Wikipedia

1979 Chicago Cubs season

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.

1979 Chicago Cubs
LeagueNational League
DivisionEast
BallparkWrigley Field
CityChicago
Record80–82 (.494)
Divisional place5th
OwnersWilliam Wrigley III
General managersBob Kennedy
ManagersHerman Franks, Joey Amalfitano
TelevisionWGN-TV
(Jack Brickhouse, Lou Boudreau)
RadioWGN
(Vince Lloyd, Lou Boudreau)
StatsESPN.com
Baseball Reference
← 1978
1980 →

Offseason

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Regular season

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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

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NL East
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Pittsburgh Pirates 9864 .605 — 48‍–‍33 50‍–‍31
Montreal Expos 9565 .594 2 56‍–‍25 39‍–‍40
St. Louis Cardinals 8676 .531 12 42‍–‍39 44‍–‍37
Philadelphia Phillies 8478 .519 14 43‍–‍38 41‍–‍40
Chicago Cubs 8082 .494 18 45‍–‍36 35‍–‍46
New York Mets 6399 .389 35 28‍–‍53 35‍–‍46

Record vs. opponents

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1979 National League record

Sources:
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta—4–86–127–1112–61–94–87–54–86–1211–74–8
Chicago8–4—7–56–65–76–128–109–96–129–38–48–10
Cincinnati12–65–7—8–1011–76–68–48–48–410–76–128–4
Houston11–76–610–8—10–87–59–35–74–814–47–116–6
Los Angeles6–127–57–118–10—6–69–33–94–89–914–46–6
Montreal9–112–66–65–76–6—15–311–77–117–57–510–8
New York8–410–84–83–93–93–15—5–138–104–88–47–11
Philadelphia5–79–94–87–59–37–1113–5—8–109–36–67–11
Pittsburgh8–412–64–88–48–411–710–810–8—7–59–311–7
San Diego12–63–97–104–149–95–78–43–95–7—8–104–8
San Francisco7–114–812–611–74–145–74–86–63–910–8—5–7
St. Louis8–410–84–86–66–68–1011–711–77–118–47–5—

Notable transactions

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Roster

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1979 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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= Indicates team leader

Batting

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Starters by position

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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
CBarry Foote132429109.2541656
1BBill Buckner149591168.2841466
2BTed Sizemore9833082.248224
SSIván DeJesús160636180.283552
3BSteve Ontiveros152519148.285457
LFDave Kingman145532153.28848115
CFJerry Martin150534145.2721973
RFScot Thompson128346100.289229

Other batters

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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 Biitner11127279.290350
Bobby Murcer5819049.258722
Mike Vail8717960.335735
Steve Dillard8916647.283524
Mick Kelleher7314236.254010
Tim Blackwell6312220.164012
Ken Henderson628119.23528
Steve Macko19409.22503
Miguel Diloné433611.30601
Sam Mejías31112.18200
Bruce Kimm9111.09100
Gene Clines10102.20000
Steve Davis340.00001
Kurt Seibert720.00000
Karl Pagel110.00000

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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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 Reuschel36239.018123.62125
Lynn McGlothen42212.013144.12147
Dennis Lamp38200.111103.5086
Mike Krukow28164.2994.21119
Ken Holtzman23117.2694.5944

Other pitchers

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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 Caudill2990.0174.80104
George Riley413.0015.545

Relief pitchers

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

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Bruce Sutter6266372.22110
Dick Tidrow6311542.7268
Willie Hernández514405.0153
Donnie Moore391415.1843
Ray Burris140006.2314
Doug Capilla130102.6010
Dave Geisel70000.605

Farm system

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Notes

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  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

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  • 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.
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