1979 Chicago Cubs season

1979  Chicago Cubs
League	National League
Division	East
Ballpark	Wrigley Field
City	Chicago
Record	80–82 (.494)
Divisional place	5th
Owners	William Wrigley III
General managers	Bob Kennedy
Managers	Herman Franks, Joey Amalfitano
Television	WGN-TV (Jack Brickhouse, Lou Boudreau)
Radio	WGN (Vince Lloyd, Lou Boudreau)
Stats	ESPN.com Baseball Reference
←  1978 Seasons 1980  →

The 1979 Chicago Cubs season was the 108th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 104th in the National League and the 64th at Wrigley Field, and the first to be beamed via satellite and cable television to viewers all over the United States on WGN Television, thanks to a postseason decision by the company management to uplink its broadcast signals via satellite with the help of Oklahoma-based United Video Satellite Group, making them the pioneer superstation in the country's midwest and the Cubs games of that season the third superstation baseball broadcasts live via satellite relay after the Braves and the Yankees. ^[1] It was the first season of over 40 to be broadcast all over the country, slowly making the team a national brand. The Cubs finished fifth in the National League East with a record of 80–82. This was the first season in which the players last names appeared on the uniforms but only on the away jerseys. It wouldn't be until 1993 when names would appear on the home jerseys.

Offseason

• October 26, 1978: Rudy Meoli was released by the Cubs. ^[2]
• February 23, 1979: Manny Trillo, Greg Gross, and Dave Rader were traded by the Cubs to the Philadelphia Phillies for Barry Foote, Ted Sizemore, Jerry Martin, Derek Botelho, and Henry Mack (minors). ^[3]
• March 20, 1979: The Cubs traded a player to be named later to the Detroit Tigers for Steve Dillard. The Cubs completed the deal by sending Ed Putman to the Tigers on March 24. ^[4]

Regular season

On May 17, the Phillies beat the Cubs 23–22 at Wrigley Field in ten innings, ^[5] with a 30-mph wind blowing out to left field.^{[ citation needed ]} This was only the second time since 1913 that both teams scored 20 or more runs in a game, the only previous instance also being a Cubs–Phillies game. ^[6]

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

NL East

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Pittsburgh Pirates	98	64	.605	—	48‍–‍33	50‍–‍31
Montreal Expos	95	65	.594	2	56‍–‍25	39‍–‍40
St. Louis Cardinals	86	76	.531	12	42‍–‍39	44‍–‍37
Philadelphia Phillies	84	78	.519	14	43‍–‍38	41‍–‍40
Chicago Cubs	80	82	.494	18	45‍–‍36	35‍–‍46
New York Mets	63	99	.389	35	28‍–‍53	35‍–‍46

Record vs. opponents

1979 National League record v t e Sources:
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	4–8	6–12	7–11	12–6	1–9	4–8	7–5	4–8	6–12	11–7	4–8
Chicago	8–4	—	7–5	6–6	5–7	6–12	8–10	9–9	6–12	9–3	8–4	8–10
Cincinnati	12–6	5–7	—	8–10	11–7	6–6	8–4	8–4	8–4	10–7	6–12	8–4
Houston	11–7	6–6	10–8	—	10–8	7–5	9–3	5–7	4–8	14–4	7–11	6–6
Los Angeles	6–12	7–5	7–11	8–10	—	6–6	9–3	3–9	4–8	9–9	14–4	6–6
Montreal	9–1	12–6	6–6	5–7	6–6	—	15–3	11–7	7–11	7–5	7–5	10–8
New York	8–4	10–8	4–8	3–9	3–9	3–15	—	5–13	8–10	4–8	8–4	7–11
Philadelphia	5–7	9–9	4–8	7–5	9–3	7–11	13–5	—	8–10	9–3	6–6	7–11
Pittsburgh	8–4	12–6	4–8	8–4	8–4	11–7	10–8	10–8	—	7–5	9–3	11–7
San Diego	12–6	3–9	7–10	4–14	9–9	5–7	8–4	3–9	5–7	—	8–10	4–8
San Francisco	7–11	4–8	12–6	11–7	4–14	5–7	4–8	6–6	3–9	10–8	—	5–7
St. Louis	8–4	10–8	4–8	6–6	6–6	8–10	11–7	11–7	7–11	8–4	7–5	—

Notable transactions

• May 23, 1979: Ray Burris was traded by the Cubs to the New York Yankees for Dick Tidrow. ^[7]
• June 26, 1979: Bobby Murcer was traded by the Cubs to the New York Yankees for Paul Semall (minors). ^[8]
• August 17, 1979: Ted Sizemore was traded by the Cubs to the Boston Red Sox for a player to be named later and cash. The Red Sox completed the trade by sending Mike O'Berry to the Cubs on October 23, 1979. ^[9]

