1979 Boston Red Sox
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionEast
BallparkFenway Park
CityBoston, Massachusetts
Record91–69 (.569)
Divisional place3rd (11+1⁄2 GB)
OwnersBuddy LeRoux, Haywood Sullivan, Jean Yawkey
PresidentJean Yawkey
General managerHaywood Sullivan
ManagerDon Zimmer
TelevisionWSBK-TV, Ch. 38
(Ned Martin, Ken Harrelson)
RadioWITS-AM 1510
(Ken Coleman, Rico Petrocelli)
StatsESPN.com
BB-reference
Seasons

The 1979 Boston Red Sox season was the 79th season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished third in the American League East with a record of 91 wins and 69 losses, 11+1⁄2 games behind the Baltimore Orioles, who went on to win the AL championship.

Offseason

On December 7, 1978, pitcher Bill Lee was traded to the Montreal Expos for infielder Stan Papi.[1]

Regular season

Record by month[2]
MonthRecordCumulativeAL EastRef.
WonLostWonLostPositionGB
April1371371st+1⁄2[3]
May141227192nd2[4]
June20847272nd4+1⁄2[5]
July151362402nd7+1⁄2[6]
August161378533rd8+1⁄2[7]
September131691693rd11+1⁄2[8]

The Red Sox only played 160 games, as a home game scheduled against the Milwaukee Brewers on August 12,[9] and an away game scheduled against the Chicago White Sox on August 29,[10] were rained out and not rescheduled.

Highlights

Fred Lynn had a league-leading .333 batting average and had 39 home runs and 122 RBIs, while Jim Rice batted .325 with 39 homers and 130 RBIs. On the pitching staff, Dennis Eckersley was 17–10, down from 20–8 the prior season, and Mike Torrez was 16–13, matching his record of the previous year.

The season also featured Carl Yastrzemski's 3,000th hit and his 400th home run. His 400th home run came off of Mike Morgan of the Athletics on July 24.[11] Yaz became the seventh AL player and 18th MLB player to collect 400 home runs.[12] He joined the 3,000 hit club with a single off of Jim Beattie of the Yankees on September 12.[13] Yaz was the 15th player to collect 3,000 major league hits, and the first AL player to have both 3,000 hits and 400 home runs.[14]

Season standings

AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Baltimore Orioles 10257 0.642 — 55–24 47–33
Milwaukee Brewers 9566 0.590 8 52–29 43–37
Boston Red Sox 9169 0.569 11½ 51–29 40–40
New York Yankees 8971 0.556 13½ 51–30 38–41
Detroit Tigers 8576 0.528 18 46–34 39–42
Cleveland Indians 8180 0.503 22 47–34 34–46
Toronto Blue Jays 53109 0.327 50½ 32–49 21–60

Record vs. opponents

1979 American League record

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —8–59–38–38–57–66–68–58–45–68–410–26–611–2
Boston 5–8—5–75–66–78–58–48–49–35–89–38–46–69–4
California 3–97–5—9–46–64–87–67–59–47–510–37–65–87–5
Chicago 3–86–54–9—6–63–95–85–75–84–89–45–811–27–5
Cleveland 5–87–66–66–6—6–66–64–98–45–88–47–55–78–5
Detroit 6–75–88–49–36–6—5–76–74–87–67–57–56–69–4
Kansas City 6–64–86–78–56–67–5—5–77–65–79–47–66–79–3
Milwaukee 5–84–85–77–59–47–67–5—8–49–46–69–39–310–3
Minnesota 4–83–94–98–54–88–46–74–8—7–59–410–34–911–1
New York 6–58–55–78–48–56–77–54–95–7—9–36–68–49–4
Oakland 4–83–93–104–94–85–74–96–64–93–9—8–52–114–8
Seattle 2–104–86–78–55–75–76–73–93–106–65–8—6–78–4
Texas 6–66–68–52–117–56–67–63–99–44–811–27–6—7–5
Toronto 2–114–95–75–75–84–93–93–101–114–98–44–85–7—

