1979 Seattle Mariners season explained

Seattle Mariners
Season:	1979
League:	American League
Division:	West
Ballpark:	Kingdome
City:	Seattle, Washington
Divisional Place:	6th
Owners:	Stanley Golub, Danny Kaye, Walter Schoenfeld, Lester Smith,
General Managers:	Lou Gorman
Managers:	Darrell Johnson
Television:	KING-TV 5
Radio:	KVI 570 AM (Dave Niehaus, Ken Wilson, Bill Freehan)

The 1979 Seattle Mariners season was the franchise's third since its creation. The Mariners ended the season in sixth place in the American League West with a record of . The Mariners hosted the All-Star Game on Tuesday, July 17.

Offseason

• December 5, 1978: Enrique Romo, Rick Jones, and Tom McMillan were traded by the Mariners to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Odell Jones, Rafael Vásquez, and Mario Mendoza.^[1]
• December 8, 1978: Craig Reynolds was traded by the Mariners to the Houston Astros for Floyd Bannister.^[2]
• December 21, 1978: Mario Díaz was signed as an amateur free agent by the Mariners.^[3]
• January 27, 1979: Willie Horton was signed as a free agent by the Mariners.^[4]
• February 8, 1979: Jim Todd was released by the Mariners.^[5]
• February 22, 1979: Mike Davey was purchased by the Mariners from the Atlanta Braves.^[6]

Regular season

Opening Day lineup

1. Julio Cruz, 2B
2. Bill Stein, 3B
3. Dan Meyer, 1B
4. Leon Roberts, RF
5. Willie Horton, DH
6. Ruppert Jones, CF
7. Tom Paciorek, LF
8. Larry Cox, C
9. Mario Mendoza, SS

• Glenn Abbott, starting pitcher

Notable transactions

• April 10, 1979: Bobby Valentine signed as a free agent by the Mariners.^[7]
• June 5, 1979: 1979 Major League Baseball Draft
  • Mike Hart was drafted by the Mariners in the 13th round.^[8]
  • Bud Black was drafted by the Mariners in the 17th round.^[9]
  • Tom Henke was drafted by the Mariners in the 20th round, but did not sign.^[10]
• June 7, 1979: Paul Mitchell was traded by the Mariners to the Milwaukee Brewers for Randy Stein.^[11]
• July 6, 1979: Juan Bernhardt was traded by the Mariners to the Chicago White Sox for Rich Hinton.^[12]

All-Star Game

The 1979 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 50th playing of the midsummer classic between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 17, 1979, at the Kingdome, the home of the Mariners. The National League defeated the American League, 7–6.

Roster

1979 Seattle Mariners
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		OutfieldersOther batters		ManagerCoaches (Bullpen) (Third base) (First base/Hitting) (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		100	293	63	.215	4	36
1B		150	554	175	.316	16	100
2B		107	414	112	.271	1	29
3B		144	525	146	.278	20	74
SS		148	373	74	.198	1	24
LF		103	310	83	.267	6	42
CF		162	622	166	.267	21	78
RF		140	450	122	.271	15	54
DH		162	646	180	.279	29	106

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
	123	356	99	.278	2	26
	120	265	75	.283	2	27
	88	250	62	.248	7	27
	95	247	60	.243	6	28
	62	98	27	.276	0	7
	54	63	14	.222	2	7
	16	52	20	.385	0	6
	27	25	5	.200	0	0
	1	1	1	1.000	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
	38	229.1	14	12	3.77	127
	33	194.0	11	12	4.04	83
	30	182.1	10	15	4.05	115
	25	118.2	3	11	6.07	72
	23	116.2	4	10	5.17	25
	2	11.1	0	1	7.94	6

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
	21	104.0	3	2	4.93	36
	10	36.2	1	4	4.42	18
	9	27.1	0	1	4.28	12
	4	13.2	0	2	5.27	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
	47	7	7	14	4.22	74
	48	5	9	11	3.84	48
	41	6	4	1	5.57	60
	23	2	3	0	5.88	39
	14	0	2	0	5.40	7
	9	1	0	0	5.06	9
	2	0	0	0	15.43	0

Awards and honors

All-Stars

1979 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

• Bruce Bochte, reserve

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: San Jose^[13]

References

• 1979 Seattle Mariners at Baseball Reference
• 1979 Seattle Mariners team page at www.baseball-almanac.com

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/romoen01.shtml Enrique Romo page at Baseball Reference
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bannifl01.shtml Floyd Bannister page at Baseball Reference
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/diazma01.shtml Mario Díaz page at Baseball Reference
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hortowi01.shtml Willie Horton page at Baseball Reference
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/t/toddji01.shtml Jim Todd page at Baseball Reference
6. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/daveymi01.shtml Mike Davey page at Baseball Reference
7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/v/valenbo01.shtml Bobby Valentine page at Baseball Reference
8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hartmi02.shtml Mike Hart page at Baseball Reference
9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/blackbu02.shtml Bud Black page at Baseball Reference
10. https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/henketo01.shtml Tom Henke page at Baseball Reference
11. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/steinra02.shtml Randy Stein page at Baseball Reference
12. https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hintori01.shtml Rich Hinton page at Baseball Reference
13. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007