Roster

1979 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers 34 Ray Burris 35 Doug Capilla 36 Bill Caudill 46 Dave Geisel 38 Willie Hernández 30 Ken Holtzman 39 Mike Krukow 47 Dennis Lamp 40 Lynn McGlothen 49 Donnie Moore 48 Rick Reuschel 33 George Riley 42 Bruce Sutter 41 Dick Tidrow		Catchers  9 Tim Blackwell  8 Barry Foote  7 Bruce Kimm Infielders 22 Bill Buckner 29 Steve Davis 11 Iván DeJesús 15 Steve Dillard 20 Mick Kelleher 12 Steve Macko 16 Steve Ontiveros 17 Kurt Seibert  6 Ted Sizemore		Outfielders 26 Larry Biittner 32 Miguel Diloné 24 Ken Henderson 10 Dave Kingman 28 Jerry Martin 32 Sam Mejías  7 Bobby Murcer 25 Scot Thompson 27 Mike Vail Other batters 18 Gene Clines 45 Karl Pagel		Manager  5 Joey Amalfitano  3 Herman Franks Coaches  5 Joey Amalfitano  2 Peanuts Lowrey  4 Mike Roarke  1 Cookie Rojas

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	Barry Foote	132	429	109	.254	16	56
1B	Bill Buckner	149	591	168	.284	14	66
2B	Ted Sizemore	98	330	82	.248	2	24
SS	Iván DeJesús	160	636	180	.283	5	52
3B	Steve Ontiveros	152	519	148	.285	4	57
LF	Dave Kingman	145	532	153	.288	48	115
CF	Jerry Martin	150	534	145	.272	19	73
RF	Scot Thompson	128	346	100	.289	2	29

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
Larry Biitner	111	272	79	.290	3	50
Bobby Murcer	58	190	49	.258	7	22
Mike Vail	87	179	60	.335	7	35
Steve Dillard	89	166	47	.283	5	24
Mick Kelleher	73	142	36	.254	0	10
Tim Blackwell	63	122	20	.164	0	12
Ken Henderson	62	81	19	.235	2	8
Steve Macko	19	40	9	.225	0	3
Miguel Diloné	43	36	11	.306	0	1
Sam Mejías	31	11	2	.182	0	0
Bruce Kimm	9	11	1	.091	0	0
Gene Clines	10	10	2	.200	0	0
Steve Davis	3	4	0	.000	0	1
Kurt Seibert	7	2	0	.000	0	0
Karl Pagel	1	1	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
Rick Reuschel	36	239.0	18	12	3.62	125
Lynn McGlothen	42	212.0	13	14	4.12	147
Dennis Lamp	38	200.1	11	10	3.50	86
Mike Krukow	28	164.2	9	9	4.21	119
Ken Holtzman	23	117.2	6	9	4.59	44

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
Bill Caudill	29	90.0	1	7	4.80	104
George Riley	4	13.0	0	1	5.54	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
Bruce Sutter	62	6	6	37	2.22	110
Dick Tidrow	63	11	5	4	2.72	68
Willie Hernández	51	4	4	0	5.01	53
Donnie Moore	39	1	4	1	5.18	43
Ray Burris	14	0	0	0	6.23	14
Doug Capilla	13	0	1	0	2.60	10
Dave Geisel	7	0	0	0	0.60	5

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Wichita Aeros	American Association	Jack Hiatt
AA	Midland Cubs	Texas League	Randy Hundley
A	Quad Cities Cubs	Midwest League	Jim Napier
A-Short Season	Geneva Cubs	New York–Penn League	Bob Hartsfield
Rookie	GCL Cubs	Gulf Coast League	Ken Rudolph

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Quad Cities

Notes

1. Kathy Haley (April 5, 2004). "Birth of a Nation's Superstation: WGN executives were aghast when the channel was first put up on satellite, but the 'curse' turned into quite the blessing". Multichannel News . Reed Business Information. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012.
2. Rudy Meoli at Baseball Reference
3. Manny Trillo at Baseball Reference
4. Ed Putman at Baseball Reference
5. "Box Score of Game played on Thursday, May 17, 1979, at Wrigley Field". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved October 13, 2009.
6. "Team Pitching Game Finder, From 1913 to 2017, (requiring tgl_stats.RA>=20)". Baseball Reference. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
7. Ray Burris at Baseball Reference
8. Bobby Murcer at Baseball Reference
9. Ted Sizemore at Baseball Reference

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN   978-0-9637189-8-3.

External links

• 1979 Chicago Cubs season at Baseball Reference