| 1979 New York Mets | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| League | National League | |||
| Division | East | |||
| Ballpark | Shea Stadium | |||
| City | New York | |||
| Record | 63–99 (.389) | |||
| Divisional place | 6th | |||
| Owners | Charles Shipman Payson | |||
| General manager | Joe McDonald | |||
| Manager | Joe Torre | |||
| Television | WOR-TV | |||
| Radio | WMCA (Ralph Kiner,Bob Murphy, Steve Albert) | |||
| ||||
The1979New York Mets season was the 18th season for the Mets, who played home games atShea Stadium. Led by managerJoe Torre, the team had a 63–99 record and finished in sixth place in theNational League East, thirty-five games behind the first place Pittsburgh Pirates. This was also the first season that the players' names appeared on the back of the uniforms.
The 1979 season was worse than 1978. The Mets were in last place by mid-May,[6][7] and finished the season in last place for the third straight year.[8][9] Attendance was below 1 million for the first time in team history, hitting a record low of just 788,000.[9]
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 98 | 64 | .605 | — | 48–33 | 50–31 |
| Montreal Expos | 95 | 65 | .594 | 2 | 56–25 | 39–40 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 86 | 76 | .531 | 12 | 42–39 | 44–37 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 84 | 78 | .519 | 14 | 43–38 | 41–40 |
| Chicago Cubs | 80 | 82 | .494 | 18 | 45–36 | 35–46 |
| New York Mets | 63 | 99 | .389 | 35 | 28–53 | 35–46 |
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 New York Mets | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
| Pitchers | Catchers Infielders | Outfielders | 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 | John Stearns | 155 | 538 | 131 | .243 | 9 | 66 |
| 1B | Willie Montañez | 109 | 410 | 96 | .234 | 5 | 47 |
| 2B | Doug Flynn | 157 | 555 | 135 | .243 | 4 | 61 |
| SS | Frank Taveras | 153 | 635 | 167 | .263 | 1 | 33 |
| 3B | Richie Hebner | 136 | 473 | 127 | .268 | 10 | 79 |
| LF | Steve Henderson | 98 | 350 | 107 | .306 | 5 | 39 |
| CF | Lee Mazzilli | 158 | 597 | 181 | .303 | 15 | 79 |
| RF | Joel Youngblood | 158 | 590 | 162 | .275 | 16 | 60 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elliott Maddox | 86 | 224 | 60 | .268 | 1 | 12 |
| Alex Treviño | 79 | 207 | 56 | .271 | 0 | 20 |
| Ed Kranepool | 82 | 155 | 36 | .232 | 2 | 17 |
| Dan Norman | 44 | 110 | 27 | .245 | 3 | 11 |
| Bruce Boisclair | 59 | 98 | 18 | .184 | 0 | 4 |
| Gil Flores | 70 | 93 | 18 | .194 | 1 | 10 |
| Ron Hodges | 59 | 86 | 14 | .163 | 0 | 5 |
| Kelvin Chapman | 35 | 80 | 12 | .150 | 0 | 4 |
| José Cardenal | 11 | 37 | 11 | .297 | 2 | 4 |
| Sergio Ferrer | 32 | 9 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Tim Foli | 3 | 7 | 0 | .000 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Craig Swan | 35 | 251.1 | 14 | 13 | 3.29 | 145 |
| Pete Falcone | 33 | 184.0 | 6 | 14 | 4.16 | 113 |
| Kevin Kobel | 30 | 161.2 | 6 | 8 | 3.51 | 67 |
| Dock Ellis | 17 | 85.0 | 3 | 7 | 6.04 | 41 |
| Pat Zachry | 7 | 42.2 | 5 | 1 | 3.59 | 17 |
| Juan Berenguer | 5 | 30.2 | 1 | 1 | 2.93 | 25 |
| Ray Burris | 4 | 21.2 | 0 | 2 | 3.32 | 10 |
| John Pacella | 4 | 16.1 | 0 | 2 | 4.41 | 12 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andy Hassler | 29 | 80.1 | 4 | 5 | 3.70 | 53 |
| Tom Hausman | 19 | 78.2 | 2 | 6 | 2.75 | 33 |
| Mike Scott | 18 | 52.1 | 1 | 3 | 5.33 | 21 |
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neil Allen | 50 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 3.55 | 65 |
| Dale Murray | 58 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 4.82 | 37 |
| Ed Glynn | 46 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 3.00 | 32 |
| Wayne Twitchell | 33 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 5.23 | 44 |
| Dwight Bernard | 32 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4.70 | 20 |
| Skip Lockwood | 27 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 1.49 | 42 |
| Jesse Orosco | 18 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4.89 | 22 |
| Jeff Reardon | 18 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1.74 | 10 |
| Roy Lee Jackson | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.20 | 10 |
The New York Mets continued their relentless march towards...the lowest attendance in the club's 18-year history.
The Mets...finished in last place...for the third straight time, before a record low attendance of 788,000 fans.