1979 Chicago White Sox season

1979 Chicago White Sox
Major league affiliations
American League (since 1901) American League West (since 1969)
Location
Comiskey Park (since 1910) Chicago, Illinois (since 1900)
1979 information
Owner(s)	Bill Veeck
Manager(s)	Don Kessinger and Tony La Russa
Local television	WSNS-TV
Local radio	WMAQ (AM) (Harry Caray, Lorn Brown, Jimmy Piersall)
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The 1979 Chicago White Sox season was the team's 80th season overall, and their 79th in Major League Baseball. They finished with a record 73-87, good enough for fifth place in the American League West, 15 games behind the first-place California Angels.

Contents 1 Regular season 1.1 Season standings 1.2 Opening Day lineup 1.3 Notable transactions 1.4 Roster 1.5 Disco Demolition Night 2 Player stats 2.1 Batting 2.1.1 Starters by position 2.1.2 Other batters 2.2 Pitching 2.2.1 Starting pitchers 2.2.2 Other pitchers 2.2.3 Relief pitchers 3 Farm system 4 Notes 5 References

Regular season

The team opened the season with reserve infielder Don Kessinger acting as player-manager. He was relieved of his managerial duties on August 2, with the team's record at 46-60, at which point he also retired as a player. He was replaced by coach Tony La Russa, making his major league managerial debut. The team went 27-27 the rest of the season.

Season standings

AL West	W	L	GB	Pct.
California Angels	88	74	--	.543
Kansas City Royals	85	77	3	.525
Texas Rangers	83	79	5	.512
Minnesota Twins	82	80	6	.506
Chicago White Sox	73	87	14	.456
Seattle Mariners	67	95	21	.414
Oakland Athletics	54	108	34	.333

Opening Day lineup

• Harry Chappas, ss
• Claudell Washington, rf
• Chet Lemon, cf
• Jorge Orta, dh
• Lamar Johnson, 1b
• Alan Bannister, 2b
• Ralph Garr, lf
• Eric Soderholm, 3b
• Marv Foley, c
• Ken Kravec, p

Notable transactions

• May 16, 1979: Nardi Contreras was signed as a free agent by the White Sox.^[1]
• June 5, 1979: 1979 Major League Baseball Draft
  • Ricky Seilheimer was drafted by the White Sox in the 1st round (19th pick).^[2]
  • Fran Mullins was drafted by the White Sox in the 3rd round.^[3]
  • Jimmy Key was drafted by the White Sox in the 10th round, but did not sign.^[4]
• June 15, 1979: Eric Soderholm was traded by the White Sox to the Texas Rangers for Ed Farmer and Gary Holle.^[5]
• July 6, 1979: Rich Hinton was traded by the White Sox to the Seattle Mariners for Juan Bernhardt.^[6]

Roster

1979 Chicago White Sox
Roster
Pitchers 46 Francisco Barrios 30 Ross Baumgarten 40 Britt Burns 49 Richard Dotson 42 Mark Esser 22 Ed Farmer 47 Rich Hinton 36 Guy Hoffman 41 Fred Howard 50 LaMarr Hoyt 27 Ken Kravec 55 Jack Kucek 36 Lerrin LaGrow 24 Mike Proly 32,35 Dewey Robinson 55 Gil Rondon 26 Randy Scarbery 37 Ron Schueler 35 Pablo Torrealba 33 Steve Trout 28 Rich Wortham		Catchers 19 Mike Colbern 42,0,17 Marv Foley  5 Milt May 15 Bill Nahorodny Infielders  7 Alan Bannister  8 Kevin Bell 13 Harry Chappas 10 Joe Gates 23 Lamar Johnson 11 Don Kessinger 12 Jim Morrison  6 Jorge Orta 16 Greg Pryor 12 Eric Soderholm 25 Mike Squires		Outfielders 22 Thad Bosley 48 Ralph Garr 47 Rusty Kuntz 44 Chet Lemon 34 Junior Moore 20 Wayne Nordhagen 21 Rusty Torres 18 Claudell Washington		Manager 11 Don Kessinger 10 Tony La Russa Coaches 31 Fred Martin 37 Ron Schueler  3 Joe Sparks  1 Bobby Winkles

Disco Demolition Night

Disco Demolition Night (also known as "Anti-Disco Night" and "Disco Sucks Night") was a promotional event that took place on July 12, 1979, at Comiskey Park in Chicago. It was held during a scheduled twi-night doubleheader between the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. After the first game, a throng of fans stormed the field, damaging it so badly that the second game had to be forfeited to Detroit.

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

= Indicates team leader

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	May, MiltMilt May	65	202	51	.252	7	28
1B	Johnson, LamarLamar Johnson	133	479	148	.309	12	74
2B	Bannister, AlanAlan Bannister	136	506	144	.285	2	55
3B	Bell, KevinKevin Bell	70	200	49	.245	4	22
SS	Pryor, GregGreg Pryor	143	476	131	.275	3	34
LF	Garr, RalphRalph Garr	102	307	86	.280	9	39
CF	Lemon, ChetChet Lemon	148	556	177	.318	17	86
RF	Washington, ClaudellClaudell Washington	131	471	132	.280	13	66
DH	Orta, JorgeJorge Orta	113	325	85	.262	11	46

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
Morrison, JimJim Morrison	67	240	66	.275	14	35
Soderholm, EricEric Soderholm	56	210	53	.252	6	34
Nordhagen, WayneWayne Nordhagen	76	193	54	.280	7	25
Kessinger, DonDon Kessinger	56	110	22	.200	1	7
Foley, MarvMarv Foley	34	97	24	.247	2	10
Chappas, HarryHarry Chappas	26	59	17	.288	1	4

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
Kravec, KenKen Kravec	36	250	15	13	3.74	132
Wortham, RichRich Wortham	34	204	14	14	4.90	119
Baumgarten, RossRoss Baumgarten	28	190.2	13	8	3.54	72
Barrios, FranciscoFrancisco Barrios	15	94.2	8	3	3.61	28
Dotson, RichardRichard Dotson	5	24.1	2	0	3.70	13

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
Howard, FredFred Howard	28	68	1	5	3.57	38
Hinton, RichRich Hinton	16	41.2	1	2	6.05	27

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
Farmer, EdEd Farmer	42	3	7	14	2.43	48
Scarbery, RandyRandy Scarbery	45	2	8	4	4.62	45
Hoffman, GuyGuy Hoffman	24	0	5	2	5.34	18
Robinson, DeweyDewey Robinson	11	0	1	0	6.28	5
Burns, BrittBritt Burns	6	0	0	0	5.40	2
Nordhagen, WayneWayne Nordhagen	2	0	0	0	9.00	2
Esser, MarkMark Esser	2	0	0	0	16.20	1

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Iowa Oaks	American Association	Tony LaRussa and Joe Sparks
AA	Knoxville Knox Sox	Southern League	Gordon Lund
A	Appleton Foxes	Midwest League	Jim Breazeale

Notes

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, N.C.: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3. 
• 1979 Chicago White Sox at Baseball Reference

1979 MLB season by team AL East Baltimore • Boston • Cleveland • Detroit • Milwaukee • New York • Toronto AL West California • Chicago • Kansas City • Minnesota • Oakland • Seattle • Texas NL East Chicago • Montréal • New York • Philadelphia • Pittsburgh • St. Louis NL West Atlanta • Cincinnati • Houston • Los Angeles • San Diego • San Francisco 1979 Major League Baseball Draft •1979 All-Star Game • 1979 World Series

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