1978 Milwaukee Brewers season

1978 Milwaukee Brewers
1978 Milwaukee Brewers
Major League affiliations
	American League (since 1969) East Division (since 1972); ;
Location
	Milwaukee County Stadium (since 1970); Milwaukee, Wisconsin (since 1970);
Other information
Owner(s)	Bud Selig
General manager(s)	Harry Dalton
Manager(s)	George Bamberger
Local television	WTMJ-TV; (Merle Harmon, Bob Uecker, Mike Hegan)
Local radio	620 WTMJ ; (Merle Harmon, Bob Uecker)
Stats	ESPN.com; BB-reference
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The 1978 Milwaukee Brewers season involved the Brewers finishing third in the American League East with a record of 93 wins and 69 losses. It was the Brewers first winning season in franchise history since moving to Milwaukee from Seattle in 1970.

Offseason[]

October 25, 1977: Gorman Thomas was sent by the Brewers to the Texas Rangers to complete an earlier deal (the Rangers traded Ed Kirkpatrick to the Brewers for a player to be named later) made on August 20.^[1]
December 6, 1977: Kevin Kobel was purchased from the Brewers by the New York Mets.^[2]
December 14, 1977: Ken McMullen was released by the Brewers.^[3]
December 31, 1977: Ray Fosse was signed as a free agent by the Brewers.^[4]
January 16, 1978: Randy Stein was signed as a free agent by the Brewers.^[5]
February 8, 1978: Gorman Thomas was purchased by the Brewers from the Rangers.^[1]
March 30, 1978: Von Joshua was released by the Brewers.^[6]

Regular season[]

Opening Day starters[]

Season standings[]

v t AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	100	63	0.613	—	55–26	45–37
Boston Red Sox	99	64	0.607	1	59–23	40–41
Milwaukee Brewers	93	69	0.574	6½	54–27	39–42
Baltimore Orioles	90	71	0.559	9	51–30	39–41
Detroit Tigers	86	76	0.531	13½	47–34	39–42
Cleveland Indians	69	90	0.434	29	42–36	27–54
Toronto Blue Jays	59	102	0.366	40	37–44	22–58

Record vs. opponents[]

1978 American League Records v t Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	7–8	4–6	8–1	9–6	7–8	2–8	7–8	5–5	6–9	11–0	9–1	7–4	8–7
Boston	8–7	—	9–2	7–3	7–8	12–3	4–6	10–5	9–2	7–9	5–5	7–3	3–7	11–4
California	6–4	2–9	—	8–7	6–4	4–7	9–6	5–5	12–3	5–5	9–6	9–6	5–10	7–3
Chicago	1–8	3–7	7–8	—	8–2	2–9	8–7	4–7	8–7	1–9	7–8	7–8	11–4	4–6
Cleveland	6–9	8–7	4–6	2–8	—	5–10	5–6	5–10	5–5	6–9	4–6	8–1	1–9	10–4
Detroit	8–7	3–12	7–4	9–2	10–5	—	4–6	7–8	4–6	4–11	6–4	8–2	7–3	9–6
Kansas City	8–2	6–4	6–9	7–8	6–5	6–4	—	6–4	7–8	6–5	10–5	12–3	7–8	5–5
Milwaukee	8–7	5–10	5–5	7–4	10–5	8–7	4–6	—	4–7	10–5	9–1	5–5	6–4	12–3
Minnesota	5–5	2–9	3–12	7–8	5–5	6–4	8–7	7–4	—	3–7	9–6	6–9	6–9	6–4
New York	9–6	9–7	5–5	9–1	9–6	11–4	5–6	5–10	7–3	—	8–2	6–5	6–4	11–4
Oakland	0–11	5–5	6–9	8–7	6–4	4–6	5–10	1–9	6–9	2–8	—	13–2	6–9	7–4
Seattle	1–9	3–7	6–9	8–7	1–8	2–8	3–12	5–5	9–6	5–6	2–13	—	3–12	8–2
Texas	4–7	7–3	10–5	4–11	9–1	3–7	8–7	4–6	9–6	4–6	9–6	12–3	—	4–7
Toronto	7–8	4–11	3–7	6–4	4–10	6–9	5–5	3–12	4–6	4–11	4–7	2–8	7–4	—

Notable transactions[]

April 1, 1978: Bob Galasso was signed as a free agent by the Brewers.^[8]
April 4, 1978: Tony Muser was signed as a free agent by the Brewers.^[9]
June 6, 1978: Rickey Keeton was drafted by the Brewers in the 3rd round of the 1978 Major League Baseball Draft.^[10]
August 3, 1978: Jamie Quirk was traded by the Brewers to the Kansas City Royals for Gerry Ako (minors) and cash.^[11]

