1979 Texas Rangers season

1979 Texas Rangers
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1961)
Western Division (since 1972)
Location
Arlington Stadium (since 1972)
Arlington, Texas (since 1972)
Other information
Owner(s)	Bradford G. Corbett
General manager(s)	Eddie Robinson
Manager(s)	Pat Corrales
Local television	KXAS-TV (Jon Miller, Frank Glieber, Eric Nadel)
Local radio	WBAP (Jon Miller, Bill Merrill)
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The 1979 Texas Rangers season involved the Rangers finishing 3rd in the American League West with a record of 83 wins and 79 losses.

Offseason

October 3, 1978: Len Barker and Bobby Bonds were traded by the Rangers to the Cleveland Indians for Larvell Blanks and Jim Kern.^[1]
October 24, 1978: Sandy Alomar was released by the Rangers.^[2]
October 25, 1978: Mike Hargrove, Kurt Bevacqua, and Bill Fahey were traded by the Rangers to the San Diego Padres for Oscar Gamble, Dave Roberts and $300,000.^[3]
November 10, 1978: Dave Righetti, Juan Beníquez, Mike Griffin, Paul Mirabella, and Greg Jemison (minors) were traded by the Rangers to the New York Yankees for Domingo Ramos, Mike Heath, Sparky Lyle, Larry McCall, Dave Rajsich, and cash.^[4]
December 8, 1978: Jim Mason was traded by the Rangers to the Montreal Expos for Mike Hart.^[5]

Regular season

June 24, 1979: Rickey Henderson made his major league debut for the Oakland Athletics in a game against the Rangers. Henderson had 4 at bats with 2 hits, and 1 stolen base.^[6]

Season standings

AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
California Angels	88	74	0.543	—	49–32	39–42
Kansas City Royals	85	77	0.525	3	46–35	39–42
Texas Rangers	83	79	0.512	5	44–37	39–42
Minnesota Twins	82	80	0.506	6	39–42	43–38
Chicago White Sox	73	87	0.456	14	33–46	40–41
Seattle Mariners	67	95	0.414	21	36–45	31–50
Oakland Athletics	54	108	0.333	34	31–50	23–58

Record vs. opponents

1979 American League Records Sources:
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	—

Notable transactions

May 4, 1979: Bert Campaneris was traded by the Rangers to the California Angels for Dave Chalk.^[7]
June 15, 1979: Dock Ellis was traded by the Rangers to the New York Mets for Bob Myrick and Mike Bruhert.^[8]
June 15, 1979: Eric Soderholm was traded by the Chicago White Sox to the Texas Rangers for Ed Farmer and Gary Holle.^[9]
August 1, 1979: Oscar Gamble, Amos Lewis (minors) and players to be named later were traded by the Rangers to the New York Yankees for Mickey Rivers and players to be named later. The Rangers completed the deal by sending Ray Fontenot and Gene Nelson to the Yankees on October 8. The Yankees completed the deal by sending Bob Polinsky (minors), Neal Mersch (minors), and Mark Softy (minors) to the Rangers on October 8.^[3]

Roster

1979 Texas Rangers

Roster

Pitchers

33 Doyle Alexander

23 Brian Allard

17,20 Bob Babcock

11 Steve Comer

44 Danny Darwin

17 Dock Ellis

30 Ed Farmer

27 Jerry Don Gleaton

31 Fergie Jenkins

38 John Henry Johnson

34 Jim Kern

28 Sparky Lyle

32 Jon Matlack

29 Larry McCall

42 Doc Medich

26 Dave Rajsich

Catchers

30 Greg Mahlberg

14 Dave Roberts

10 Jim Sundberg

Infielders

25 Buddy Bell

3 Larvell Blanks

19 Bert Campaneris

12 Dave Chalk

24 Gary Holle

35 Mike Jorgensen

24 Willie Montañez

4 Nelson Norman

18 Pat Putnam

12 Eric Soderholm

1 Bump Wills

Outfielders

6 Johnny Grubb

0 Al Oliver

17 Mickey Rivers

5 Billy Sample

15 La Rue Washington

22 Richie Zisk

Other batters

9 John Ellis

7 Oscar Gamble

23 Gary Gray

Manager

45 Pat Corrales

Coaches

49 Jackie Brown

47 Fred Koenig

48 Frank Lucchesi

8 Connie Ryan

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
SS	Norman, NelsonNelson Norman	147	343	76	.222	0	21
LF	Sample, BillyBilly Sample	128	325	95	.292	5	35

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
Gamble, OscarOscar Gamble	64	161	54	.335	8	32
Blanks, LarvellLarvell Blanks	68	120	24	.200	1	15
Roberts, DaveDave Roberts	44	84	22	.262	3	14
Gray, GaryGary Gray	16	42	10	.238	0	1

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
Comer, SteveSteve Comer	36	242.1	17	12	3.68	86
Alexander, DoyleDoyle Alexander	23	113.1	5	7	4.45	50

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
Allard, BrianBrian Allard	7	33.1	1	3	4.32	14

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
Kern, JimJim Kern	71	13	5	29	1.57	136
Babcock, BobBob Babcock	4	0	0	0	10.12	6

Awards and honors

Jim Kern, Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award
Buddy Bell, 3B, Gold Glove
Jim Sundberg, C, Gold Glove

All-Stars

All-Star Game

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Tucson Toros	Pacific Coast League	Rich Donnelly
AA	Tulsa Drillers	Texas League	Jimmie Schaffer
A	Asheville Tourists	Western Carolinas League	Wayne Terwilliger
Rookie	GCL Rangers	Gulf Coast League	Andy Hancock

Notes

References

1979 Texas Rangers team page at Baseball Reference
1979 Texas Rangers team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-1-932391-17-6.

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

Texas Rangers

Formerly the Washington Senators
Based in Arlington, Texas (Dallas–Ft. Worth)

Franchise

Ballparks

Griffith Stadium RFK Stadium Arlington Stadium Globe Life Park in Arlington New Rangers Ballpark

Spring training	Pompano Beach Municipal Stadium Ranger Stadium Surprise Stadium

Culture and lore

Rivalries

Houston Astros

Retired numbers

Key personnel

Owners: Ray Davis & Bob R. Simpson
General Manager: Jon Daniels
Manager: Jeff Banister

Texas Rangers
Hall of Fame

Wild card berths (1)

2012

American League
West Division titles (6)

American League
championships (2)

2010
2011

Minor league affiliates

Seasons (56)

1960s	1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 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 2016 2017

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