1979 Toronto Blue Jays season

1979 Toronto Blue Jays
Major League affiliations
	American League (since 1977);
	Eastern Division (since 1977);
Location
	Exhibition Stadium (since 1977); Toronto (since 1977);
Results
Record	53–109 (.327)
Divisional place	7th
Other information
Owner(s)	Labatt Breweries,; Imperial Trust,; Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
General manager(s)	Pat Gillick
Manager(s)	Roy Hartsfield
Local television	CBC Television; (Don Chevrier, Tony Kubek, Tom McKee); CBFT; (Jean-Pierre Roy, Guy Ferron)
Local radio	CKFH; (Early Wynn, Tom Cheek)
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The 1979 Toronto Blue Jays season was the franchise's third season of Major League Baseball. It resulted in the Blue Jays finishing seventh in the American League East with a record of 53 wins and 109 losses. The Blue Jays were the only American League East team to finish 1979 with a losing record and the loss total of 109 set the franchise mark. Attendance for the season decreased to 1,431,651.[1]

Offseason

January 9, 1979: Mark Eichhorn was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2nd round of the 1979 amateur draft (January). [2]
January 11, 1979: Rico Carty was signed as a free agent by the Blue Jays.[3]
March 17, 1979: Steve Luebber was signed as a free agent by the Blue Jays.[4]
March 25, 1979: Bobby Brown was selected off waivers by the Blue Jays from the New York Mets.[5]

Regular season

Following the team's poor performance, manager Roy Hartsfield was fired at the end of the season. One highlight of the season was the awarding of the American League Rookie of the Year Award to Alfredo Griffin.[6]

The end of the 1979 season marked a crossroads for the franchise. The first real talent from the minor leagues had made it to the major league roster. Such talent included pitcher Dave Stieb and third baseman Danny Ainge.[1]

Season standings

AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Baltimore Orioles	102	57	0.642	—	55–24	47–33
Milwaukee Brewers	95	66	0.590	8	52–29	43–37
Boston Red Sox	91	69	0.569	11½	51–29	40–40
New York Yankees	89	71	0.556	13½	51–30	38–41
Detroit Tigers	85	76	0.528	18	46–34	39–42
Cleveland Indians	81	80	0.503	22	47–34	34–46
Toronto Blue Jays	53	109	0.327	50½	32–49	21–60

Record vs. opponents

1979 American League Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	8–5	9–3	8–3	8–5	7–6	6–6	8–5	8–4	5–6	8–4	10–2	6–6	11–2
Boston	5–8	—	5–7	5–6	6–7	8–5	8–4	8–4	9–3	5–8	9–3	8–4	6–6	9–4
California	3–9	7–5	—	9–4	6–6	4–8	7–6	7–5	9–4	7–5	10–3	7–6	5–8	7–5
Chicago	3–8	6–5	4–9	—	6–6	3–9	5–8	5–7	5–8	4–8	9–4	5–8	11–2	7–5
Cleveland	5–8	7–6	6–6	6–6	—	6–6	6–6	4–9	8–4	5–8	8–4	7–5	5–7	8–5
Detroit	6–7	5–8	8–4	9–3	6–6	—	5–7	6–7	4–8	7–6	7–5	7–5	6–6	9–4
Kansas City	6–6	4–8	6–7	8–5	6–6	7–5	—	5–7	7–6	5–7	9–4	7–6	6–7	9–3
Milwaukee	5–8	4–8	5–7	7–5	9–4	7–6	7–5	—	8–4	9–4	6–6	9–3	9–3	10–3
Minnesota	4–8	3–9	4–9	8–5	4–8	8–4	6–7	4–8	—	7–5	9–4	10–3	4–9	11–1
New York	6–5	8–5	5–7	8–4	8–5	6–7	7–5	4–9	5–7	—	9–3	6–6	8–4	9–4
Oakland	4–8	3–9	3–10	4–9	4–8	5–7	4–9	6–6	4–9	3–9	—	8–5	2–11	4–8
Seattle	2–10	4–8	6–7	8–5	5–7	5–7	6–7	3–9	3–10	6–6	5–8	—	6–7	8–4
Texas	6–6	6–6	8–5	2–11	7–5	6–6	7–6	3–9	9–4	4–8	11–2	7–6	—	7–5
Toronto	2–11	4–9	5–7	5–7	5–8	4–9	3–9	3–10	1–11	4–9	8–4	4–8	5–7	—