Roster[]

1978 Milwaukee Brewers

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

8 Andy Etchebarren
12 Larry Haney
21 Buck Martinez
22 Charlie Moore

Infielders

6 Sal Bando
15 Cecil Cooper
11 Jim Gantner
1 Tim Johnson
4 Paul Molitor
7 Don Money
5 Tony Muser
1 Tim Nordbrook
21 Lenn Sakata
19 Robin Yount

Outfielders

Manager

31 George Bamberger

Coaches

12 Larry Haney (Bullpen)
33 Frank Howard (First base)
32 Harvey Kuenn (Hitting)
38 Cal McLish (Pitching)
37 Buck Rodgers (Third base)

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
C	Buck Martinez	89	256	56	.219	1	20
1B	Cecil Cooper	107	407	127	.312	13	54
2B	Paul Molitor	125	521	142	.273	6	45
3B	Sal Bando	152	540	154	.285	17	78
SS	Robin Yount	127	502	147	.293	9	71
LF	Larry Hisle	142	520	151	.290	34	115
CF	Gorman Thomas	137	452	111	.246	32	86
RF	Sixto Lezcano	132	442	129	.292	15	61
DH	Dick Davis	69	218	54	.248	5	26

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
Don Money	137	518	152	.293	14	54
Ben Oglivie	128	469	142	.303	18	72
Charlie Moore	96	268	72	.269	5	31
Jim Wohlford	46	118	35	.297	1	19
Jim Gantner	43	97	21	.216	1	8
Lenn Sakata	30	78	15	.192	0	3
Dave May	39	77	15	.195	2	11
Tony Muser	15	30	4	.133	0	5
Tim Nordbrook	2	5	0	.000	0	0
Andy Etchebarren	4	5	2	.400	0	2
Jeff Yurak	5	5	0	.000	0	0
Larry Haney	5	5	1	.200	0	1
Tim Johnson	3	3	0	.000	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
Lary Sorensen	37	280.2	18	12	3.21	78
Mike Caldwell	37	293.1	22	9	2.36	131
Jerry Augustine	35	188.1	13	12	4.54	59
Bill Travers	28	175.2	12	11	4.41	66
Moose Haas	7	30.2	2	3	6.16	32

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
Andy Replogle	32	149.1	9	5	3.92	41
Eduardo Rodríguez	32	105.1	5	5	3.93	51
Mark Bomback	2	1.2	0	0	16.20	1

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
Bob McClure	44	2	6	9	3.74	47
Bill Castro	42	5	4	8	1.81	17
Randy Stein	31	3	2	1	5.33	42
Willie Mueller	5	1	0	0	6.39	6
Ed Farmer	3	1	0	1	0.82	6

Farm system[]

The Brewers' farm system consisted of four minor league affiliates in 1978.^[12]

Level	Team	League	Manager
Triple-A	Spokane Indians	Pacific Coast League	John Felske
Double-A	Holyoke Millers	Eastern League	George Farson
Class A	Burlington Bees	Midwest League	Lee Sigman
Class A Short Season	Newark Co-Pilots	New York–Penn League	Ken Richardson

Notes[]

References[]

[gorman-1] Gorman Thomas page at Baseball Reference

[2] Kevin Kobel page at Baseball Reference

[3] Ken McMullen page at Baseball Reference

[4] Ray Fosse page at Baseball Reference

[5] Randy Stein page at Baseball Reference

[6] Von Joshua page at Baseball Reference

[7] 1978 Milwaukee Brewers Roster by Baseball Almanac

[8] Bob Galasso page at Baseball Reference

[9] Tony Muser page at Baseball Reference

[10] Rickey Keeton page at Baseball Reference

[11] Jamie Quirk page at Baseball Reference

[12] "1978 Milwaukee Brewers Minor League Affiliates". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved December 30, 2020.

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1978 Milwaukee Brewers
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1969) East Division (since 1972)
Location
Milwaukee County Stadium (since 1970) Milwaukee, Wisconsin (since 1970)
Other information
Owner(s)	Bud Selig
General manager(s)	Harry Dalton
Manager(s)	George Bamberger
Local television	WTMJ-TV (Merle Harmon, Bob Uecker, Mike Hegan)
Local radio	620 WTMJ (Merle Harmon, Bob Uecker)
Stats	ESPN.com BB-reference
< Previous season Next season >