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 (fourth full season)
Local television	KBMA (Steve Shannon, Dave Nelson)
Local radio	WIBW (AM) (Denny Matthews, Fred White)
< Previous season     Next season >

The 1979 Kansas City Royals season was their 11th season in Major League Baseball. The Royals finished second in the American League West at 85-77, three games behind the California Angels and ending Kansas City's run of three consecutive division titles. Darrell Porter tied a single-season franchise record with 112 runs batted in. George Brett led the American League in hits (212) and triples (20). Manager Whitey Herzog was fired following the season.

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[]

v t 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 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[]

• 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	Frank White	127	467	124	.266	10	48
3B	George Brett	154	645	212	.329	23	107
SS	Freddie Patek	106	306	77	.252	1	37
LF	Willie 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
U L Washington	101	268	68	.254	2	25
George Scott	44	146	39	.267	1	20
Todd Cruz	55	118	24	.203	2	15
Steve Braun	58	116	31	.267	4	10
Jerry Terrell	31	40	12	.300	1	2
Germán 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
Larry Gura	39	233.2	13	12	4.47	85
Rich Gale	34	181.2	9	10	5.65	103
Craig 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
Steve 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
Eduardo Rodríguez	29	4	1	2	4.84	26
Bill Paschall	7	0	1	0	6.59	3
Gary Christenson	6	0	0	0	3.38	4
Craig Eaton	5	0	0	0	2.70	4
George Throop	4	0	0	0	13.50	1
Jerry 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[]

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