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

1979 Kansas City Royals season

Field	Value
name	Kansas City Royals
season	1979
league	American League
division	West
ballpark	Royals Stadium
city	Kansas City, Missouri
record
divisional_place	2nd
owners	Ewing Kauffman
general_managers	Joe Burke
managers	Whitey Herzog (fourth full season)
television	KBMA
(Steve Shannon, Dave Nelson)
radio	WIBW (AM)
(Denny Matthews, Fred White)

(Steve Shannon, Dave Nelson) (Denny Matthews, Fred White) |}} The 1979 Kansas City Royals season was their 11th season in Major League Baseball. The Royals finished second in the American League West at 85–77, three games behind the California Angels and ending Kansas City's run of three consecutive division titles. Darrell Porter tied a single-season franchise record with 112 runs batted in. George Brett led the American League in hits (212) and triples (20). Manager Whitey Herzog was fired following the season.

Offseason

January 9, 1979: Mike Bielecki was drafted by the Royals in the 6th round of the 1979 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.
February 26, 1979: Eduardo Rodríguez was purchased by the Royals from the Milwaukee Brewers.

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

April 3, 1979: Doug Bird was traded by the Royals to the Philadelphia Phillies for Todd Cruz.
April 27, 1979: George Throop was traded by the Royals to the Houston Astros for a player to be named later. The Astros completed the deal by sending Keith Drumright to the Royals on October 26.
June 5, 1979: 1979 Major League Baseball draft
- Atlee Hammaker was drafted by the Royals in the 1st round (21st pick).
- Dan Marino was drafted by the Royals in the 4th round (99th pick overall).
- John Elway was drafted by the Royals in the 18th round (463rd pick overall).

Roster

1979 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers

Player stats

	= Indicates team leader

	= Indicates league leader

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; SB = Stolen bases

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
C	Darrell Porter	157	533	155	.291	20	112	3
1B	Pete LaCock	132	408	113	.277	3	56	2
2B		127	467	124	.266	10	48	28
3B		154	645	212	.329	23	107	17
SS		106	306	77	.252	1	37	11
LF		154	588	185	.315	6	49	83
CF	Al Cowens	136	516	152	.295	9	73	10
RF	Hal McRae	101	393	113	.288	10	74	5

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
	101	268	68	.254	2	25
John Wathan	90	199	41	.206	2	28
Clint Hurdle	59	171	41	.240	3	30
	44	146	39	.267	1	20
	55	118	24	.203	2	15
	58	116	31	.267	4	10
Jamie Quirk	51	79	24	.304	1	11
	31	40	12	.300	1	2
Tom Poquette	21	26	5	.192	0	3
Jim Nettles	11	23	2	.087	0	1
Joe Zdeb	15	23	4	.174	0	0
Jim Gaudet	3	6	1	.167	0	0
	5	5	3	.600	0	0

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
Paul Splittorff	36	240.0	15	17	4.24	77
Dennis Leonard	32	236.0	14	12	4.08	126
	39	233.2	13	12	4.47	85
	34	181.2	9	10	5.65	103
	10	69.2	4	4	3.75	30

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
	22	94.1	6	6	3.63	45
Marty Pattin	31	94.1	5	2	4.58	41

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
Al Hrabosky	58	9	4	11	3.74	39
Dan Quisenberry	32	3	2	5	3.15	13
Steve Mingori	30	3	3	1	5.79	18
	29	4	1	2	4.84	26
Renie Martin	25	0	3	5	5.19	25
	7	0	1	0	6.59	3
	6	0	0	0	3.38	4
	5	0	0	0	2.70	4
	4	0	0	0	13.50	1
	1	0	0	0	0.00	0

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Darrell Porter, Catcher, Starter
Frank White, Second Base, Starter
George Brett, Third Base, Starter

Farm system

Notes

References

1979 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference
1979 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac

References

[https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bielemi01.shtml Mike Bielecki] at ''Baseball Reference''
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/rodried01.shtml Eduardo Rodríguez page on Baseball Reference]
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/c/cruzto02.shtml Todd Cruz] at ''Baseball Reference''
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/d/drumrke01.shtml Keith Drumright] at ''Baseball Reference''
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hammaat01.shtml Atlee Hammaker] at ''Baseball Reference''
"4th Round of the 1979 MLB June Amateur Draft".
"18th Round of the 1979 MLB June Amateur Draft".

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.

kansas-city-royals-seasons 1979-major-league-baseball-season 1979-in-sports-in-missouri

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 1979 Kansas City Royals 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