1979 Seattle Mariners
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1977)
Western Division (since 1977)
Location
Kingdome (since 1977)
Seattle, Washington (since 1977)
Other information
Owner(s)	Stanley Golub, Danny Kaye, Walter Schoenfeld, Lester Smith, James Stillwell, Jr. and James A. Walsh
Manager(s)	Darrell Johnson
Local television	KING-TV 5
Local radio	KVI 570 AM (Dave Niehaus, Ken Wilson, Bill Freehan)
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The 1979 Seattle Mariners season was the franchise's third since its creation. The Mariners ended the season in sixth place in the American League West, finishing with a record of 67-95. The Mariners hosted the 1979 All-Star Game.

Offseason[edit]

• December 5, 1978: Enrique Romo, Rick Jones, and Tom McMillan were traded by the Mariners to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Odell Jones, Rafael Vásquez, and Mario Mendoza.^[1]
• December 8, 1978: Craig Reynolds was traded by the Mariners to the Houston Astros for Floyd Bannister.^[2]
• December 21, 1978: Mario Díaz was signed as an amateur free agent by the Mariners.^[3]
• January 27, 1979: Willie Horton was signed as a free agent by the Mariners.^[4]
• February 8, 1979: Jim Todd was released by the Mariners.^[5]
• February 22, 1979: Mike Davey was purchased by the Mariners from the Atlanta Braves.^[6]

Regular season[edit]

Season standings[edit]

AL West	W	L	GB	Pct.
California Angels	88	74	--	.543
Kansas City Royals	85	77	3	.525
Texas Rangers	83	79	5	.512
Minnesota Twins	82	80	6	.506
Chicago White Sox	73	87	14	.456
Seattle Mariners	67	95	21	.414
Oakland Athletics	54	108	34	.333

Record vs. opponents[edit]

1979 American League Records 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	—

Opening Day lineup[edit]

1. Julio Cruz, 2B
2. Bill Stein, 3B
3. Dan Meyer, 1B
4. Leon Roberts, RF
5. Willie Horton, DH
6. Ruppert Jones, CF
7. Tom Paciorek, LF
8. Larry Cox, C
9. Mario Mendoza, SS

• Glenn Abbott, starting pitcher

Notable transactions[edit]

• April 10, 1979: Bobby Valentine was signed as a free agent by the Mariners.^[7]
• June 5, 1979: 1979 Major League Baseball Draft
  • Mike Hart was drafted by the Mariners in the 13th round.^[8]
  • Bud Black was drafted by the Mariners in the 17th round.^[9]
  • Tom Henke was drafted by the Mariners in the 20th round, but did not sign.^[10]
• June 7, 1979: Paul Mitchell was traded by the Mariners to the Milwaukee Brewers for Randy Stein.^[11]
• July 6, 1979: Juan Bernhardt was traded by the Mariners to the Chicago White Sox for Rich Hinton.^[12]

All-Star Game[edit]

The 1979 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 50th playing of the midsummer classic between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 17, 1979 at The Kingdome, the home of the Seattle Mariners of the American League. The game resulted in the National League defeating the American League 7-6.

Roster[edit]

1979 Seattle Mariners
Roster
Pitchers 17 Glenn Abbott 38 Floyd Bannister 29 Roy Branch 35 Joe Decker 24 Rob Dressler 37 Rich Hinton 40 Rick Honeycutt 36 Odell Jones 26 Jim Lewis 27 Byron McLaughlin 34 Paul Mitchell 25 John Montague 20 Mike Parrott 41 Shane Rawley 33 Randy Stein 35 Wayne Twitchell 21 Rafael Vásquez		Catchers  5 Larry Cox 15 Bob Stinson Infielders 12 Charlie Beamon 23 Bruce Bochte  6 Julio Cruz 11 Mario Mendoza  7 Dan Meyer 10 Larry Milbourne  1 Bill Stein  2 Bobby Valentine		Outfielders 19 Rod Craig 43 John Hale  9 Ruppert Jones 14 Tom Paciorek  8 Leon Roberts 18 Joe Simpson Other batters 26 Juan Bernhardt 53 Willie Horton		Manager 22 Darrell Johnson Coaches 31 Don Bryant 30 Bill Mazeroski 28 Vada Pinson 32 Wes Stock

Player stats[edit]

Batting[edit]

Starters by position[edit]

