1979 Chicago White Sox season

The 1979 Chicago White Sox season was the team's 80th season overall, and their 79th in Major League Baseball. The team finished in fifth place in the American League West with a record of 73 wins and 87 losses, 15 games behind the first-place California Angels.

1979 Chicago White Sox
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
OwnersBill Veeck
General managersRoland Hemond
ManagersDon Kessinger, Tony La Russa
Local televisionWSNS-TV
Local radioWMAQ (AM)
(Harry Caray, Lorn Brown, Jimmy Piersall)
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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 8874 0.543 — 49–32 39–42
Kansas City Royals 8577 0.525 3 46–35 39–42
Texas Rangers 8379 0.512 5 44–37 39–42
Minnesota Twins 8280 0.506 6 39–42 43–38
Chicago White Sox 7387 0.456 14 33–46 40–41
Seattle Mariners 6795 0.414 21 36–45 31–50
Oakland Athletics 54108 0.333 34 31–50 23–58

Record vs. opponents
1979 American League record

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —8–59–38–38–57–66–68–58–45–68–410–26–611–2
Boston 5–8—5–75–66–78–58–48–49–35–89–38–46–69–4
California 3–97–5—9–46–64–87–67–59–47–510–37–65–87–5
Chicago 3–86–54–9—6–63–95–85–75–84–89–45–811–27–5
Cleveland 5–87–66–66–6—6–66–64–98–45–88–47–55–78–5
Detroit 6–75–88–49–36–6—5–76–74–87–67–57–56–69–4
Kansas City 6–64–86–78–56–67–5—5–77–65–79–47–66–79–3
Milwaukee 5–84–85–77–59–47–67–5—8–49–46–69–39–310–3
Minnesota 4–83–94–98–54–88–46–74–8—7–59–410–34–911–1
New York 6–58–55–78–48–56–77–54–95–7—9–36–68–49–4
Oakland 4–83–93–104–94–85–74–96–64–93–9—8–52–114–8
Seattle 2–104–86–78–55–75–76–73–93–106–65–8—6–78–4
Texas 6–66–68–52–117–56–67–63–99–44–811–27–6—7–5
Toronto 2–114–95–75–75–84–93–93–101–114–98–44–85–7—

Opening Day lineup

Notable transactions

Roster
1979 Chicago White Sox
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

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
See also: Minor league baseball
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
  1. Nardi Contreras page at Baseball Reference
  2. Ricky Seilheimer page at Baseball Reference
  3. Fran Mullins page at Baseball Reference
  4. Jimmy Key page at Baseball Reference
  5. Eric Soderholm page at Baseball-Reference
  6. Rich Hinton page at Baseball Reference

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
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