| 1979 Cincinnati Reds | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National League West champions | ||||
| League | National League | |||
| Division | West | |||
| Ballpark | Riverfront Stadium | |||
| City | Cincinnati | |||
| Record | 90–71 (.559) | |||
| Divisional place | 1st | |||
| Owners | Louis Nippert | |||
| General managers | Dick Wagner | |||
| Managers | John McNamara | |||
| Television | WLWT (Ray Lane,Bill Brown) | |||
| Radio | WLW (Marty Brennaman,Joe Nuxhall) | |||
| ||||
The1979Cincinnati Reds season was the 110th season for the franchise inMajor League Baseball, and their 10th and 9th full season atRiverfront Stadium. The Reds won theNational League West under their first-year managerJohn McNamara, with a record of 90–71, 1½ games better than theHouston Astros. It was a year of great change for the Reds, who lost long-time starPete Rose to the Philadelphia Phillies, who signed Rose as an unrestricted free agent. Also, long-time manager and future Hall of FamerSparky Anderson was fired by new general managerDick Wagner when Anderson refused to make changes in his coaching staff. McNamara guided the Reds to its first West Division title in three years. Wagner replaced long-time GMBob Howsam, who retired after running the Reds for 12 years. Through some good drafts and several key trades, Howsam built a team that won six division titles, and played in fourWorld Series, winning two, during the 1970s.
However, the Reds lost theNLCS to the eventualWorld Series championPittsburgh Pirates in three straight games. It was the first time in four tries the Pirates had upended the Reds in a league championship series sinceMajor League Baseball began divisional play in 1969. It would be Cincinnati's last postseason appearance until1990.
The Reds played their home games atRiverfront Stadium.
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds | 90 | 71 | .559 | — | 48–32 | 42–39 |
| Houston Astros | 89 | 73 | .549 | 1½ | 52–29 | 37–44 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 79 | 83 | .488 | 11½ | 46–35 | 33–48 |
| San Francisco Giants | 71 | 91 | .438 | 19½ | 38–43 | 33–48 |
| San Diego Padres | 68 | 93 | .422 | 22 | 39–42 | 29–51 |
| Atlanta Braves | 66 | 94 | .412 | 23½ | 34–45 | 32–49 |
Sources:[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | — | |||||
| 1979 Cincinnati Reds | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
| Pitchers | Catchers Infielders | Outfielders
Other batters | Manager Coaches | ||||||
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 | Johnny Bench | 130 | 464 | 128 | .276 | 22 | 80 |
| 1B | Dan Driessen | 150 | 515 | 129 | .250 | 18 | 75 |
| 2B | Joe Morgan | 127 | 436 | 109 | .250 | 9 | 32 |
| 3B | Ray Knight | 150 | 551 | 175 | .318 | 10 | 79 |
| SS | Dave Concepción | 149 | 590 | 166 | .281 | 16 | 84 |
| LF | George Foster | 121 | 440 | 133 | .302 | 30 | 98 |
| CF | César Gerónimo | 123 | 356 | 85 | .239 | 4 | 38 |
| RF | Ken Griffey | 95 | 380 | 120 | .316 | 8 | 32 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dave Collins | 122 | 396 | 126 | .318 | 3 | 35 |
| Junior Kennedy | 83 | 220 | 60 | .273 | 1 | 17 |
| Héctor Cruz | 74 | 182 | 44 | .242 | 4 | 27 |
| Paul Blair | 75 | 140 | 21 | .150 | 2 | 15 |
| Rick Auerbach | 62 | 100 | 21 | .210 | 1 | 12 |
| Champ Summers | 27 | 60 | 12 | .200 | 1 | 11 |
| Harry Spilman | 43 | 56 | 12 | .214 | 0 | 5 |
| Arturo DeFreites | 23 | 34 | 7 | .206 | 0 | 4 |
| Ken Henderson | 10 | 13 | 3 | .231 | 0 | 2 |
| Rafael Santo Domingo | 7 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| Ron Oester | 6 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Sam Mejias | 7 | 2 | 1 | .500 | 0 | 0 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Seaver | 32 | 215.0 | 16 | 6 | 3.14 | 131 |
| Mike LaCoss | 35 | 205.2 | 14 | 8 | 3.50 | 73 |
| Fred Norman | 34 | 195.1 | 11 | 13 | 3.64 | 95 |
| Bill Bonham | 29 | 175.2 | 9 | 7 | 3.79 | 78 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Hume | 57 | 163.0 | 10 | 9 | 2.76 | 80 |
| Paul Moskau | 21 | 106.0 | 5 | 4 | 3.89 | 58 |
| Frank Pastore | 30 | 95.1 | 6 | 7 | 4.25 | 63 |
Note: Tom Hume led the Reds insaves with 17.
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doug Bair | 65 | 11 | 7 | 16 | 4.29 | 86 |
| Dave Tomlin | 53 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2.62 | 30 |
| Pedro Borbón | 30 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3.43 | 23 |
| Mario Soto | 25 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5.30 | 32 |
| Manny Sarmiento | 23 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4.66 | 23 |
| Doug Capilla | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8.53 | 0 |
| Charlie Leibrandt | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |
October 2,Riverfront Stadium
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 0 | |
| Cincinnati | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0 | |
| W:Grant Jackson (1–0) L:Tom Hume (0–1) SV:Don Robinson (1) | |||||||||||||||
| HRs:PIT –Phil Garner (1) Willie Stargell (1) CIN –George Foster (1) | |||||||||||||||
October 3,Riverfront Stadium
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 0 | ||
| Cincinnati | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 | ||
| W:Don Robinson (1–0) L:Doug Bair (0–1) SV: None | |||||||||||||||
| HRs:PIT – None CIN – None | |||||||||||||||
October 5,Three Rivers Stadium
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 1 | |
| Pittsburgh | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 7 | 7 | 0 | |
| W:Bert Blyleven (1–0) L:Mike LaCoss (0–1) SV: None | |||||||||||||
| HRs:CIN –Johnny Bench (1) PIT –Willie Stargell (2) Bill Madlock (1) | |||||||||||||
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Nashville