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

April 19, 1979: Bobby Brown was purchased from the Blue Jays by the New York Yankees.[5]
April 24, 1979: Tony Fernández was signed as an amateur free agent by the Blue Jays.[7]
July 25, 1979: Craig Kusick was purchased by the Blue Jays from the Minnesota Twins.[8]

Draft picks

June 5, 1979: 1979 Major League Baseball draft
- Future NFL quarterback Jay Schroeder was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1st round, but did not sign.[9]
- Ron Shepherd was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 2nd round.[10]
- Ron Romanick was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 3rd round, but did not sign.[11]
- Andre Robertson was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 4th round.[12]

Roster

1979 Toronto Blue Jays

Roster

Pitchers

44 Tom Buskey

18 Jim Clancy

16 Butch Edge

25 Dave Freisleben

36 Jerry Garvin

45 Steve Grilli

47 Phil Huffman

34 Jesse Jefferson

23 Dave Lemanczyk

40 Mark Lemongello

46 Steve Luebber

46 Dyar Miller

38 Balor Moore

45 Tom Murphy

37 Dave Stieb

32 Jackson Todd

24 Tom Underwood

33 Mike Willis

Catchers

9 Rick Cerone

8 Bob Davis

Infielders

2 Danny Ainge

11 Luis Gómez

4 Alfredo Griffin

13 Roy Howell

17 Tim Johnson

5 Craig Kusick

10 John Mayberry

39 Dave McKay

5 Bob Robertson

27 Tony Solaita

Outfielders

1 Bob Bailor

22 Rick Bosetti

5 Bobby Brown

30 Joe Cannon

19 Otto Vélez

35 Ted Wilborn

20 Alvis Woods

Other batters

21 Rico Carty

29 Pedro Hernández

Manager

7 Roy Hartsfield

Coaches

31 Bobby Doerr (Hitting)

43 Don Leppert (First Base)

15 Bob Miller (Pitching)

42 Jackie Moore (Third Base)

41 Harry Warner (Bullpen)

Game log

1979 Game Log 53–109 (Home 32–49, Away 21–60)

April 7–15 (Home 3–8, Away 4–7)

May 5–23 (Home 3–15, Away 2–8)

June 12–18 (Home 6–5, Away 6–13)

July 8–18 (Home 5–6, Away 3–12)

August 11–17 (Home 6–8, Away 5–9)

