1979 San Francisco Giants season

1979 San Francisco Giants
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1883)
Western Division (since 1969)
Location
Candlestick Park (since 1960)
San Francisco, California (since 1958)
Other information
Owner(s)	Bob Lurie
General manager(s)	Spec Richardson
Manager(s)	Joe Altobelli, Dave Bristol
Local television	KTVU (Lindsey Nelson, Gary Park)
Local radio	KNBR (Lindsey Nelson, Hank Greenwald)
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Offseason

December 4, 1978: Max Venable was drafted by the Giants from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1978 rule 5 draft.^[1]
December 5, 1978: Darrell Evans was signed as a free agent by the Giants.^[2]
February 24, 1979: Bill Bordley was signed as an amateur free agent by the Giants.^[3]

Regular season

Season standings

NL West	W	L	GB	Pct.
Cincinnati Reds	90	71	--	.559
Houston Astros	89	73	1.5	.549
Los Angeles Dodgers	79	83	11.5	.488
San Francisco Giants	71	91	19.5	.438
San Diego Padres	68	93	22	.422
Atlanta Braves	66	94	23.5	.413

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

April 1, 1979: Joe Coleman was signed as a free agent by the Giants.^[5]
April 21, 1979: Joe Coleman was released by the Giants.^[5]
June 5, 1979: Scott Garrelts was drafted by the Giants in the 1st round (15th pick) of the 1979 Major League Baseball Draft.^[6]
June 13, 1979: John Tamargo was traded by the Giants to the Montreal Expos for a player to be named later and cash. The Expos completed the deal by sending Joe Pettini to the Giants on March 15, 1980.^[7]
June 17, 1979: Dan Gladden was signed by the Giants as an amateur free agent.^[8]
June 28, 1979: Bill Madlock, Lenny Randle and Dave Roberts were traded by the Giants to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Ed Whitson, Fred Breining, and Al Holland.^[9]
June 28, 1979: Héctor Cruz was traded by the Giants to the Cincinnati Reds for Pedro Borbón.^[10]

Roster

1979 San Francisco Giants

Roster

Pitchers

14 Vida Blue

34 Pedro Borbón

29 Joe Coleman

40 John Curtis

43 Tom Griffin

28 Ed Halicki

19 Al Holland

39 Bob Knepper

46 Gary Lavelle

38 Greg Minton

17 Randy Moffitt

26 John Montefusco

25 Philip Nastu

37 Ed Plank

25 Dave Roberts

32 Ed Whitson

Catchers

2 Marc Hill

30 Bob Kearney

47 Dennis Littlejohn

3 Mike Sadek

30 John Tamargo

Infielders

21 Rob Andrews

41 Darrell Evans

15 Mike Ivie

10 Johnnie LeMaster

18 Bill Madlock

44 Willie McCovey

16 Roger Metzger

20 Joe Strain

Outfielders

22 Jack Clark

9 Héctor Cruz

31 Larry Herndon

18 Greg Johnston

36 Billy North

49 Max Venable

45 Terry Whitfield

Manager

6 Joe Altobelli

1 Dave Bristol

Coaches

1 Dave Bristol (Third Base)

12 Jim Davenport (First Base/Third Base)

5 Tom Haller (Bullpen)

? Salty Parker (First Base)

? Hank Sauer (Hitting)

8 Larry Shepard (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
3B	Evans, DarrellDarrell Evans	160	562	142	.253	17	70
RF	Clark, JackJack Clark	143	527	144	.273	26	86

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
Hill, MarcMarc Hill	63	169	35	.207	3	15
Andrews, RobRob Andrews	75	154	40	.260	2	13
Sadek, MikeMike Sadek	63	126	30	.238	1	11
Venable, MaxMax Venable	55	85	14	.165	0	3
Tamargo, JohnJohn Tamargo	30	60	12	.200	2	6

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
Blue, VidaVida Blue	34	237	14	14	5.01	138
Curtis, JohnJohn Curtis	27	120.2	10	9	4.18	85

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

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
Borbón, PedroPedro Borbón	30	4	3	3	4.89	26
Coleman, JoeJoe Coleman	5	0	0	0	0.00	0

Awards and honors

All-Stars

All-Star Game

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Phoenix Giants	Pacific Coast League	Rocky Bridges
AA	Shreveport Captains	Texas League	Andy Gilbert
A	Fresno Giants	California League	Jack Mull
A	Cedar Rapids Giants	Midwest League	Wayne Cato
Rookie	Great Falls Giants	Pioneer League	Ernie Rodriguez

References

External links

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

San Francisco Giants

Formerly the New York Gothams and the New York Giants
Based in San Francisco, California (Bay Area)

The Franchise

Ballparks

Polo Grounds Oakland Park St. George Grounds Hilltop Park Seals Stadium Candlestick Park AT&T Park

Spring Training:	Payne Park Flamingo Field LSU Varsity Baseball Field Al Lang Stadium Phoenix Municipal Stadium Scottsdale Stadium

Culture

Rivalries

Retired numbers

Pre-World Series Champions (2)

1888
1889

Temple Cup Champions (1)

1894

World Series Champions (8)

National League
Championships (23)

Division Titles

West:	1971 1987 1989 1997 2000 2003 2010 2012

Wild Card:	2002 2014

Minors

AAA: Sacramento River Cats
AA: Richmond Flying Squirrels
A: San Jose Giants; Augusta GreenJackets; Salem-Keizer Volcanoes
Rookie: AZL Giants; DSL Giants

Seasons (133)

1880s	1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889

1890s	1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899

1900s	1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909

1910s	1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919

1920s	1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929

1930s	1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939

1940s	1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949

1950s	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959

1960s	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969

1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979

1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015