1979 Chicago White Sox season

1979 Chicago White Sox
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
American League West (since 1969)
Location
Comiskey Park (since 1910)
Chicago, Illinois (since 1900)
Other information
Owner(s)	Bill Veeck
General manager(s)	Roland Hemond
Manager(s)	Don Kessinger, Tony La Russa
Local television	WSNS-TV
Local radio	WMAQ (AM) (Harry Caray, Lorn Brown, Jimmy Piersall)
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The 1979 Chicago White Sox season was the team's 80th season overall, and their 79th in Major League Baseball. They finished with a record 73-87, good enough for fifth place in the American League West, 15 games behind the first-place California Angels.

Regular season

The team opened the season with reserve infielder Don Kessinger acting as player-manager. He was relieved of his managerial duties on August 2, with the team's record at 46-60, at which point he also retired as a player. He was replaced by coach Tony La Russa, making his major league managerial debut. The team went 27-27 the rest of the season.

Season standings

AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
California Angels	88	74	0.543	—	49–32	39–42
Kansas City Royals	85	77	0.525	3	46–35	39–42
Texas Rangers	83	79	0.512	5	44–37	39–42
Minnesota Twins	82	80	0.506	6	39–42	43–38
Chicago White Sox	73	87	0.456	14	33–46	40–41
Seattle Mariners	67	95	0.414	21	36–45	31–50
Oakland Athletics	54	108	0.333	34	31–50	23–58

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 lineup

Notable transactions

May 16, 1979: Nardi Contreras was signed as a free agent by the White Sox.^[1]
June 5, 1979: 1979 Major League Baseball Draft
- Ricky Seilheimer was drafted by the White Sox in the 1st round (19th pick).^[2]
- Fran Mullins was drafted by the White Sox in the 3rd round.^[3]
- Jimmy Key was drafted by the White Sox in the 10th round, but did not sign.^[4]
June 15, 1979: Eric Soderholm was traded by the White Sox to the Texas Rangers for Ed Farmer and Gary Holle.^[5]
July 6, 1979: Rich Hinton was traded by the White Sox to the Seattle Mariners for Juan Bernhardt.^[6]

Roster

1979 Chicago White Sox

Roster

Pitchers

46 Francisco Barrios

30 Ross Baumgarten

40 Britt Burns

49 Richard Dotson

42 Mark Esser

22 Ed Farmer

47 Rich Hinton

36 Guy Hoffman

41 Fred Howard

50 LaMarr Hoyt

27 Ken Kravec

55 Jack Kucek

36 Lerrin LaGrow

24 Mike Proly

32,35 Dewey Robinson

55 Gil Rondon

26 Randy Scarbery

37 Ron Schueler

35 Pablo Torrealba

33 Steve Trout

28 Rich Wortham

Catchers

19 Mike Colbern

42,0,17 Marv Foley

5 Milt May

15 Bill Nahorodny

Infielders

7 Alan Bannister

8 Kevin Bell

13 Harry Chappas

10 Joe Gates

23 Lamar Johnson

11 Don Kessinger

12 Jim Morrison

6 Jorge Orta

16 Greg Pryor

12 Eric Soderholm

25 Mike Squires

Outfielders

22 Thad Bosley

48 Ralph Garr

47 Rusty Kuntz

44 Chet Lemon

34 Junior Moore

20 Wayne Nordhagen

21 Rusty Torres

18 Claudell Washington

Manager

11 Don Kessinger

10 Tony La Russa

Coaches

31 Fred Martin

37 Ron Schueler

3 Joe Sparks

1 Bobby Winkles

Disco Demolition Night

Main article: Disco Demolition Night

Disco Demolition Night (also known as "Anti-Disco Night" and "Disco Sucks Night") was a promotional event that took place on July 12, 1979, at Comiskey Park in Chicago. It was held during a scheduled twi-night doubleheader between the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. After the first game, a throng of fans stormed the field, damaging it so badly that the second game had to be forfeited to Detroit.

