1979 Houston Astros season

1979 Houston Astros
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1962)
Western Division (since 1969)
Location
The Astrodome (since 1965)
Houston, Texas (since 1962)
Results
Record	89–73 (.549)
Divisional place	2nd
Other information
Owner(s)	John McMullen
General manager(s)	Tal Smith
Manager(s)	Bill Virdon
Local television	KRIV
Local radio	KPRC (AM) (Gene Elston, Dewayne Staats, Larry Dierker)
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The 1979 Houston Astros season was a season in American baseball. The team finished second in the National League West, 1½ games behind the first-place Cincinnati Reds. The 1979 Astros were the last National League franchise in the 20th century to hit more triples than home runs. The club had 52 triples compared to 49 home runs.

Offseason

• December 8, 1978: Floyd Bannister was traded by the Astros to the Seattle Mariners for Craig Reynolds.

Regular season

Season standings

NL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cincinnati Reds	90	71	0.559	—	48–32	42–39
Houston Astros	89	73	0.549	1½	52–29	37–44
Los Angeles Dodgers	79	83	0.488	11½	46–35	33–48
San Francisco Giants	71	91	0.438	19½	38–43	33–48
San Diego Padres	68	93	0.422	22	39–42	29–51
Atlanta Braves	66	94	0.412	23½	34–45	32–49

Record vs. opponents

1979 National League Records 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	—

Notable transactions

• April 27, 1979: The Astros traded a player to be named later to the Kansas City Royals for George Throop. The Astros completed the deal by sending Keith Drumright to the Royals on October 26.
• June 13, 1979: Bob Watson was traded by the Astros to the Boston Red Sox for Pete Ladd, a player to be named later, and cash. The Red Sox completed the deal by sending Bobby Sprowl to the Astros on June 19.

Draft picks

• June 5, 1979: 1979 Major League Baseball Draft
  • Bill Doran was drafted by the Astros in the 6th round.
  • Mark Ross was drafted by the Astros in the 7th round.
  • Lemmie Miller was drafted by the Astros in the 1st round (20th pick) of the secondary phase, but did not sign.

Roster

1979 Houston Astros
Roster
Pitchers 47 Joaquín Andújar 37 Tom Dixon 43 Ken Forsch 31 Frank LaCorte 39 Pete Ladd 39 Bo McLaughlin 54 Mike Mendoza 36 Joe Niekro 46 Randy Niemann 34 Gordie Pladson 45 Frank Riccelli 50 J. R. Richard 42 Bert Roberge 48 Vern Ruhle 35 Joe Sambito 41 Bobby Sprowl 33 George Throop 38 Rick Williams 41 Gary Wilson		Catchers 14 Alan Ashby  6 Reggie Baldwin 13 Bruce Bochy 11 Alan Knicely  8 Luis Pujols Infielders 16 Dave Bergman 23 Enos Cabell 28 César Cedeño  9 Julio González 18 Art Howe 17 Rafael Landestoy 12 Craig Reynolds 24 Jimmy Sexton 27 Bob Watson		Outfielders 22 Jesús Alou 25 José Cruz 20 Danny Heep 30 Jeffrey Leonard 21 Terry Puhl 29 Denny Walling 19 Tom Wiedenbauer		Manager  7 Bill Virdon Coaches  4 Deacon Jones  5 Bob Lillis  3 Tony Pacheco  2 Mel Wright

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	Alan Ashby	108	336	68	.202	2	35
1B	César Cedeño	132	470	123	.262	6	54
SS	Craig Reynolds	146	555	147	.265	0	39
LF	José Cruz	157	558	161	.289	9	72
CF	Terry Puhl	157	600	172	.287	8	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
Julio González	68	181	45	.249	0	10
Bob Watson	49	163	39	.239	3	18
Denny Walling	82	147	48	.327	3	31
Jesús Alou	42	43	11	.256	0	10
Danny Heep	14	14	2	.143	0	2
Alan Knicely	7	6	0	.000	0	0
Tom Wiedenbauer	4	6	4	.667	0	2

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
J. R. Richard	38	292.1	18	13	2.71	313
Ken Forsch	26	177.2	11	6	3.04	58

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
Joaquín Andújar	46	194	12	12	3.43	77
Frank LaCorte	12	27	1	2	5.00	24
Frank Riccelli	11	22	2	2	4.09	20

Relief pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Bert Roberge	26	32	3	0	4	1.69	13
Tom Dixon	19	25.2	1	2	0	6.66	9
George Throop	14	22.1	1	0	0	3.22	15
Bo McLaughlin	12	16.1	1	2	0	5.51	12
Pete Ladd	10	12.1	1	1	0	2.92	6
Gary Wilson	6	7.1	0	0	0	12.27	6
Bobby Sprowl	3	4	0	0	0	0.00	3

Farm system

See also: Minor league baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Charleston Charlies	International League	Jim Beauchamp
AA	Columbus Astros	Southern League	Jimmy Johnson
A	Daytona Beach Astros	Florida State League	Carlos Alfonso
Rookie	GCL Astros	Gulf Coast League	Julio Linares

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: GCL Astros

External links

• 1979 Houston Astros season at Baseball Reference