September 10–18 (Home 9–7, Away 1–11)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
135	September 1	Mariners	3–2 (10)	Honeycutt (10–9)	Buskey (6–6)		23,139	43–92
136	September 2	Mariners	8–5	Stieb (6–5)	Twitchell (0–2)	Jefferson (1)	14,776	44–92
137	September 3	@ Orioles	2–1 (11)	Martinez (9–2)	Buskey (6–7)			44–93
138	September 3	@ Orioles	5–1	Flanagan (20–7)	Lemanczyk (8–10)		20,432	44–94
–	September 5	@ Orioles	Postponed (rain) Rescheduled for September 6
139	September 6	@ Orioles	5–0	Martínez (15–12)	Edge (2–2)		7,053	44–95
140	September 7	@ Indians	9–8	Reuschel (2–1)	Buskey (6–8)		4,222	44–96
141	September 8	@ Indians	5–4	Wise (15–7)	Stieb (6–6)		4,439	44–97
142	September 9	@ Indians	14–10	Monge (9–9)	Buskey (6–9)		9,166	44–98
143	September 11	Orioles	3–1	Underwood (7–16)	McGregor (11–5)		12,092	45–98
144	September 12	Orioles	3–2	Edge (3–2)	Palmer (8–6)		21,213	46–98
145	September 13	Orioles	10–4	Flanagan (22–7)	Huffman (6–15)		11,080	46–99
146	September 14	Indians	4–3	Stieb (7–6)	Wise (15–8)		11,010	47–99
147	September 15	Indians	5–2	Moore (4–6)	Barker (6–5)		12,160	48–99
148	September 16	Indians	8–2	Underwood (8–16)	Garland (4–10)		17,078	49–99
149	September 17	Red Sox	5–4	Jefferson (2–10)	Drago (9–6)			50–99
150	September 17	Red Sox	5–3	Rainey (7–5)	Freisleben (2–3)	Campbell (9)	15,644	50–100
151	September 18	Red Sox	8–3	Torrez (15–12)	Huffman (6–16)		13,208	50–101
152	September 19	Red Sox	8–0	Stanley (16–10)	Stieb (7–7)		21,650	50–102
153	September 20	Red Sox	6–2	Moore (5–6)	Renko (10–9)		13,201	51–102
154	September 21	Yankees	3–2	Underwood (9–16)	Guidry (17–8)	Buskey (7)	22,331	52–102
155	September 22	Yankees	7–4	Tiant (12–8)	Edge (3–3)	Gossage (16)	37,408	52–103
156	September 23	Yankees	7–5	John (20–9)	Huffman (6–17)	Gossage (17)	28,137	52–104
157	September 25	@ Red Sox	5–3	Stieb (8–7)	Stanley (16–11)		18,929	53–104
158	September 26	@ Red Sox	6–4	Rainey (8–5)	Moore (5–7)	Drago (12)	18,010	53–105
159	September 27	@ Red Sox	6–5	Drago (10–6)	Buskey (6–10)		20,853	53–106
160	September 28	@ Yankees	7–3	Tiant (13–8)	Edge (3–4)		17,647	53–107
161	September 29	@ Yankees	9–4	John (21–9)	Huffman (6–18)		30,016	53–108
162	September 30	@ Yankees	9–2	Davis (14–2)	Stieb (8–8)	Griffin (1)	28,150	53–109

Player stats

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Pos	Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
C	Rick Cerone	136	469	47	112	27	4	.239	7	61	1
1B	John Mayberry	137	464	61	127	22	1	.274	21	74	1
2B	Danny Ainge	87	308	26	73	7	1	.237	2	19	1
3B	Roy Howell	138	511	60	126	28	4	.247	15	72	1
SS	Alfredo Griffin	153	624	81	179	22	10	.287	2	31	21
LF	Alvis Woods	132	436	57	121	24	4	.278	5	36	6
CF	Rick Bosetti	162	619	59	161	35	2	.260	8	65	13
RF	Bob Bailor	130	414	50	95	11	5	.229	1	38	14
DH	Rico Carty	132	461	48	118	26	0	.256	12	55	3

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
Otto Vélez	99	274	45	79	21	0	.288	15	48	0
Luis Gómez	59	163	11	39	7	0	.239	0	11	1
Dave McKay	47	156	19	34	9	0	.218	0	12	1
Joe Cannon	61	142	14	30	1	1	.211	1	5	12
Tony Solaita	36	102	14	27	8	1	.265	2	13	0
Bob Davis	32	89	6	11	2	0	.124	1	8	0
Tim Johnson	43	86	6	16	2	1	.186	0	6	0
Craig Kusick	23	54	3	11	1	0	.204	2	7	0
Bob Robertson	15	29	1	3	0	0	.103	1	1	0
Ted Wilborn	22	12	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Bobby Brown	4	10	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Pedro Hernández	3	0	1	0	0	0	----	0	0	0

