1979 Minnesota Twins season

1979 Minnesota Twins
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Western Division (since 1969)
Location
Metropolitan Stadium (since 1961)
Bloomington, Minnesota (since 1961)
Other information
Owner(s)	Calvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes)
General manager(s)	Calvin Griffith
Manager(s)	Gene Mauch
Local television	KMSP-TV (Bob Kurtz, Larry Osterman)
Local radio	830 WCCO AM (Herb Carneal, Joe McConnell)
< Previous season Next season >

The 1979 Minnesota Twins season was a season in American baseball. The team finished 82-80, fourth in the American League West.

Offseason

In January 1979, the Twins attempted to trade first baseman Rod Carew to the New York Yankees in exchange for Chris Chambliss, Juan Beníquez, Dámaso García, and Dave Righetti, but were unable to finalize a deal.^[1] Carew would instead be traded to the California Angels on February 3.

Notable transactions

October 3, 1978: Dave Johnson was released by the Twins.^[2]
December 4, 1978: Dan Ford was traded by the Twins to the California Angels for Ron Jackson and Danny Goodwin.^[3]
December 8, 1978: Greg Field (minors) and a player to be named later were traded by the Twins to the New York Mets for Jerry Koosman. The Twins completed the deal by sending Jesse Orosco to the Mets on February 7, 1979.^[4]
January 6, 1979: Mike Marshall was signed as a free agent by the Twins.^[5]
February 3, 1979: Rod Carew was traded by the Twins to the California Angels for Ken Landreaux, Dave Engle, Paul Hartzell, and Brad Havens.^[6]

Regular season

Three Minnesota Twins homered in the May 15 win over Texas, the sixteenth straight Minnesota game with at least one Twins homer. The streak will end on May 16. Nine players homered 28 times during the club's record-setting streak.

Only one Twins player made the All-Star Game: shortstop Roy Smalley. Smalley hit 24 HR, drove in 95 runs, and scored 85 runs, all team-leading totals. Ken Landreaux, acquired in the Carew trade, batted .305 with 15 HR and 83 RBI. Ron Jackson, acquired in the Dan Ford trade, hit 14 HR and collected 68 RBI.

Reliever Mike Marshall continued as manager Gene Mauch's all-purpose reliever, pitching in a league-leading 90 games, racking up 10 relief wins along with a league-leading 32 saves. Veteran Jerry Koosman won 20 games. Dave Goltz (14-13) and Geoff Zahn (13-7) had double-digit wins.

Smalley turned 144 double plays this year, setting a major league record for shortstops. The team total of 203 double plays set a new season record.

Third baseman John Castino shared the AL Rookie of the Year award with Alfredo Griffin of the Toronto Blue Jays. Each received 7 first place votes.^[7]

1,070,521 fans attended Twins games, the fourth lowest total in the American League. It was only the second time since 1970 the team attracted over one million fans.

Season standings

AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
California Angels	88	74	0.543	—	49–32	39–42
Kansas City Royals	85	77	0.525	3	46–35	39–42
Texas Rangers	83	79	0.512	5	44–37	39–42
Minnesota Twins	82	80	0.506	6	39–42	43–38
Chicago White Sox	73	87	0.456	14	33–46	40–41
Seattle Mariners	67	95	0.414	21	36–45	31–50
Oakland Athletics	54	108	0.333	34	31–50	23–58

Record vs. opponents

1979 American League Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	8–5	9–3	8–3	8–5	7–6	6–6	8–5	8–4	5–6	8–4	10–2	6–6	11–2
Boston	5–8	—	5–7	5–6	6–7	8–5	8–4	8–4	9–3	5–8	9–3	8–4	6–6	9–4
California	3–9	7–5	—	9–4	6–6	4–8	7–6	7–5	9–4	7–5	10–3	7–6	5–8	7–5
Chicago	3–8	6–5	4–9	—	6–6	3–9	5–8	5–7	5–8	4–8	9–4	5–8	11–2	7–5
Cleveland	5–8	7–6	6–6	6–6	—	6–6	6–6	4–9	8–4	5–8	8–4	7–5	5–7	8–5
Detroit	6–7	5–8	8–4	9–3	6–6	—	5–7	6–7	4–8	7–6	7–5	7–5	6–6	9–4
Kansas City	6–6	4–8	6–7	8–5	6–6	7–5	—	5–7	7–6	5–7	9–4	7–6	6–7	9–3
Milwaukee	5–8	4–8	5–7	7–5	9–4	7–6	7–5	—	8–4	9–4	6–6	9–3	9–3	10–3
Minnesota	4–8	3–9	4–9	8–5	4–8	8–4	6–7	4–8	—	7–5	9–4	10–3	4–9	11–1
New York	6–5	8–5	5–7	8–4	8–5	6–7	7–5	4–9	5–7	—	9–3	6–6	8–4	9–4
Oakland	4–8	3–9	3–10	4–9	4–8	5–7	4–9	6–6	4–9	3–9	—	8–5	2–11	4–8
Seattle	2–10	4–8	6–7	8–5	5–7	5–7	6–7	3–9	3–10	6–6	5–8	—	6–7	8–4
Texas	6–6	6–6	8–5	2–11	7–5	6–6	7–6	3–9	9–4	4–8	11–2	7–6	—	7–5
Toronto	2–11	4–9	5–7	5–7	5–8	4–9	3–9	3–10	1–11	4–9	8–4	4–8	5–7	—

