1979 Boston Red Sox season

Last updated

1979  Boston Red Sox
League American League
Division East
Ballpark Fenway Park
City Boston, Massachusetts
Record91–69 (.569)
Divisional place3rd
Owners Buddy LeRoux, Haywood Sullivan, Jean Yawkey
President Jean Yawkey
General manager Haywood Sullivan
Manager Don Zimmer
Television WSBK-TV, Ch. 38
(Ned Martin, Ken Harrelson)
Radio WITS-AM 1510
(Ken Coleman, Rico Petrocelli)
Stats ESPN.com
Baseball Reference
←  1978 Seasons 1980  →

The 1979 Boston Red Sox season was the 79th season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished third in the American League East with a record of 91 wins and 69 losses, 11+1⁄2 games behind the Baltimore Orioles, who went on to win the AL championship.

Contents

Offseason

On December 7, 1978, pitcher Bill Lee was traded to the Montreal Expos for infielder Stan Papi. [1]

Regular season

Record by month [2]
MonthRecordCumulative AL East Ref.
WonLostWonLostPosition GB
April1371371st+1⁄2 [3]
May141227192nd2 [4]
June20847272nd4+1⁄2 [5]
July151362402nd7+1⁄2 [6]
August161378533rd8+1⁄2 [7]
September131691693rd11+1⁄2 [8]

The Red Sox only played 160 games, as a home game scheduled against the Milwaukee Brewers on August 12, [9] and an away game scheduled against the Chicago White Sox on August 29, [10] were rained out and not rescheduled.

Highlights

Fred Lynn had a league-leading .333 batting average and had 39 home runs and 122 RBIs, while Jim Rice batted .325 with 39 homers and 130 RBIs. On the pitching staff, Dennis Eckersley was 17–10, down from 20–8 the prior season, and Mike Torrez was 16–13, matching his record of the previous year.

The season also featured Carl Yastrzemski's 3,000th hit and his 400th home run. His 400th home run came off of Mike Morgan of the Athletics on July 24. [11] Yaz became the seventh AL player and 18th MLB player to collect 400 home runs. [12] He joined the 3,000 hit club with a single off of Jim Beattie of the Yankees on September 12. [13] Yaz was the 15th player to collect 3,000 major league hits, and the first AL player to have both 3,000 hits and 400 home runs. [14]

Season standings

AL East
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Baltimore Orioles 10257.642—55‍–‍2447‍–‍33
Milwaukee Brewers 9566.590852‍–‍2943‍–‍37
Boston Red Sox 9169.56911½51‍–‍2940‍–‍40
New York Yankees 8971.55613½51‍–‍3038‍–‍41
Detroit Tigers 8576.5281846‍–‍3439‍–‍42
Cleveland Indians 8180.5032247‍–‍3434‍–‍46
Toronto Blue Jays 53109.32750½32‍–‍4921‍–‍60

Record vs. opponents

1979 American League record

Sources:
TeamBALBOSCALCWSCLEDETKCMILMINNYYOAKSEATEXTOR
Baltimore —8–59–38–38–57–66–68–58–45–68–410–26–611–2
Boston 5–8—5–75–66–78–58–48–49–35–89–38–46–69–4
California 3–97–5—9–46–64–87–67–59–47–510–37–65–87–5
Chicago 3–86–54–9—6–63–95–85–75–84–89–45–811–27–5
Cleveland 5–87–66–66–6—6–66–64–98–45–88–47–55–78–5
Detroit 6–75–88–49–36–6—5–76–74–87–67–57–56–69–4
Kansas City 6–64–86–78–56–67–5—5–77–65–79–47–66–79–3
Milwaukee 5–84–85–77–59–47–67–5—8–49–46–69–39–310–3
Minnesota 4–83–94–98–54–88–46–74–8—7–59–410–34–911–1
New York 6–58–55–78–48–56–77–54–95–7—9–36–68–49–4
Oakland 4–83–93–104–94–85–74–96–64–93–9—8–52–114–8
Seattle 2–104–86–78–55–75–76–73–93–106–65–8—6–78–4
Texas 6–66–68–52–117–56–67–63–99–44–811–27–6—7–5
Toronto 2–114–95–75–75–84–93–93–101–114–98–44–85–7—

