1979 Montreal Expos season explained

Montreal Expos
Season:	1979
League:	National League
Division:	East
Ballpark:	Olympic Stadium
City:	Montreal
Owners:	Charles Bronfman
Managers:	Dick Williams
Television:	CBC Television (Dave Van Horne, Duke Snider) Télévision de Radio-Canada (Jean-Pierre Roy, Guy Ferron)
Radio:	CFCF (English) (Dave Van Horne, Duke Snider) CKAC (French) (Claude Raymond, Jacques Doucet)
Record:	95–65 (.594)
Divisional Place:	2nd

The 1979 Montreal Expos season was the 11th in franchise history. The team finished second in the National League East with a record of 95–65, 2 games behind the first-place Pittsburgh Pirates. The 1979 season was the Expos first winning season in franchise history (and it would be the most wins they would have in a season in the team's history before they relocated).

Offseason

• November 28, 1978: Duffy Dyer was signed as a free agent by the Expos.^[1]
• December 4, 1978: Ken Macha was drafted by the Expos from the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1978 rule 5 draft.^[2]
• December 7, 1978: Stan Papi was traded by the Expos to the Boston Red Sox for Bill Lee.^[3]
• December 8, 1978: Mike Hart was traded by the Expos to the Texas Rangers for Jim Mason.^[4]
• December 9, 1978: Randy St. Claire was signed by the Expos as an amateur free agent.^[5]
• December 14, 1978: Sam Mejías was traded by the Expos to the Chicago Cubs for Jerry White and Rodney Scott.^[6]
• March 30, 1979: Mike Garman was released by the Expos.^[7]
• March 31, 1979: Pepe Frías was traded by the Expos to the Atlanta Braves for Dave Campbell.^[8]

Spring training

The Expos held spring training at City Island Ball Park in Daytona Beach, Florida. It was their seventh season there.

Regular season

Opening Day lineup

• Andre Dawson, CF
• Rodney Scott, 2B
• Warren Cromartie, LF
• Ellis Valentine, RF
• Tony Pérez, 1B
• Gary Carter, C
• Larry Parrish, 3B
• Chris Speier, SS
• Steve Rogers, P

Notable transactions

• June 13, 1979: The Expos traded a player to be named later and cash to the San Francisco Giants for John Tamargo. The Expos completed the deal by sending Joe Pettini to the Giants on March 15, 1980.^[9]
• July 20, 1979: The Expos traded a player to be named later and cash to the Detroit Tigers for Rusty Staub. The Expos completed the deal by sending Randy Schafer (minors) to the Tigers on December 3.^[10]

Youppi!

Youppi!, a creation of Acme Mascots, Inc. (a division of Harrison/Erickson, Inc.), was commissioned by Expos vice-president Roger D. Landry. Originally leased by the team in 1979, the mascot was eventually purchased by the Expos and represented the team.

Roster

1979 Montreal Expos
Roster
Pitchers		Catchers Infielders		Outfielders Other batters		Manager Coaches (Third base) (Pitching) (Hitting) (Bullpen) (Bench) (First base)

Game log

|-| Legend:      = Win      = Loss      = Postponement
Bold = Expos team member

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		141	505	143	.283	22	75
1B		132	489	132	.270	13	73
2B		151	562	134	.238	3	42
SS		113	344	78	.227	7	26
3B		153	544	167	.307	30	82
LF		158	659	181	.275	8	46
CF		155	639	176	.275	25	92
RF		146	548	151	.276	21	82

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
	76	187	60	.321	2	19
	88	138	41	.297	3	18
	38	86	23	.267	3	14
	86	83	21	.253	1	13
	28	74	18	.243	1	8
	40	71	13	.183	0	6
	29	42	12	.286	1	7
	22	40	12	.300	1	8
	20	36	10	.278	0	4
	12	21	8	.381	0	5
	2	1	0	.000	0	0
	6	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
	37	248.2	13	12	3.00	143
	33	222.0	16	10	3.04	59
	24	168.0	9	8	3.43	138
	21	162.0	10	5	2.83	106
	27	151.1	10	9	5.35	42

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
	36	122.2	10	2	2.63	72
	33	93.2	10	3	2.31	67

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	8	7	18	1.96	59
	51	3	1	5	3.15	71
	44	3	6	10	2.79	44
	10	2	0	1	1.98	7
	9	1	2	1	2.70	4
	2	0	0	0	13.50	1
	1	0	0	0	0.00	0

Awards and honors

• Dick Williams, Associated Press NL Manager of the Year

All-Stars

1979 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

References

• Book: Johnson. Lloyd. Wolff. Miles. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. 2nd. Durham, North Carolina. Baseball America. 1997. 978-0-9637189-8-3.
• 1979 Montreal Expos at Baseball Reference
• 1979 Montreal Expos at Baseball Almanac

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/d/dyerdu01.shtml Duffy Dyer
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/machake01.shtml Ken Macha
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/p/papist01.shtml Stan Papi
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/masonji01.shtml Jim Mason
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/st.clra01.shtml Randy St. Claire
6. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mejiasa01.shtml Sam Mejías
7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/g/garmami01.shtml Mike Garman
8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/c/campbda02.shtml Dave Campbell
9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/t/tamarjo01.shtml John Tamargo
10. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/staubru01.shtml Rusty Staub