1979 Kansas City Royals season

1979 Kansas City Royals
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1969)
West Division (since 1969)
Location
Royals Stadium (since 1973)
Kansas City, Missouri (since 1969)
Other information
Owner(s)	Ewing Kauffman
General manager(s)	Joe Burke
Manager(s)	Whitey Herzog
Local television	KBMA (Steve Shannon, Dave Nelson)
Local radio	WIBW (AM) (Denny Matthews, Fred White)
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The 1979 Kansas City Royals season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Royals finishing second in the American League West with a record of 85 wins and 77 losses.

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.^[1]
February 26, 1979: Eduardo Rodríguez was purchased by the Royals from the Milwaukee Brewers.^[2]

Regular 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	—

Notable transactions

April 3, 1979: Doug Bird was traded by the Royals to the Philadelphia Phillies for Todd Cruz.^[3]
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.^[4]
June 5, 1979: 1979 Major League Baseball draft
- Atlee Hammaker was drafted by the Royals in the 1st round (21st pick).^[5]
- Dan Marino was drafted by the Royals in the 4th round (99th pick overall).^[6]
- John Elway was drafted by the Royals in the 18th round (463rd pick overall).^[7]

Roster

1979 Kansas City Royals

Roster

Pitchers

40 Steve Busby

25 Craig Chamberlain

31 Gary Christenson

35 Craig Eaton

38 Rich Gale

32 Larry Gura

39 Al Hrabosky

22 Dennis Leonard

27 Renie Martin

23 Steve Mingori

42 Bill Paschall

33 Marty Pattin

29 Dan Quisenberry

21 Eduardo Rodríguez

34 Paul Splittorff

35 George Throop

Catchers

13 Jim Gaudet

15 Darrell Porter

9,10 Jamie Quirk

Infielders

43 Germán Barranca

5 George Brett

7 Todd Cruz

8 Pete LaCock

2 Freddie Patek

0 George Scott

1 Jerry Terrell

30 U L Washington

12 John Wathan

20 Frank White

Outfielders

3 Steve Braun

18 Al Cowens

9,10 Clint Hurdle

28 Jim Nettles

26 Amos Otis

25 Tom Poquette

6 Willie Wilson

19 Joe Zdeb

Other batters

11 Hal McRae

Manager

24 Whitey Herzog

Coaches

14 Steve Boros

36 Galen Cisco

4 Chuck Hiller

16 John Sullivan

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
2B	White, FrankFrank White	127	467	124	.266	10	48
3B	Brett, GeorgeGeorge Brett	154	645	212	.329	23	107
SS	Patek, FreddieFreddie Patek	106	306	77	.252	1	37
LF	Wilson, WillieWillie Wilson	154	588	185	.315	6	49

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
Washington, U LU L Washington	101	268	68	.254	2	25
Scott, GeorgeGeorge Scott	44	146	39	.267	1	20
Cruz, ToddTodd Cruz	55	118	24	.203	2	15
Braun, SteveSteve Braun	58	116	31	.267	4	10
Terrell, JerryJerry Terrell	31	40	12	.300	1	2
Barranca, GermánGermán Barranca	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
Gura, LarryLarry Gura	39	233.2	13	12	4.47	85
Gale, RichRich Gale	34	181.2	9	10	5.65	103
Chamberlain, CraigCraig Chamberlain	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
Busby, SteveSteve Busby	22	94.1	6	6	3.63	45

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
Rodríguez, EduardoEduardo Rodríguez	29	4	1	2	4.84	26
Paschall, BillBill Paschall	7	0	1	0	6.59	3
Christenson, GaryGary Christenson	6	0	0	0	3.38	4
Eaton, CraigCraig Eaton	5	0	0	0	2.70	4
Throop, GeorgeGeorge Throop	4	0	0	0	13.50	1
Terrell, JerryJerry Terrell	1	0	0	0	0.00	0

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Omaha Royals	American Association	Gordon Mackenzie
AA	Jacksonville Suns	Southern League	Joe Jones
A	Fort Myers Royals	Florida State League	Gene Lamont
Rookie	GCL Royals Blue	Gulf Coast League	Brian Murphy
Rookie	GCL Royals Gold	Gulf Coast League	José Martínez

Notes

↑ Mike Bielecki at Baseball Reference
↑ Eduardo Rodríguez page on Baseball Reference
↑ Todd Cruz at Baseball Reference
↑ Keith Drumright at Baseball Reference
↑ Atlee Hammaker at Baseball Reference
↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/index.cgi?year_ID=1979&round=4&draft_type=junreg
↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/index.cgi?year_ID=1979&round=18&draft_type=junreg

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

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

Kansas City Royals

Based in Kansas City, Missouri

Franchise

Ballparks

Municipal Stadium; Kauffman Stadium
Spring training: Terry Park; Baseball City Stadium; Surprise Stadium

Culture

Lore

Rivalries

St. Louis Cardinals

Team Hall of Fame

Minors

AAA: Omaha Storm Chasers
AA: Northwest Arkansas Naturals
A Adv.: Wilmington Blue Rocks
A: Lexington Legends
Rookie Adv.: Idaho Falls Chukars; Burlington Royals
Rookie: AZL Royals; DSL Royals

Key personnel

Owner: David Glass
General Manager: Dayton Moore
Manager: Ned Yost

World Series
championships (2)

1985
2015

American League
pennants (4)

Division titles

West: 1976; 1977; 1978; 1980; 1981 (second half); 1984; 1985
Central: 2015
Wild Card: 2014

Seasons (49)

1960s	1969

1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979

1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

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