| 1979 St. Louis Cardinals | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| League | National League | |||
| Division | East | |||
| Ballpark | Busch Memorial Stadium | |||
| City | St. Louis, Missouri | |||
| Record | 86–76 (.531) | |||
| Divisional place | 3rd | |||
| Owners | August "Gussie" Busch | |||
| General managers | John Claiborne | |||
| Managers | Ken Boyer | |||
| Television | KSDK (as KSD-TV before September 8) KPLR (September 9 game only) (Jack Buck,Mike Shannon,Jay Randolph,Bob Starr) | |||
| Radio | KMOX (Jack Buck,Mike Shannon,Bob Starr) | |||
| ||||
The1979 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 98th season inSt. Louis, Missouri and its 88th season in theNational League. TheCardinals went 86–76 during the season and finished third in theNational League East, 12 games behind the eventual NLpennant andWorld Series championPittsburgh Pirates.
First basemanKeith Hernández won theMVP Award this year, along withWillie Stargell, batting .344, with 11 home runs and 105 RBIs. Hernández also won theGold Glove. Left fielderLou Brock collectedhis 3,000th career hit and played his final season inMLB.
Pete Vuckovich andSilvio Martínez each won 15 games.Garry Templeton became the first switch-hitter to collect 100 hits from each side of the plate and led the league in triples for a third consecutive season.
| 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 St. Louis Cardinals | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | Ted Simmons | 123 | 448 | 127 | .283 | 26 | 87 |
| 1B | Keith Hernandez | 161 | 610 | 210 | .344 | 11 | 105 |
| 2B | Ken Oberkfell | 135 | 369 | 111 | .301 | 1 | 35 |
| SS | Garry Templeton | 154 | 672 | 211 | .314 | 9 | 62 |
| 3B | Ken Reitz | 159 | 605 | 162 | .268 | 8 | 73 |
| LF | Lou Brock | 120 | 405 | 123 | .304 | 5 | 38 |
| CF | Tony Scott | 153 | 587 | 152 | .259 | 6 | 68 |
| RF | George Hendrick | 140 | 493 | 148 | .300 | 16 | 75 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jerry Mumphrey | 124 | 339 | 100 | .295 | 3 | 32 |
| Mike Tyson | 75 | 190 | 42 | .221 | 5 | 20 |
| Dane Iorg | 79 | 179 | 52 | .291 | 1 | 21 |
| Terry Kennedy | 33 | 109 | 31 | .284 | 2 | 17 |
| Mike Phillips | 44 | 97 | 22 | .227 | 1 | 6 |
| Steve Swisher | 38 | 73 | 11 | .151 | 1 | 3 |
| Bernie Carbo | 52 | 64 | 18 | .281 | 3 | 12 |
| Roger Freed | 34 | 31 | 8 | .258 | 2 | 8 |
| Jim Lentine | 11 | 23 | 9 | .391 | 0 | 1 |
| Tom Grieve | 9 | 15 | 3 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Keith Smith | 6 | 13 | 3 | .231 | 0 | 0 |
| Tom Herr | 14 | 10 | 2 | .200 | 0 | 1 |
| Mike Dimmel | 6 | 3 | 1 | .333 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pete Vuckovich | 34 | 233.0 | 15 | 10 | 3.59 | 145 |
| Bob Forsch | 33 | 218.2 | 11 | 11 | 3.83 | 92 |
| Silvio Martínez | 32 | 206.2 | 15 | 8 | 3.27 | 102 |
| John Denny | 31 | 206.0 | 8 | 11 | 4.85 | 99 |
| John Fulgham | 20 | 146.0 | 10 | 6 | 2.53 | 75 |
| Bob Sykes | 13 | 67.0 | 4 | 3 | 6.18 | 35 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roy Thomas | 26 | 77.0 | 3 | 4 | 2.92 | 44 |
| John Urrea | 3 | 11.1 | 0 | 0 | 3.97 | 5 |
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Littell | 63 | 9 | 4 | 13 | 2.19 | 67 |
| Darold Knowles | 48 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 4.07 | 22 |
| Will McEnaney | 45 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2.95 | 15 |
| Buddy Schultz | 31 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4.46 | 38 |
| Tom Bruno | 27 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4.23 | 27 |
| George Frazier | 25 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4.45 | 14 |
| Dan O'Brien | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8.18 | 5 |
| Kim Seaman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Arkansas