cash. The Red Sox completed the trade by sending Mike O'Berry to the Cubs on October 23, 1979.^[9]

Roster

1979 Chicago Cubs
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		132	429	109	.254	16	56
1B		149	591	168	.284	14	66
2B		98	330	82	.248	2	24
SS		160	636	180	.283	5	52
3B		152	519	148	.285	4	57
LF		145	532	153	.288	48	115
CF		150	534	145	.272	19	73
RF		128	346	100	.289	2	29

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
	111	272	79	.290	3	50
	58	190	49	.258	7	22
	87	179	60	.335	7	35
	89	166	47	.283	5	24
	73	142	36	.254	0	10
	63	122	20	.164	0	12
	62	81	19	.235	2	8
	19	40	9	.225	0	3
	43	36	11	.306	0	1
	31	11	2	.182	0	0
	9	11	1	.091	0	0
	10	10	2	.200	0	0
	3	4	0	.000	0	1
	7	2	0	.000	0	0
	1	1	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
	36	239.0	18	12	3.62	125
	42	212.0	13	14	4.12	147
	38	200.1	11	10	3.50	86
	28	164.2	9	9	4.21	119
	23	117.2	6	9	4.59	44

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
	29	90.0	1	7	4.80	104
	4	13.0	0	1	5.54	5

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
	62	6	6	37	2.22	110
	63	11	5	4	2.72	68
	51	4	4	0	5.01	53
	39	1	4	1	5.18	43
	14	0	0	0	6.23	14
	13	0	1	0	2.60	10
	7	0	0	0	0.60	5

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Quad Cities

References

• Book: Johnson. Lloyd. Wolff. Miles. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. 2nd. Durham, North Carolina. Baseball America. 1997. 978-0-9637189-8-3.

External links

• 1979 Chicago Cubs season at Baseball Reference

Notes and References

1. Web site: Birth of a Nation's Superstation: WGN executives were aghast when the channel was first put up on satellite, but the 'curse' turned into quite the blessing. https://web.archive.org/web/20121105132013/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-115224993.html. dead. November 5, 2012. Kathy Haley. Multichannel News. Reed Business Information. April 5, 2004.
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/meoliru01.shtml Rudy Meoli
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/t/trillma01.shtml Manny Trillo
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/p/putmaed01.shtml Ed Putman
5. Web site: Box Score of Game played on Thursday, May 17, 1979, at Wrigley Field. Baseball Almanac . October 13, 2009.
6. Web site: Team Pitching Game Finder, From 1913 to 2017, (requiring tgl_stats.RA>=20). Baseball Reference. August 1, 2017.
7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/burrira01.shtml Ray Burris
8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/murcebo01.shtml Bobby Murcer
9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sizemte01.shtml Ted Sizemore