1979 New York Mets season

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1979 New York Mets
Major League affiliations
Location
  • Shea Stadium (since 1964)
  • New York (since 1962)
Other information
Owner(s)Charles Shipman Payson
General manager(s)Joe McDonald
Manager(s)Joe Torre
Local televisionWOR-TV
Local radioWMCA
(Ralph Kiner, Bob Murphy, Steve Albert)
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The 1979 New York Mets season was the 18th season for the Mets, who played home games at Shea Stadium. Led by manager Joe Torre, the team had a 63–99 record and finished in sixth place in the National League's East Division. This was also the first season that the players names appeared on the back of the uniforms.

Offseason[]

  • October 2, 1978: Paul Siebert was traded by the Mets to the St. Louis Cardinals for Bob Coluccio.[1]
  • December 4, 1978: Bobby Brown was drafted by the Mets from the New York Yankees in the 1978 rule 5 draft.[2]
  • December 5, 1978: Tom Grieve and Kim Seaman were traded by the Mets to the St. Louis Cardinals for Pete Falcone.[3]
  • December 8, 1978: Jerry Koosman was traded by the Mets to the Minnesota Twins for a player to be named later and Greg Field (minors). The Minnesota Twins completed the trade by sending Jesse Orosco to the Mets on February 7, 1979.[4]
  • March 25, 1979: Bobby Brown was selected off waivers from the Mets by the Toronto Blue Jays.[2]
  • March 27, 1979: Nino Espinosa was traded by the Mets to the Philadelphia Phillies for Richie Hebner and José Moreno.[5]

Regular season[]

Season standings[]

  • v
  • t
NL East 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Pittsburgh Pirates 98 64 0.605 — 48–33 50–31
Montreal Expos 95 65 0.594 2 56–25 39–40
St. Louis Cardinals 86 76 0.531 12 42–39 44–37
Philadelphia Phillies 84 78 0.519 14 43–38 41–40
Chicago Cubs 80 82 0.494 18 45–36 35–46
New York Mets 63 99 0.389 35 28–53 35–46

Record vs. opponents[]

1979 National League Records
  • v
  • t

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta — 4–8 6–12 7–11 12–6 1–9 4–8 7–5 4–8 6–12 11–7 4–8
Chicago 8–4 — 7–5 6–6 5–7 6–12 8–10 9–9 6���12 9–3 8–4 8–10
Cincinnati 12–6 5–7 — 8–10 11–7 6–6 8–4 8–4 8–4 10–7 6–12 8–4
Houston 11–7 6–6 10–8 — 10–8 7–5 9–3 5–7 4–8 14–4 7–11 6–6
Los Angeles 6–12 7–5 7–11 8–10 — 6–6 9–3 3–9 4–8 9–9 14–4 6–6
Montreal 9–1 12–6 6–6 5–7 6–6 — 15–3 11–7 7–11 7–5 7–5 10–8
New York 8–4 10–8 4–8 3–9 3–9 3–15 — 5–13 8–10–1 4–8 8–4 7–11
Philadelphia 5-7 9–9 4–8 7–5 9–3 7–11 13–5 — 8–10 9–3 6–6 7–11–1
Pittsburgh 8–4 12–6 4–8 8–4 8–4 11–7 10–8–1 10–8 — 7–5 9–3 11–7
San Diego 12–6 3–9 7–10 4–14 9–9 5–7 8–4 3–9 5–7 — 8–10 4–8
San Francisco 7–11 4–8 12–6 11–7 4–14 5–7 4–8 6–6 3–9 10–8 — 5–7
St. Louis 8–4 10–8 4–8 6–6 6–6 8–10 11–7 11–7–1 7–11 8–4 7–5 —


Opening Day starters[]

Notable transactions[]

