1979 Cleveland Indians season

1979 Cleveland Indians
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901) Eastern Division (since 1969)
Location
Cleveland Municipal Stadium (since 1932) Cleveland, Ohio (since 1901)
Other information
Owner(s)	Steve O'Neill
General manager(s)	Phil Seghi
Manager(s)	Jeff Torborg, Dave Garcia
Local television	WJKW
Local radio	WWWE
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Offseason[]

• October 3, 1978: Larvell Blanks and Jim Kern were traded by the Indians to the Texas Rangers for Len Barker and Bobby Bonds.^[1]
• December 5, 1978: Carmen Castillo was drafted by the Indians from the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1978 minor league draft.^[2]
• December 6, 1978: Cardell Camper was traded by the Indians to the Philadelphia Phillies for Joe Charboneau.^[3]

Regular season[]

Season standings[]

v t AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Baltimore Orioles	102	57	0.642	—	55–24	47–33
Milwaukee Brewers	95	66	0.590	8	52–29	43–37
Boston Red Sox	91	69	0.569	11½	51–29	40–40
New York Yankees	89	71	0.556	13½	51–30	38–41
Detroit Tigers	85	76	0.528	18	46–34	39–42
Cleveland Indians	81	80	0.503	22	47–34	34–46
Toronto Blue Jays	53	109	0.327	50½	32–49	21–60

Record vs. opponents[]

1979 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	—	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[]

• June 5, 1979: Von Hayes was drafted by the Indians in the 7th round of the 1979 Major League Baseball Draft. Player signed August 24, 1979.^[4]
• July 18, 1979: Mike Stanton was signed as a free agent by the Indians.^[5]

Opening Day Lineup[]

Opening Day Starters
#	Name	Position
11	Toby Harrah	3B
27	Jim Norris	DH
25	Bobby Bonds	RF
29	Andre Thornton	1B
35	Gary Alexander	C
22	Ted Cox	LF
18	Duane Kuiper	2B
21	Tom Veryzer	SS
20	Horace Speed	CF
40	Rick Wise	P

^[6]

Roster[]

1979 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers 42 Larry Andersen 39 Len Barker 32 David Clyde 23 Víctor Cruz 17 Wayne Garland 44 Don Hood 43 Sid Monge 48 Mike Paxton 41 Paul Reuschel 37 Dan Spillner 36 Rick Waits 56 Sandy Wihtol 33 Eric Wilkins 40 Rick Wise		Catchers 35 Gary Alexander 16 Bo Díaz  9 Ron Hassey 44 Cliff Johnson Infielders 31 Wayne Cage 22 Ted Cox 11 Toby Harrah 18 Duane Kuiper 12 Dave Rosello 29 Andre Thornton 21,15 Tom Veryzer		Outfielders 30 Dell Alston 25 Bobby Bonds 00 Paul Dade 21 Mike Hargrove 28 Rick Manning 27 Jim Norris 13 Ron Pruitt 20 Horace Speed		Manager  1 Dave Garcia 10 Jeff Torborg Coaches  4 Dave Duncan (Bullpen)  1 Dave Garcia (Third Base)  2 Chuck Hartenstein (Pitching) 24 Joe Nossek (First 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	Gary Alexander	110	358	82	.229	15	54
1B	Andre Thornton	143	515	120	.233	26	93
2B	Duane Kuiper	140	479	122	.255	0	39
SS	Tom Veryzer	149	449	99	.220	0	34
3B	Toby Harrah	149	527	147	.279	20	77
LF	Mike Hargrove	100	338	110	.325	10	56
CF	Rick Manning	144	560	145	.259	3	51
RF	Bobby Bonds	146	538	148	.275	25	85
DH	Cliff Johnson	72	240	65	.271	18	61

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 Norris	124	353	87	.246	3	30
Ron Hassey	75	223	64	.287	4	32
Ted Cox	78	189	40	.212	4	22
Paul Dade	44	170	48	.282	3	18
Ron Pruitt	64	166	47	.283	2	21
Dave Rosello	59	107	26	.243	3	14
Dell Alston	54	62	18	.290	1	12
Wayne Cage	29	56	13	.232	1	6
Bo Díaz	15	32	5	.156	0	1
Horace Speed	26	14	2	.143	0	1

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
Rick Wise	34	231.2	15	10	3.73	108
Rick Waits	34	231	16	13	4.44	91
Mike Paxton	33	159.2	8	8	5.92	70
Wayne Garland	18	94.2	4	10	5.23	40
Eric Wilkins	16	69.2	2	4	4.39	52
David Clyde	9	45.2	3	4	5.91	17

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
Dan Spillner	49	157.2	9	5	4.62	97
Len Barker	29	137.1	6	6	4.92	93

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
Sid Monge	76	12	10	19	2.40	108
Víctor Cruz	61	3	9	10	4.23	63
Paul Reuschel	17	2	1	1	7.94	22
Don Hood	13	1	0	1	3.68	7
Larry Andersen	8	0	0	0	7.56	7
Sandy Wihtol	5	0	0	0	3.38	6

Awards and honors[]

• Andre Thornton, Roberto Clemente Award

All-Star Game

Farm system[]

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Tacoma Tugs	Pacific Coast League	Gene Dusan
AA	Chattanooga Lookouts	Southern League	Woody Smith
A	Waterloo Indians	Midwest League	Cal Emery
A-Short Season	Batavia Trojans	New York–Penn League	Tom Trebelhorn

^[7]

Notes[]

References[]

• 1979 Cleveland Indians team page at Baseball Reference
• 1979 Cleveland Indians team page at www.baseball-almanac.com