1979 New York Mets season explained

New York Mets
Season:	1979
League:	National League
Division:	East
Ballpark:	Shea Stadium
City:	New York
Owners:	Charles Shipman Payson
General Managers:	Joe McDonald
Managers:	Joe Torre
Television:	WOR-TV
Radio:	WMCA (Ralph Kiner, Bob Murphy, Steve Albert)

The 1979 New York Mets season was the 18th season for the Mets, who played home games at Shea Stadium. Led by manager Joe Torre, the team had a 63–99 record and finished in sixth place in the National League East. This was also the first season that the players names appeared on the back of the uniforms.

Offseason

• October 2, 1978: Paul Siebert was traded by the Mets to the St. Louis Cardinals for Bob Coluccio.^[1]
• December 4, 1978: Bobby Brown was drafted by the Mets from the New York Yankees in the 1978 rule 5 draft.^[2]
• December 5, 1978: Tom Grieve and Kim Seaman were traded by the Mets to the St. Louis Cardinals for Pete Falcone.^[3]
• December 8, 1978: Jerry Koosman was traded by the Mets to the Minnesota Twins for a player to be named later and Greg Field (minors). The Minnesota Twins completed the trade by sending Jesse Orosco to the Mets on February 7, 1979.^[4]
• March 25, 1979: Bobby Brown was selected off waivers from the Mets by the Toronto Blue Jays.^[2]
• March 27, 1979: Nino Espinosa was traded by the Mets to the Philadelphia Phillies for Richie Hebner and José Moreno.^[5]

Regular season

The 1979 season was worse than 1978. The Mets were in last place by mid-May,^{[6] [7]} and finished the season in last place for the third straight year.^{[8] [9]} Attendance was below 1 million for the first time in team history, hitting a record low of just 788,000.^[9]

Opening Day starters

• Kelvin Chapman
• Doug Flynn
• Richie Hebner
• Steve Henderson
• Elliott Maddox
• Lee Mazzilli
• Willie Montañez
• John Stearns
• Craig Swan

Notable transactions

• June 5, 1979: 1979 Major League Baseball Draft
  • Tim Leary was drafted by the Mets in the 1st round (2nd pick).^[10]
  • Ron Gardenhire was drafted by the Mets in the 6th round.^[11]
  • Dave Smith was drafted by the Mets in the 27th round.^[12]
  • Bill Mooneyham was drafted by the Mets in the 1st round (22nd pick) of the secondary phase, but did not sign.^[13]
• June 15, 1979: Bob Myrick and Mike Bruhert were traded by the Mets to the Texas Rangers for Dock Ellis.^[14]
• August 12, 1979: Willie Montañez was traded by the Mets to the Texas Rangers for two players to be named later. The Rangers sent Ed Lynch to the Mets on September 18 and Mike Jorgensen on October 23 to complete the deal.^[15]
• August 20, 1979: Ray Burris was selected off waivers by the Mets from the New York Yankees.^[16]
• September 21, 1979: Dock Ellis was purchased from the Mets by the Pittsburgh Pirates.^[14]

Roster

1979 New York Mets
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		ManagerCoaches

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		155	538	131	.243	9	66
1B		109	410	96	.234	5	47
2B		157	555	135	.243	4	61
SS		153	635	167	.263	1	33
3B		136	473	127	.268	10	79
LF		98	350	107	.306	5	39
CF		158	597	181	.303	15	79
RF		158	590	162	.275	16	60

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
	86	224	60	.268	1	12
	79	207	56	.271	0	20
	82	155	36	.232	2	17
	44	110	27	.245	3	11
	59	98	18	.184	0	4
	70	93	18	.194	1	10
	59	86	14	.163	0	5
	35	80	12	.150	0	4
	11	37	11	.297	2	4
	32	9	0	.000	0	0
	3	7	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
	35	251.1	14	13	3.29	145
	33	184.0	6	14	4.16	113
	30	161.2	6	8	3.51	67
	17	85.0	3	7	6.04	41
	7	42.2	5	1	3.59	17
	5	30.2	1	1	2.93	25
	4	21.2	0	2	3.32	10
	4	16.1	0	2	4.41	12

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	80.1	4	5	3.70	53
	19	78.2	2	6	2.75	33
	18	52.1	1	3	5.33	21

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
	50	6	10	8	3.55	65
	58	4	8	4	4.82	37
	46	1	4	7	3.00	32
	33	5	3	0	5.23	44
	32	0	3	0	4.70	20
	27	2	5	9	1.49	42
	18	1	2	0	4.89	22
	18	1	2	2	1.74	10
	8	1	0	0	2.20	10

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

References

• 1979 New York Mets at Baseball Reference
• 1979 New York Mets team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
• Book: Johnson. Lloyd. Wolff. Miles. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. 2nd. Durham, North Carolina. Baseball America. 1997. 978-0-9637189-8-3.

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/siebepa01.shtml Paul Siebert page at Baseball Reference
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/brownbo04.shtml Bobby Brown page at Baseball Reference
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/seamaki01.shtml Kim Seaman page at Baseball Reference
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/k/koosmje01.shtml Jerry Koosman page on Baseball Reference
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/morenjo01.shtml José Moreno page at Baseball Reference
6. News: Pennant fever is long gone. Abel. Allen. The Globe and Mail. September 20, 1979. P47.
7. News: Dodgers Beat Mets, Falcone, 5-2. Michael. Strauss. The New York Times. May 8, 1979. B11.
8. News: The New York Mets continued their relentless march towards...the lowest attendance in the club's 18-year history.. Mets Beaten by Phillies, 5-2. Joseph. Durso. Joe Durso. The New York Times. September 12, 1979. B6.
9. News: Sale of Mets Is Broached At Stockholders Meeting. Joseph. Durso. Joe Durso. The New York Times. November 6, 1979. C14. The Mets...finished in last place...for the third straight time, before a record low attendance of 788,000 fans..
10. https://www.baseball-reference.com/l/learyti01.shtml Tim Leary page at Baseball Reference
11. https://www.baseball-reference.com/g/gardero01.shtml Ron Gardenhire page at Baseball Reference
12. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/smithda03.shtml Dave Smith page at Baseball Reference
13. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/moonebi01.shtml Bill Mooneyham page at Baseball-Reference
14. https://www.baseball-reference.com/e/ellisdo01.shtml Dock Ellis page at Baseball-Reference
15. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/montawi01.shtml Willie Montañez page at Baseball-Reference
16. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/burrira01.shtml Ray Burris page at Baseball Reference