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player	G	GS	IP	W	L	ERA	R	ER	BB	K
Tom Underwood	33	32	227	9	16	3.69	113	93	95	127
Phil Huffman	31	31	173	6	18	5.77	130	111	68	56
Dave Lemanczyk	22	20	143	8	10	3.71	65	59	45	63
Dave Stieb	18	18	129.1	8	8	4.31	70	62	48	52
Jim Clancy	12	11	63.2	2	7	5.51	44	39	31	33
Butch Edge	9	9	51.2	3	4	5.23	32	30	24	19

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player	G	GS	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	R	ER	BB	K
Balor Moore	34	16	139.1	5	7	0	4.84	85	75	79	51
Jesse Jefferson	34	10	116	2	10	1	5.51	75	71	45	43
Mark Lemongello	18	10	83	1	9	0	6.29	64	58	34	40

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	R	ER	BB	K
Tom Buskey	44	78.2	6	10	7	3.43	33	30	25	44
Dave Freisleben	42	91	2	3	3	4.95	57	50	53	35
Mike Willis	17	26.2	0	3	0	8.44	27	25	16	8
Jackson Todd	12	32.1	0	1	0	5.85	26	21	7	14
Tom Murphy	10	18.1	1	2	0	5.40	11	11	8	6
Dyar Miller	10	15.1	0	0	0	10.57	18	18	5	7
Jerry Garvin	8	22.2	0	1	0	2.78	9	7	10	14
Steve Grilli	1	2.1	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	0	1
Craig Kusick	1	3.2	0	0	0	4.91	2	2	0	0
Steve Luebber	1	0	0	0	0	∞	1	1	1	0

Awards and honors

Alfredo Griffin, American League Rookie of the Year Award
Alfredo Griffin, Player of the Month Award, September

All-Star Game

Dave Lemanczyk, reserve[13]

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Syracuse Chiefs	International League	Vern Benson
A	Kinston Eagles	Carolina League	Duane Larson
A	Dunedin Blue Jays	Florida State League	Denis Menke
A-Short Season	Utica Blue Jays	New York–Penn League	John McLaren
Rookie	Medicine Hat Blue Jays	Pioneer League	Dennis Holmberg

[14]

Notes

Diamond Dreams: 20 Years of Blue Jays Baseball, Stephen Brunt, p. 125, Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-023978-2
"Mark Eichhorn: Career Statistics". Baseball Reference. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
Rico Carty at Baseball Reference
Steve Luebber at Baseball Reference
Bobby Brown at Baseball Reference
Diamond Dreams, p. 136
Tony Fernández at Baseball Reference
Craig Kusick at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?query_type=franch_year&team_ID=TOR&year_ID=1979&draft_type=junreg
Ron Shepherd at Baseball Reference
Ron Romanick at Baseball-Reference
Andre Robertson at Baseball-Reference
Blue Jays All-Stars | bluejays.com: History
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

References

Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.

External links

1979 Toronto Blue Jays at Baseball Reference
1979 Toronto Blue Jays at Baseball Almanac

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[p125-1] Diamond Dreams: 20 Years of Blue Jays Baseball, Stephen Brunt, p. 125, Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-023978-2

[2] "Mark Eichhorn: Career Statistics". Baseball Reference. Retrieved February 16, 2018.

[3] Rico Carty at Baseball Reference

[4] Steve Luebber at Baseball Reference

[brown-5] Bobby Brown at Baseball Reference

[6] Diamond Dreams, p. 136

[7] Tony Fernández at Baseball Reference

[8] Craig Kusick at Baseball Reference

[9] ttps://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?query_type=franch_year&team_ID=TOR&year_ID=1979&draft_type=junreg

[10] Ron Shepherd at Baseball Reference

[11] Ron Romanick at Baseball-Reference

[12] Andre Robertson at Baseball-Reference

[13] Blue Jays All-Stars | bluejays.com: History

[14] Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007