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	Cox, LarryLarry Cox	100	293	63	.215	4	36
2B	Cruz, JulioJulio Cruz	107	414	112	.271	1	29
3B	Meyer, DanDan Meyer	144	525	146	.278	20	74
SS	Mendoza, MarioMario Mendoza	148	373	74	.198	1	24
LF	Paciorek, TomTom Paciorek	103	310	83	.267	6	42
CF	Jones, RuppertRuppert Jones	162	622	166	.267	21	78
RF	Roberts, LeonLeon Roberts	140	450	122	.271	15	54
DH	Horton, WillieWillie Horton	162	646	180	.279	29	106

Other batters[edit]

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
Stein, BillBill Stein	88	250	62	.248	7	27
Valentine, BobbyBobby Valentine	62	98	27	.276	0	7
Beamon, CharlieCharlie Beamon	27	25	5	.276	0	0

Pitching[edit]

Starting pitchers[edit]

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Honeycutt, RickRick Honeycutt	33	194	11	12	4.04	83
Bannister, FloydFloyd Bannister	30	182.1	10	15	4.05	115
Abbott, GlennGlenn Abbott	23	116.2	4	10	5.17	25
Jones, OdellOdell Jones	25	118.2	3	11	6.07	72
Branch, RoyRoy Branch	2	11.1	0	1	7.94	6

Other pitchers[edit]

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Dressler, RobRob Dressler	21	104	3	2	4.93	36
Mitchell, PaulPaul Mitchell	10	36.2	1	4	4.42	18
Decker, JoeJoe Decker	9	27.1	0	1	4.28	12

Relief pitchers[edit]

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Montague, JohnJohn Montague	41	6	4	1	5.57	60
Stein, RandyRandy Stein	23	2	3	0	5.88	39
Hinton, RichRich Hinton	14	0	2	0	5.40	7
Vásquez, RafaelRafael Vásquez	9	1	0	0	5.06	9
Lewis, JimJim Lewis	2	0	0	0	15.43	0

Awards and honors[edit]

All-Stars[edit]

1979 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

• Bruce Bochte, reserve

Farm system[edit]

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Spokane Indians	Pacific Coast League	Rene Lachemann
A	San Jose Missions	California League	Bob Didier
A	Alexandria Mariners	Carolina League	Bobby Floyd
Short-Season A	Bellingham Mariners	Northwest League	Jeff Scott

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: San Jose^[13]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

• 1979 Seattle Mariners
• 1979 Seattle Mariners team page at www.baseball-almanac.com

1979 MLB season by team AL East Baltimore Boston Cleveland Detroit Milwaukee New York Toronto AL West California Chicago Kansas City Minnesota Oakland Seattle Texas NL East Chicago Montréal New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis NL West Atlanta Cincinnati Houston Los Angeles San Diego San Francisco 1979 MLB draft 1979 All-Star Game 1979 World Series

Seattle Mariners Based in Seattle, Washington The franchise History Expansion and draft Seasons Records No-hitters Players Managers General managers and owners Award winners and league leaders First-round draft picks Broadcasters Opening Day starting pitchers Minor league affiliates Uniform promotion games Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame Ballparks Kingdome Safeco Field Spring training: Tempe Diablo Stadium Peoria Sports Complex Culture Mariner Moose The Double "Refuse to Lose" Tuba Man Dave Niehaus Rally fries "Kernkraft 400" The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! Little Big League 1995 AL West tie-breaker Turn Ahead the Clock 116 wins 1995 ALDS 2000 ALDS 2001 ALDS Félix Hernández's perfect game Key personnel Owner: Nintendo of America, represented by Howard Lincoln President: Kevin Mather General Manager: Jerry Dipoto Manager: Scott Servais Retired numbers 42 All-Star Games hosted (2) 1979 2001 American League West Division titles (3) 1995 1997 2001 Wild card berths (1) 2000 Minor league affiliates Tacoma Rainiers (AAA) Jackson Generals (AA) Bakersfield Blaze (A) Everett AquaSox (A) Clinton LumberKings (A) AZL Mariners (Rookie) DSL Mariners 1 (Rookie) DSL Mariners 2 (Rookie) Broadcasting Television Root Sports Northwest Radio ESPN-710 Seattle Mariners radio network affiliates Broadcasters Rick Rizzs Dave Sims Mike Blowers Aaron Goldsmith Julio Cruz (Spanish) Alex Rivera (Spanish)   Seasons (40) 1970s 1970 · 1971 · 1972 · 1973 · 1974 · 1975 · 1976 · 1977 1978 1979 1980s 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010s 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016