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; BB = Base on balls; SO = Strikeouts; AVG = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	SB
Alan Bannister, 2B,LF,3B,DH	136	506	71	144	28	8	2	55	43	40	.285	22
Kevin Bell, 3B	70	200	20	49	8	1	4	22	15	43	.245	2
Thad Bosley, OF	36	77	13	24	1	1	1	8	9	14	.312	4
Harry Chappas, SS	26	59	9	17	1	0	1	4	5	5	.288	1
Mike Colbern, C	32	83	5	20	5	1	0	8	4	25	.241	0
Marv Foley, C	34	97	6	24	3	0	2	10	7	5	.247	0
Ralph Garr, LF,DH	102	307	34	86	10	2	9	39	17	19	.280	2
Joe Gates, 2B	16	16	5	1	0	1	0	1	2	3	.063	1
Lamar Johnson, 1B,DH	133	479	60	148	29	1	12	74	41	56	.309	8
Don Kessinger, SS	56	110	14	22	6	0	1	7	10	12	.200	1
Rusty Kuntz, OF	5	11	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	6	.091	0
Chet Lemon, CF	148	556	79	177	44	2	17	86	56	68	.318	7
Milt May, C	65	202	23	51	13	0	7	28	14	27	.252	0
Junior Moore, LF,RF,DH	88	201	24	53	6	2	1	23	12	20	.264	0
Jim Morrison, 2B,3B	67	240	38	66	14	0	14	35	15	48	.275	11
Bill Nahorodny, C,DH	65	179	20	46	10	0	6	29	18	23	.257	0
Wayne Nordhagen, DH,RF,LF,C	78	193	20	54	15	0	7	25	13	22	.280	0
Jorge Orta, DH,2B	113	325	49	85	18	3	11	46	44	33	.262	1
Greg Pryor, SS,2B,3B	143	476	60	131	23	3	3	34	35	41	.275	3
Eric Soderholm, 3B	56	210	31	53	8	2	6	34	19	19	.252	0
Mike Squires, 1B	122	295	44	78	10	1	2	22	22	9	.264	15
Rusty Torres, OF	90	170	26	43	5	0	8	24	23	37	.253	0
Claudell Washington, RF,DH	131	471	79	132	33	5	13	66	28	93	.280	19
Team totals	160	5463	730	1505	290	33	127	680	454	668	.275	97

Pitching

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

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K
Francisco Barrios	8	3	3.61	15	15	0	94.2	88	49	38	9	34	28
Ross Baumgarten	13	8	3.54	28	28	0	190.2	175	82	75	18	84	72
Britt Burns	0	0	5.40	6	0	0	5.0	10	5	3	1	1	2
Richard Dotson	2	0	3.70	5	5	0	24.1	28	13	10	0	6	13
Mark Esser	0	0	16.20	2	0	0	1.2	2	3	3	0	4	1
Ed Farmer	3	7	2.43	42	3	14	81.1	66	36	22	2	42	48
Rich Hinton	1	2	6.05	16	2	2	41.2	57	30	28	4	9	27
Guy Hoffman	0	5	5.34	24	0	2	30.1	30	18	18	0	28	18
Fred Howard	1	5	3.57	28	6	0	68.0	73	34	27	5	34	36
LaMarr Hoyt	0	0	0.00	2	0	0	3.0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Ken Kravec	15	13	3.74	36	35	1	250.0	208	115	104	20	114	132
Jack Kucek	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	0.2	0	4	0	0	3	0
Lerrin LaGrow	0	3	9.17	11	2	1	17.2	27	21	18	2	17	9
Wayne Nordhagen	0	0	9.00	2	0	0	2.0	2	2	2	0	1	2
Mike Proly	3	8	3.87	38	6	9	88.1	89	43	38	6	47	32
Dewey Robinson	0	1	6.28	11	0	0	14.1	11	12	10	1	11	5
Gil Rondón	0	0	3.72	4	0	0	9.2	11	5	4	2	6	3
Randy Scarbery	2	8	4.62	45	5	4	101.1	102	56	52	9	37	45
Ron Schueler	0	1	7.32	8	1	0	19.2	19	16	16	3	14	6
Pablo Torrealba	0	0	1.59	3	0	0	5.2	5	1	1	1	2	1
Steve Trout	11	8	3.89	34	18	4	155.0	165	77	67	10	64	76
Rich Wortham	14	14	4.90	34	33	0	204.0	195	126	111	21	103	119
Team totals	73	86	4.10	160	159	37	1409.0	1365	748	642	114	661	675

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Iowa Oaks	American Association	Tony LaRussa and Joe Sparks
AA	Knoxville Knox Sox	Southern League	Gordon Lund
A	Appleton Foxes	Midwest League	Jim Breazeale

Notes

References

Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, N.C.: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
1979 Chicago White Sox at Baseball Reference

1979 MLB season by team

AL East	Baltimore Boston Cleveland Detroit Milwaukee New York Toronto

AL West	California Chicago Kansas City Minnesota Oakland Seattle Texas

NL East	Chicago Montréal New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis

NL West	Atlanta Cincinnati Houston Los Angeles San Diego San Francisco

1979 MLB draft 1979 All-Star Game 1979 World Series

Chicago White Sox

Based in Chicago, Illinois

Franchise

Ballparks

Culture and lore

Rivalries

Chicago Cubs

Key personnel

Chairman: Jerry Reinsdorf
Vice Chairman: Eddie Einhorn
Executive Vice President: Ken Williams
General Manager: Rick Hahn
Special Assistant to the GM: Jim Thome
Manager: Rick Renteria

World Series
championships (3)

American League
championships (6)

Division championships (5)

West: 1983
1993
Central: 2000
2005
2008

Minor league
affiliates

Media

Seasons (117)

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