1979 in baseball

The following are the baseball events of the year 1979 throughout the world.

List of years in baseball

Champions

Major League Baseball

  League Championship Series
NBC
World Series
ABC
                 
East Baltimore Orioles 3  
West California Angels 1  
    AL Baltimore Orioles 3
  NL Pittsburgh Pirates 4
East Pittsburgh Pirates 3
West Cincinnati Reds 0  

Other champions

Winter Leagues

Awards and honors

MLB statistical leaders

  American League National League
TypeNameStatNameStat
AVGFred Lynn BOS.333Keith Hernandez STL.344
HRGorman Thomas MIL45Dave Kingman CHC48
RBIDon Baylor CAL139Dave Winfield SDP118
WinsMike Flanagan BAL23Joe Niekro HOU
Phil Niekro ATL
21
ERARon Guidry NYY2.78J. R. Richard HOU2.71

Major league baseball final standings

Events

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

  • October 17 – In Game Seven of the World Series, Willie Stargell hits his third home run of the Series to send the Pittsburgh Pirates to their third straight win over the Baltimore Orioles, to win the World Series Championship. Stargell wins Series MVP honors. The Pirates came back from a deficit of 3 games-to-1.
  • October 23 – Yankee manager Billy Martin gets into a barroom fight with Joseph Cooper, a marshmallow salesman from Minnesota. Six days later, Martin is fired from the Yankees and replaced with Dick Howser.

November

  • November 13 – For the first time ever, there will be League co-MVPs as Keith Hernandez of the St. Louis Cardinals shares the National League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award with Willie Stargell of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Stargell is the oldest person to win this award (since broken by Barry Bonds in 2004). The Pirates have thus won (or shared) all four "Most Valuable Player" awards for the season (All-Star Game, National League Championship Series, World Series, and National League regular season). This is the first such sweep in Major League history (Stargell had won the awards for the NLCS, World Series, and National League regular season, while teammate Dave Parker won the All-Star Game award).
  • November 20 – California Angels outfielder and DH Don Baylor wins the American League Most Valuable Player Award after hitting .296 with 36 home runs and a major league-leading 120 runs scored and 139 runs batted in. Baylor receives 20 of 28 first-place votes to become the first Angel ever to win MVP honors.
  • November 26 – Third baseman John Castino, who batted .285 for the Minnesota Twins, and shortstop Alfredo Griffin, who hit .287 for the Toronto Blue Jays, tie for the American League Rookie of the Year Award, each receiving seven of the 28 first-place votes. The deadlock precipitates a change in the voting system, effective in 1980.
  • November 28 – Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Rick Sutcliffe, who posted a 17–10 record with a 3.46 ERA for a sub-.500 team, receives 20 of first-place 24 votes to earn the National League Rookie of the Year honors. Right fielders Jeffrey Leonard of the Houston Astros (3) and Scot Thompson of the Chicago Cubs (1) receive the other votes.

December

Movies

Births

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Deaths

January–March

  • January 9 – Charley Stis, 94, who spent more than six decades in professional baseball as a player, manager, scout and umpire
  • January 25 – Charlene Barnett, 50, who played second base in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1949 to 1952 and was a member of three champion teams
  • February 7 – Warren Giles, 82, president of the National League from 1951 to 1969, and general manager of the Cincinnati Reds from 1937 to 1951
  • February 8 – Alex Gaston, 85, catcher for the New York Giants and Boston Red Sox between 1920 and 1929
  • February 8 – Art Williams, 44, the first black umpire in the National League, working from 1972 to 1977 including the 1975 NLCS
  • February 26 – Forrest Thompson, 60, left-handed pitcher for the Washington Senators in the late 1940s
  • March 2 – Dale Alexander, 75, first baseman who batted .331 in five seasons with the Tigers and Red Sox, winning the 1932 batting title, before an injury ended his career; later a scout
  • March 29 – Luke Easter, 63, first baseman in the Negro leagues who had 100 RBI in each of his first two seasons with the Cleveland Indians

April–June

  • April 3 – Harry Simpson, 53, outfielder and first baseman who led the AL in triples twice
  • April 6 – Al Evans, 62, longtime catcher for the Washington Senators, later a minor league manager
  • April 6 – Rudy Kallio, 86, pitcher for the Detroit Tigers (1918–19) and Boston Red Sox (1925); later a coach for Triple-A Portland Beavers and scout for the Chicago Cubs
  • April 18 – Lindsay Deal, 67, outfielder for the 1939 Brooklyn Dodgers
  • May 3 – Tom Jenkins, 81, outfielder for the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Athletics and St. Louis Browns in the early 1920s
  • May 5 – Bill Lucas, 43, general manager of the Atlanta Braves since September 1976 and the first African-American general manager in MLB history
  • May 23 – Hiroshi Oshita, 56, Hall of Fame first baseman who played for the Toei Flyers from 1946 to 1951 and the Nishitetsu Lions from 1952 to 1959
  • June 8 – Muriel Coben, 58, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League pitcher, and member of a Canadian women's curling champion team
  • June 11 – Fred Martin, 63, pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals (1946, 1949–1950) who appeared in 57 career games; later a minor league manager and pitching instructor for the Chicago Cubs, where he taught the split-finger fastball to eventual Hall of Fame Bruce Sutter; was pitching coach of the Chicago White Sox at the time of his passing
  • June 17 – Duffy Lewis, 91, left fielder for the Boston Red Sox who starred on three champions and mastered Fenway Park's sloping left field
  • June 18 – Hal Trosky, 66, first baseman for the Indians who batted .302 lifetime and had six 100-RBI seasons

July–September

  • July 12 – Tom Lovelace, 81, pinch hit in one game with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1922.
  • July 22 – Amos Strunk, 90, a center fielder for the Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox between 1908 and 1924 and a member of four World Series champion teams
  • August 2 – Thurman Munson, 32, 7-time All-Star catcher for the New York Yankees since 1969 who batted .300 five times and won the 1976 MVP award; 1970 Rookie of the Year won three Gold Gloves and batted .357 in 30 postseason games
  • August 9 – Walter O'Malley, 75, principal owner of the Dodgers franchise from 1950 to 1975, and sole owner from 1975 until his death; during his tenure, the team won four World Series titles; moved the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles and constructed Dodger Stadium
  • September 4 – Turkey Stearnes, 78, center fielder in the Negro leagues who led the Negro National League in home runs six times while batting .350

October–December

  • October 22 – John Drebinger, 88, sportswriter for The New York Times for 41 years
  • November 18 – Freddie Fitzsimmons, 78, knuckleball pitcher who won 217 games for the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers
  • December 4 – Bert Delmas, 68, infielder for the 1933 Brooklyn Dodgers
  • December 15 – Stan Hack, 70, 5-time All-Star third baseman for the Chicago Cubs who batted .301 lifetime and posted a .394 career on-base percentage, the highest of any 20th-century third baseman; scored 100 runs seven times and led NL in hits and steals twice each
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