Notable transactions

Opening Day lineup

  2Jerry Remy2B
  7Rick BurlesonSS
19Fred LynnCF
14Jim RiceDH
  8Carl Yastrzemski    LF
15George Scott1B
  3Jack Brohamer3B
24Dwight EvansRF
10Bob MontgomeryC
43Dennis EckersleyP

Source:[17]

Roster

1979 Boston Red Sox
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

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
CGary Allenson10824149.203322
1BBob Watson84312105.3371353
2BJerry Remy8030691.297029
SSRick Burleson153627174.278560
3BButch Hobson146528138.2612893
LFJim Rice158619201.32539130
CFFred Lynn147531177.33339122
RFDwight Evans152489134.2742158
DHCarl Yastrzemski147518140.2702187

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
Carlton Fisk9132087.2721042
Jack Brohamer6419251.266111
George Scott4515635.224423
Tom Poquette6315451.331223
Stan Papi5011722.18816
Jim Dwyer7611330.265214
Ted Sizemore268823.26116
Bob Montgomery328630.34907
Larry Wolfe477819.244315
Mike O'Berry435910.16914
Frank Duffy630.00000

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
Mike Torrez36252.116134.49125
Dennis Eckersley33246.217102.99150
Bob Stanley40216.216123.9956
Steve Renko27171.01194.1199
Chuck Rainey20103.2853.8241
John Tudor628.0126.4311

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
Allen Ripley1664.2315.1534
Joel Finch1557.1034.8725

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
Dick Drago56103133.0367
Tom Burgmeier443242.7460
Bill Campbell413494.2825
Jim Wright111005.0915
Win Remmerswaal81007.0816
Andy Hassler81208.807

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Pawtucket Red Sox International League Joe Morgan
AA Bristol Red Sox Eastern League Tony Torchia
A Winston-Salem Red Sox Carolina League Bill Slack
A Winter Haven Red Sox Florida State League Rac Slider
A-Short Season Elmira Pioneers New York–Penn League Dick Berardino

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Winston-Salem, Winter Haven
Source:[18][19]

References

  1. ↑ Stout, Glenn; Johnson, Richard A. (2005). Red Sox Century: The Definitive History of Baseball's Most Storied Franchise. New York, New York: Houghton Mifflin. p. 392.
  2. ↑ "The 1979 Boston Red Sox". Retrosheet. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  3. ↑ "Events of Monday, April 30, 1979".
  4. ↑ "Events of Thursday, May 31, 1979".
  5. ↑ "Events of Saturday, June 30, 1979".
  6. ↑ "Events of Tuesday, July 31, 1979".
  7. ↑ "Events of Friday, August 31, 1979".
  8. ↑ "Events of Sunday, September 30, 1979".
  9. ↑ "Red Sox look for clear skies". North Adams Transcript. North Adams, Massachusetts. AP. August 13, 1979. p. 19. Retrieved October 11, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Veeck Attacks New Postponement". Hartford Courant. Hartford, Connecticut. AP. August 30, 1979. p. 69. Retrieved October 11, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Another milestone for Yaz: 400th home run of career". Tucson Citizen. Tucson, Arizona. AP. July 25, 1979. p. 47. Retrieved October 10, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Boston Red Sox 7, Oakland Athletics 3". Retrosheet. July 24, 1979. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  13. ↑ "The 3,000 Hit Club: Carl Yastrzemski". baseballhalloffame.org.
  14. ↑ "Boston Red Sox 9, New York Yankees 2". Retrosheet. September 12, 1979. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  15. ↑ Bob Watson page at Baseball Reference
  16. ↑ Ted Sizemore page at Baseball Reference
  17. ↑ "Boston Red Sox 7, Cleveland Indians 1". Retrosheet. April 5, 1979. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  18. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
  19. ↑ Boston Red Sox Media Guide. 1979. p. 43. Retrieved March 14, 2021 – via Wayback Machine.
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