From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

1978 California Angels season

Major League Baseball season

Field	Value
name	California Angels
season	1978
league	American League
division	West
ballpark	Anaheim Stadium
city	Anaheim, California
owners	Gene Autry
general_managers	Buzzie Bavasi
managers	Dave Garcia, Jim Fregosi
television	KTLA
radio	KMPC
(Dick Enberg, Don Drysdale, Al Wisk)

(Dick Enberg, Don Drysdale, Al Wisk) |}}

The 1978 California Angels season was the 18th season of the Angels franchise in the American League, the 13th in Anaheim, and their 13th season playing their home games at Anaheim Stadium. The Angels finished the season tied for second in the American League West with a record of 87 wins and 75 losses.

Late in the season, the Angels suffered the loss of outfielder Lyman Bostock when Bostock was murdered on September 23 in Gary, Indiana.

This was the Angels' first winning season since 1970.

Offseason

November 21, 1977: Lyman Bostock was signed as a free agent by the Angels.
December 5, 1977: Bobby Bonds, Richard Dotson and Thad Bosley were traded by the Angels to the Chicago White Sox for Brian Downing, Chris Knapp, and Dave Frost.
December 8, 1977: Jerry Remy was traded by the Angels to the Boston Red Sox for Don Aase and cash.
January 15, 1978: Gary Nolan was released by the Angels.
March 20, 1978: Fred Kuhaulua was released by the Angels.
March 25, 1978: Merv Rettenmund was signed as a free agent by the Angels.

Regular season

On May 12, Angels pitcher Nolan Ryan struck out Buddy Bell for the 2500th strikeout of his career.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

June 6, 1978: 1978 Major League Baseball draft
- Dave Engle was drafted by the Angels in the 3rd round.
- Dan Whitmer was drafted by the Angels in the 14th round.

Roster

1978 California Angels
Roster
Pitchers

Player stats

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
C	Brian Downing	133	412	105	.255	7	46
1B	Ron Jackson	105	387	115	.297	6	57
2B	Bobby Grich	144	487	122	.251	6	42
SS	Dave Chalk	135	470	119	.253	1	34
3B	Carney Lansford	121	453	133	.294	8	52
LF	Joe Rudi	133	497	127	.256	17	79
CF	Rick Miller	132	475	125	.263	1	37
RF		147	568	168	.296	5	71
DH	Don Baylor	158	591	151	.255	34	99

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
Ken Landreaux	93	260	58	.223	5	23
Ron Fairly	91	235	51	.217	10	40
Rance Mulliniks	50	119	22	.185	1	6
Terry Humphrey	53	114	25	.219	1	9
	48	108	21	.194	0	7
Merv Rettenmund	50	108	29	.269	1	14
Tony Solaita	60	94	21	.223	1	14
Danny Goodwin	24	58	16	.276	2	10
Dave Machemer	10	22	6	.273	1	2
Ike Hampton	19	14	3	.214	1	4

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
Frank Tanana	33	239.0	18	12	3.65	137
Nolan Ryan	31	234.2	10	13	3.72	260
Chris Knapp	30	188.1	14	8	4.21	126
	29	178.2	11	8	4.03	93
Dave Frost	11	80.1	5	4	2.58	30
John Caneira	2	7.2	0	0	7.04	0

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
Paul Hartzell	54	157.0	6	10	3.44	55
Ken Brett	31	100.0	3	5	4.95	43
Tom Griffin	24	56.0	3	4	4.02	35
Al Fitzmorris	9	31.2	1	0	1.71	8

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
Dave LaRoche	59	10	9	25	2.82	70
Dyar Miller	41	6	2	1	2.66	34
Mike Barlow	1	0	0	0	4.50	1

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: El Paso

Notes

References

"Archives".
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bostoly01.shtml Lyman Bostock] at ''Baseball-Reference''
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/d/dotsori01.shtml Richard Dotson] at ''Baseball-Reference''
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/a/aasedo01.shtml Don Aase] at ''Baseball-Reference''
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/n/nolanga01.shtml Gary Nolan] at ''Baseball-Reference''
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kuhaufr01.shtml Fred Kuhaulua] at ''Baseball-Reference''
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/retteme01.shtml Merv Rettenmund] at ''Baseball-Reference''
"The Nolan Ryan Express {{!}} The Strikeout King".
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/e/engleda01.shtml Dave Engle] at ''Baseball-Reference''
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/whitmda01.shtml Dan Whitmer] at ''Baseball-Reference''

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

los-angeles-angels-seasons 1970s-in-anaheim,-california 1978-major-league-baseball-season 1978-in-sports-in-california

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 1978 California Angels season — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report