  • June 5, 1979: 1979 Major League Baseball Draft
    • Tim Leary was drafted by the Mets in the 1st round (2nd pick).[6]
    • Ron Gardenhire was drafted by the Mets in the 6th round.[7]
    • Dave Smith was drafted by the Mets in the 27th round.[8]
    • Bill Mooneyham was drafted by the Mets in the 1st round (22nd pick) of the secondary phase, but did not sign.[9]
  • June 15, 1979: Bob Myrick and Mike Bruhert were traded by the Mets to the Texas Rangers for Dock Ellis.[10]
  • August 12, 1979: Willie Montañez was traded by the Mets to the Texas Rangers for two players to be named later. The Rangers sent Ed Lynch to the Mets on September 18 and Mike Jorgensen on October 23 to complete the deal.[11]
  • August 20, 1979: Ray Burris was selected off waivers by the Mets from the New York Yankees.[12]
  • September 21, 1979: Dock Ellis was purchased from the Mets by the Pittsburgh Pirates.[10]

Roster[]

1979 New York Mets
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager
  •  9 Joe Torre

Coaches

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 John Stearns 155 538 131 .243 9 66
1B Willie Montañez 109 410 96 .234 5 47
2B Doug Flynn 157 555 135 .243 4 61
SS Frank Taveras 153 635 167 .263 1 33
3B Richie Hebner 136 473 127 .268 10 79
LF Steve Henderson 98 350 107 .306 5 39
CF Lee Mazzilli 158 597 181 .303 15 79
RF Joel Youngblood 158 590 162 .275 16 60

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
Elliott Maddox 86 224 60 .268 1 12
Alex Treviño 79 207 56 .271 0 20
Ed Kranepool 82 155 36 .232 2 17
Dan Norman 44 110 27 .245 3 11
Bruce Boisclair 59 98 18 .184 0 4
Gil Flores 70 93 18 .194 1 10
Ron Hodges 59 86 14 .163 0 5
Kelvin Chapman 35 80 12 .150 0 4
José Cardenal 11 37 11 .297 2 4
Sergio Ferrer 32 9 0 .000 0 0
Tim Foli 3 7 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
Craig Swan 35 251.1 14 13 3.29 145
Pete Falcone 33 184 6 14 4.16 113
Kevin Kobel 30 161.2 6 8 3.51 67
Dock Ellis 17 85 3 7 6.04 41
Pat Zachry 7 42.2 5 1 3.59 17
Juan Berenguer 5 30.2 1 1 2.93 25
Ray Burris 4 21.2 0 2 3.32 10
John Pacella 4 16.1 0 2 4.41 12

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 Hassler 29 80.1 4 5 3.70 53
Tom Hausman 19 78.2 2 6 2.75 33
Mike Scott 18 52.1 1 3 5.33 21

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
Dale Murray 58 4 8 4 4.82 37
Neil Allen 50 6 10 8 3.55 65
Ed Glynn 46 1 4 7 3.00 32
Wayne Twitchell 33 5 3 0 5.23 44
Dwight Bernard 32 0 3 0 4.70 20
Skip Lockwood 27 2 5 9 1.49 42
Jesse Orosco 18 1 2 0 4.89 22
Jeff Reardon 18 1 2 2 1.74 10
Roy Lee Jackson 8 1 0 0 2.20 10

Farm system[]

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Tidewater Tides International League Frank Verdi
AA Jackson Mets Texas League Bob Wellman
A Lynchburg Mets Carolina League Jack Aker
A-Short Season Little Falls Mets New York–Penn League Matt Galante
A-Short Season Grays Harbor Mets Northwest League Dan Monzon

Notes[]

  1. ^ Paul Siebert page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ a b Bobby Brown page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Kim Seaman page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Jerry Koosman page on Baseball Reference
  5. ^ José Moreno page at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Tim Leary page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Ron Gardenhire page at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ Dave Smith page at Baseball Reference
  9. ^ Bill Mooneyham page at Baseball-Reference
  10. ^ a b Dock Ellis page at Baseball-Reference
  11. ^ Willie Montañez page at Baseball-Reference
  12. ^ Ray Burris page at Baseball Reference

References[]

  • 1979 New York Mets
  • 1979 New York Mets team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
  • 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.
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