Notable transactions

Opening Day lineup

  2 Jerry Remy 2B
  7 Rick Burleson SS
19 Fred Lynn CF
14 Jim Rice DH
  8 Carl Yastrzemski   LF
15 George Scott 1B
  3 Jack Brohamer 3B
24 Dwight Evans RF
10 Bob Montgomery C
43 Dennis Eckersley P

Source: [17]

Roster

1979 Boston Red Sox
Roster
PitchersCatchers

Infielders

OutfieldersManager

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

PosPlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
C Gary Allenson 10824149.203322
1B Bob Watson 84312105.3371353
2B Jerry Remy 8030691.297029
SS Rick Burleson 153627174.278560
3B Butch Hobson 146528138.2612893
LF Jim Rice 158619201.32539130
CF Fred Lynn 147531177.33339122
RF Dwight Evans 152489134.2742158
DH Carl Yastrzemski 147518140.2702187

Other batters

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

PlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
Carlton Fisk 9132087.2721042
Jack Brohamer 6419251.266111
George Scott 4515635.224423
Tom Poquette 6315451.331223
Stan Papi 5011722.18816
Jim Dwyer 7611330.265214
Ted Sizemore 268823.26116
Bob Montgomery 328630.34907
Larry Wolfe 477819.244315
Mike O'Berry 435910.16914
Frank Duffy 630.00000

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Mike Torrez 36252.116134.49125
Dennis Eckersley 33246.217102.99150
Bob Stanley 40216.216123.9956
Steve Renko 27171.01194.1199
Chuck Rainey 20103.2853.8241
John Tudor 628.0126.4311

Other pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Allen Ripley 1664.2315.1534
Joel Finch 1557.1034.8725

Relief pitchers

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

PlayerGWLSVERASO
Dick Drago 56103133.0367
Tom Burgmeier 443242.7460
Bill Campbell 413494.2825
Jim Wright 111005.0915
Win Remmerswaal 81007.0816
Andy Hassler 81208.807

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Farm system

LevelTeamLeagueManager
AAA Pawtucket Red Sox International League Joe Morgan
AA Bristol Red Sox Eastern League Tony Torchia
A Winston-Salem Red Sox Carolina League Bill Slack
A Winter Haven Red Sox Florida State League Rac Slider
A-Short Season Elmira Pioneers New York–Penn League Dick Berardino

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Winston-Salem, Winter Haven
Source: [18] [19]

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References

  1. ↑ Stout, Glenn; Johnson, Richard A. (2005). Red Sox Century: The Definitive History of Baseball's Most Storied Franchise. New York, New York: Houghton Mifflin. p. 392.
  2. ↑ "The 1979 Boston Red Sox". Retrosheet . Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  3. ↑ "Events of Monday, April 30, 1979".
  4. ↑ "Events of Thursday, May 31, 1979".
  5. ↑ "Events of Saturday, June 30, 1979".
  6. ↑ "Events of Tuesday, July 31, 1979".
  7. ↑ "Events of Friday, August 31, 1979".
  8. ↑ "Events of Sunday, September 30, 1979".
  9. ↑ "Red Sox look for clear skies". North Adams Transcript . North Adams, Massachusetts. AP. August 13, 1979. p. 19. Retrieved October 11, 2020– via newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Veeck Attacks New Postponement". Hartford Courant . Hartford, Connecticut. AP. August 30, 1979. p. 69. Retrieved October 11, 2020– via newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Another milestone for Yaz: 400th home run of career". Tucson Citizen . Tucson, Arizona. AP. July 25, 1979. p. 47. Retrieved October 10, 2020– via newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Boston Red Sox 7, Oakland Athletics 3". Retrosheet . July 24, 1979. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  13. ↑ "The 3,000 Hit Club: Carl Yastrzemski". baseballhalloffame.org.
  14. ↑ "Boston Red Sox 9, New York Yankees 2". Retrosheet . September 12, 1979. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  15. ↑ Bob Watson page at Baseball Reference
  16. ↑ Ted Sizemore page at Baseball Reference
  17. ↑ "Boston Red Sox 7, Cleveland Indians 1". Retrosheet . April 5, 1979. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  18. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
  19. ↑ Boston Red Sox Media Guide. 1979. p. 43. Retrieved March 14, 2021– via Wayback Machine.
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