Notable transactions

June 5, 1979: 1979 Major League Baseball Draft
- Randy Bush was drafted by the Twins in the 2nd round.^[8]
- Mike Kinnunen was drafted by the Twins in the 10th round.^[9]
June 29, 1979: Rudy Meoli was purchased by the Twins from the Philadelphia Phillies.^[10]
July 25, 1979: Craig Kusick was purchased from the Twins by the Toronto Blue Jays.^[11]

Roster

1979 Minnesota Twins

Roster

Pitchers

27 Mike Bacsik

31 Ken Brett

19 Roger Erickson

21 Terry Felton

30 Dave Goltz

18 Paul Hartzell

21 Jeff Holly

15,31 Darrell Jackson

36 Jerry Koosman

28 Mike Marshall

17 Pete Redfern

20 Gary Serum

40 Kevin Stanfield

23 Paul Thormodsgard

38 Geoff Zahn

Catchers

14 Glenn Borgmann

16 Butch Wynegar

Infielders

1 John Castino

26 Mike Cubbage

25 Danny Goodwin

15 Ron Jackson

22 Craig Kusick

34 José Morales

32 Bob Randall

5 Roy Smalley

7 Rob Wilfong

Outfielders

8 Glenn Adams

33 Dave Edwards

44 Ken Landreaux

24 Willie Norwood

10 Hosken Powell

9 Bombo Rivera

25,12 Rick Sofield

35 Gary Ward

Other batters

37 Dan Graham

37 Jesús Vega

Manager

4 Gene Mauch

Coaches

45 Johnny Goryl

41 Karl Kuehl

42 Camilo Pascual

43 Jerry Zimmerman

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

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
1B	Jackson, RonRon Jackson	159	583	158	.271	14	68
SS	Smalley, RoyRoy Smalley	162	621	168	.271	24	95
LF	Landreaux, KenKen Landreaux	151	564	172	.305	15	83

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
Norwood, WillieWillie Norwood	76	270	67	.248	6	30
Rivera, BomboBombo Rivera	112	263	74	.281	2	31
Edwards, DaveDave Edwards	96	229	57	.249	8	35
Randall, BobBob Randall	80	199	49	.246	0	14
Morales, JoséJosé Morales	92	191	51	.267	2	27
Goodwin, DannyDanny Goodwin	58	159	46	.289	5	27
Borgmann, GlennGlenn Borgmann	31	70	14	.200	0	8
Kusick, CraigCraig Kusick	24	54	13	.241	3	6
Vega, JesúsJesús Vega	4	7	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
Koosman, JerryJerry Koosman	37	263.2	20	13	3.38	157
Goltz, DaveDave Goltz	36	250.2	14	13	4.16	132
Hartzell, PaulPaul Hartzell	28	163	6	10	5.36	44
Zahn, GeoffGeoff Zahn	26	169	13	7	3.57	58
Erickson, RogerRoger Erickson	24	123	3	10	5.63	47

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
Redfern, PetePete Redfern	40	108.1	7	3	3.49	85
Jackson, DarrellDarrell Jackson	24	69.1	4	4	4.28	43
Serum, GaryGary Serum	20	64	1	3	6.61	31

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
Marshall, MikeMike Marshall	90	10	15	32	2.65	81
Bacsik, MikeMike Bacsik	31	4	2	0	4.39	33
Brett, KenKen Brett	9	0	0	0	4.97	3
Holly, JeffJeff Holly	6	0	0	0	7.11	5
Stanfield, KevinKevin Stanfield	3	0	0	0	6.00	1
Felton, TerryTerry Felton	1	0	0	0	0.00	1

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Toledo Mud Hens	International League	Cal Ermer
AA	Orlando Twins	Southern League	Roy McMillan
A	Visalia Oaks	California League	Tom Kelly
A	Wisconsin Rapids Twins	Midwest League	Rick Stelmaszek
Rookie	Elizabethton Twins	Appalachian League	Fred Waters

Notes

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.
Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com
Team info from www.baseball-almanac.com

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 MLB draft 1979 All-Star Game 1979 World Series

Minnesota Twins

Formerly the Washington Nationals and the Washington Senators
Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota (Twin Cities)

Franchise

Ballparks

Spring Training: Plant Field
Tinker Field
Hammond Stadium

Culture

Homer Hanky
Little Big League
Major League: Back to the Minors
Continental League
"The Piranhas"
AL Central tie-breaker games
- 2008
- 2009
Damn Yankees

Important figures

Senators Hall of Famers	Herb Carneal Goose Goslin Bucky Harris Walter Johnson Arch McDonald Sam Rice

Wall of Fame members	Rick Aguilera Bob Allison Earl Battey Bert Blyleven George Brophy Rod Carew Bob Casey Gary Gaetti Calvin Griffith Kent Hrbek Jim Kaat Tom Kelly Harmon Killebrew Tony Oliva Carl Pohlad Kirby Puckett Brad Radke Jim Rantz Zoilo Versalles Frank Viola

World Series
Championships (3)

Pennants (6)

American League: 1924
1925
1933
1965
1987
1991

Division titles (10)

West: 1969; 1970; 1987; 1991
Central: 2002; 2003; 2004; 2006; 2009; 2010

Minor league affiliates

Triple-A: Rochester Red Wings
Double-A: Chattanooga Lookouts
A Adv.: Fort Myers Miracle
A: Cedar Rapids Kernels
Rookie Adv.: Elizabethton Twins
Rookie: GCL Twins; DSL Twins

Seasons (116)

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 2016

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, January 30, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.