1979 Oakland Athletics season

The 1979 Oakland Athletics season involved the A's finishing 7th in the American League West Division with a record of 54 wins and 108 losses. Only 306,763 paying customers (an average of 3,984 for 77 home dates; there were four doubleheaders) showed up to watch the A's in 1979, the team's worst attendance since leaving Philadelphia.

1979 Oakland Athletics
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record54–108 (.333)
Divisional place7th
Other information
OwnersCharles O. Finley
ManagersJim Marshall
Local televisionKPIX-TV
(Monte Moore, Bob Waller)
Local radioKKIS
(Hal Ramey, Red Rush)
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Team owner Charlie Finley nearly sold the team to buyers who would have moved them to New Orleans for 1979. Any deal to relocate fell through when the city of Oakland refused to release the A's from their lease. The city was in the midst of its battle with the Oakland Raiders over their move to Los Angeles and didn't want to lose both teams.

The Athletics' 54-108 finish remains, as of 2022, their worst since moving to Oakland in 1968. On a brighter note, the season saw the debut of Rickey Henderson. Henderson, a future Hall-of-Famer, would play for the team in four separate stints between 1979 and 1998.

Offseason

Regular season

On April 17, 1979, the A's had their smallest home crowd (and one of the smallest in a major league baseball game in the 20th century) when only 653 people came to the nearly 50,000 seat Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum[5] to see them beat the Seattle Mariners, 6 to 5.

On June 24, Rickey Henderson made his major league debut against the Texas Rangers. In four at bats, Henderson had two hits and a stolen base.[6]

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—

Notable transactions

Roster
1979 Oakland Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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
CJeff Newman143516119.2312271
1BDave Revering125472136.2881977
2BMike Edwards12240093.233123
SSRob Picciolo11534888.253227
3BWayne Gross13844299.2241450
LFRickey Henderson8935196.274126
CFDwayne Murphy12138899.2551140
RFTony Armas8027869.2481134
DHMitchell Page133478118.247942

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
Jim Essian9831376.243840
Mike Heath7425866.256327
Larry Murray10522642.186220
Dave Chalk6621247.222213
Mario Guerrero4616638.229018
Derek Bryant3910619.179013
Miguel Diloné309117.18716
Glenn Burke238919.21304
Joe Wallis237811.14113
Mickey Klutts247314.19214
Milt Ramírez286210.16103

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
Rick Langford34218.212164.28101
Steve McCatty31185.211124.2287
Matt Keough30176.22175.0495
Brian Kingman18112.2874.3158
John Henry Johnson1484.2284.3650
Mike Morgan1377.12105.9417

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
Mike Norris29146.1584.8096
Craig Minetto36118.1155.5564
Dave Hamilton4082.2343.7052
Alan Wirth512.0106.007

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
Dave Heaverlo6241194.2040
Jim Todd512526.5626
Bob Lacey421545.8533

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Ogden A's Pacific Coast League José Pagán
AA Waterbury A's Eastern League Ed Nottle
A Modesto A's California League Gaylen Pitts
A-Short Season Medford A's Northwest League Rich Morales

References
  1. Rico Carty page at Baseball Reference
  2. Lemmie Miller page at Baseball Reference
  3. Darryl Cias page at Baseball Reference
  4. Jim Todd page at Baseball Reference
  5. "Only 653 See A's Win, 6-5", AP report in Fresno (CA) Bee, April 18, 1979, p. C-4
  6. Rickey Henderson page at Baseball Reference
  7. Ronn Reynolds page at Baseball-Reference
  8. Mark Souza page at Baseball-Reference
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