1979 Texas Rangers season explained

Texas Rangers
Season:	1979
League:	American League
Division:	West
Ballpark:	Arlington Stadium
City:	Arlington, Texas
Owners:	Bradford G. Corbett
General Managers:	Eddie Robinson
Managers:	Pat Corrales
Television:	KXAS-TV (Jon Miller, Frank Glieber, Eric Nadel)
Radio:	WBAP (Jon Miller, Bill Merrill)

The 1979 Texas Rangers season involved the Rangers finishing third in the American League West with a record of 83 wins and 79 losses.

Offseason

October 3, 1978: Len Barker and Bobby Bonds were traded by the Rangers to the Cleveland Indians for Larvell Blanks and Jim Kern.^[1] Bobby Cuellar and Dave Rivera were sent to Cleveland to complete the August 31, 1978 trade for Johnny Grubb.^[2]
October 24, 1978: Sandy Alomar Sr. was released by the Rangers.^[3]
October 25, 1978: Mike Hargrove, Kurt Bevacqua, and Bill Fahey were traded by the Rangers to the San Diego Padres for Oscar Gamble, Dave Roberts and $300,000.^[4]
November 10, 1978: Dave Righetti, Juan Beníquez, Mike Griffin, Paul Mirabella, and Greg Jemison (minors) were traded by the Rangers to the New York Yankees for Domingo Ramos, Mike Heath, Sparky Lyle, Larry McCall, Dave Rajsich, and cash.^[5]
December 8, 1978: Jim Mason was traded by the Rangers to the Montreal Expos for Mike Hart.^[6]

June 24, 1979: Rickey Henderson made his major league debut for the Oakland Athletics in a game against the Rangers. Henderson had 4 at bats with 2 hits, and 1 stolen base.^[7]

May 4, 1979: Bert Campaneris was traded by the Rangers to the California Angels for Dave Chalk.^[8]
June 15, 1979: Dock Ellis was traded by the Rangers to the New York Mets for Bob Myrick and Mike Bruhert.^[9]
June 15, 1979: Eric Soderholm was traded by the Chicago White Sox to the Texas Rangers for Ed Farmer and Gary Holle.^[10]
August 1, 1979: Oscar Gamble, Amos Lewis (minors) and players to be named later were traded by the Rangers to the New York Yankees for Mickey Rivers and players to be named later. The Rangers completed the deal by sending Ray Fontenot and Gene Nelson to the Yankees on October 8. The Yankees completed the deal by sending Bob Polinsky (minors), Neal Mersch (minors), and Mark Softy (minors) to the Rangers on October 8.^[4]

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	150	495	136	.275	5	64
1B	139	426	118	.277	18	64
2B	146	543	148	.273	5	46
SS	147	343	76	.222	0	21
3B	162	670	200	.299	18	101
LF	128	325	95	.292	5	35
CF	136	492	159	.323	12	76
RF	144	503	132	.262	18	64
DH	111	316	90	.285	12	61

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
102	289	79	.273	10	37
58	247	74	.300	6	25
64	161	54	.335	8	32
90	157	35	.223	6	16
63	147	40	.272	4	19
38	144	46	.319	8	24
68	120	24	.200	1	15
44	84	22	.262	3	14
16	42	10	.238	0	1
25	18	5	.278	0	2
7	17	2	.118	1	1
8	9	1	.111	0	0
9	8	2	.250	0	0
5	6	1	.167	0	0

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
37	259.0	16	14	4.07	164
36	242.1	17	12	3.68	86
29	149.0	10	7	4.17	58
23	113.1	5	7	4.45	50
13	85.0	5	4	4.13	35
17	82.1	2	6	4.92	46
10	46.2	1	5	5.98	10

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
20	78.0	4	4	4.04	58
7	33.1	1	3	4.32	14
11	33.0	2	0	4.36	25
5	9.2	0	1	6.52	2
2	8.1	1	0	2.16	3

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
71	13	5	29	1.57	136
67	5	8	13	3.13	48
27	1	3	0	3.52	32
4	0	0	0	10.12	6

1979 Texas Rangers team page at Baseball Reference
1979 Texas Rangers team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
Book: Johnson. Lloyd. Wolff. Miles. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. 3rd. Durham, North Carolina. Baseball America. 2007. 978-1-932391-17-6.