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
Manager(s)	Whitey Herzog
Local television	KBMA (Steve Shannon, Dave Nelson)
Local radio	WIBW (AM) (Denny Matthews, Fred White)
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The 1979 Kansas City Royals season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Royals finishing second in the American League West with a record of 85 wins and 77 losses.

1 Offseason
2 Regular season
3 Player stats
- 3.1 Batting
  - 3.1.1 Starters by position
  - 3.1.2 Other batters
- 3.2 Pitching
4 Farm system
5 Notes
6 References

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

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

Notable transactions

April 3, 1979: Doug Bird was traded by the Royals to the Philadelphia Phillies for Todd Cruz.^[3]
April 27, 1979: 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

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	White, FrankFrank White	127	467	124	.266	10	48
3B	Brett, GeorgeGeorge Brett	154	645	212	.329	23	107
SS	Patek, FreddieFreddie Patek	106	306	77	.252	1	37
LF	Wilson, WillieWillie 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
Washington, U LU L Washington	101	268	68	.254	2	25
Scott, GeorgeGeorge Scott	44	146	39	.267	1	20
Cruz, ToddTodd Cruz	55	118	24	.203	2	15
Braun, SteveSteve Braun	58	116	31	.267	4	10
Terrell, JerryJerry Terrell	31	40	12	.300	1	2
Barranca, GermánGermán 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
Gura, LarryLarry Gura	39	233.2	13	12	4.47	85
Gale, RichRich Gale	34	181.2	9	10	5.65	103
Chamberlain, CraigCraig 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
Busby, SteveSteve 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
Rodríguez, EduardoEduardo Rodríguez	29	4	1	2	4.84	26
Paschall, BillBill Paschall	7	0	1	0	6.59	3
Christenson, GaryGary Christenson	6	0	0	0	3.38	4
Eaton, CraigCraig Eaton	5	0	0	0	2.70	4
Throop, GeorgeGeorge Throop	4	0	0	0	13.50	1
Terrell, JerryJerry 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

^ Mike Bielecki page at Baseball Reference
^ Eduardo Rodríguez page on Baseball Reference
^ Todd Cruz page at Baseball Reference
^ Keith Drumright page at Baseball Reference
^ Atlee Hammaker page at Baseball Reference
^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/index.cgi?year_ID=1979&round=4&draft_type=junreg
^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/index.cgi?year_ID=1979&round=18&draft_type=junreg

References

Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, N.C.: Baseball America.

1979 Kansas City Royals team page at Baseball Reference

1979 Kansas City Royals 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 Major League Baseball Draft 1979 All-Star Game 1979 World Series

Kansas City Royals

Based in Kansas City, Missouri

The franchise

Ballparks

Municipal Stadium; Kauffman Stadium
Spring training: Terry Park; Baseball City Stadium; Surprise Stadium

Culture

Lore

Rivalries

St. Louis Cardinals

Team Hall of Fame

Retired numbers

Minors

AAA: Omaha Storm Chasers
AA: Northwest Arkansas Naturals
A: Wilmington Blue Rocks; Lexington Legends
Rookie: Idaho Falls Chukars; Burlington Royals; AZL Royals; DSL Royals

Key personnel

Owner: David Glass
General Manager: Dayton Moore
Manager: Ned Yost

World Series
championships (1)

1985

American League
pennants (3)

Division titles

West: 1976; 1977; 1978; 1980; 1981 (second half); 1984; 1985
Central: none
Wild Card: 2014

Seasons (47)

1960s	1969

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

1979 Kansas City Royals season