1979 in baseball
The following are the baseball events of the year 1979 throughout the world.
Contents |
Champions
Major League Baseball
- World Series: Pittsburgh Pirates over Baltimore Orioles (4-3); Willie Stargell, MVP
League Championship Series NBC |
World Series ABC |
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East | Baltimore Orioles | 3 | ||||||
West | California Angels | 1 | ||||||
AL | Baltimore Orioles | 3 | ||||||
NL | Pittsburgh Pirates | 4 | ||||||
East | Pittsburgh Pirates | 3 | ||||||
West | Cincinnati Reds | 0 |
- American League Championship Series MVP: None.
- National League Championship Series MVP: Willie Stargell
- All-Star Game, July 17 at the Kingdome: National League, 7-6; Dave Parker, MVP
Other champions
- Caribbean World Series: Navegantes del Magallanes (Venezuela)
- College World Series: Cal State-Fullerton
- Japan Series: Hiroshima Toyo Carp over Kintetsu Buffaloes (4-3)
- Little League World Series: Pu-Tzu Town, , Taiwan
- Cuban National Series: Sancti Spíritus
Awards and honors
- Most Valuable Player
- Don Baylor, California Angels, OF (AL)
- Willie Stargell, Pittsburgh Pirates, 1B and Keith Hernandez, St. Louis Cardinals, 1B (NL)
- Cy Young Award
- Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles (AL)
- Bruce Sutter, Chicago Cubs (NL)
- Rookie of the Year
- John Castino, Minnesota Twins, 3B and Alfredo Griffin, Toronto Blue Jays, SS (AL)
- Rick Sutcliffe, Los Angeles Dodgers, P (NL)
MLB Statistical Leaders
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Major League Baseball final standings
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Events
- January 23 - Willie Mays receives 409 of 432 votes in the Baseball Writers Association of America election to earn enshrinement in the Hall of Fame.
- March 7 - The Special Veterans Committee selects Warren Giles and Hack Wilson for the Hall of Fame.
- April 7 - In the earliest no-hitter in major league history, the Houston Astros' Ken Forsch shuts down the Atlanta Braves 6-0. Together with Bob Forsch, who hurled a no-hitter in 1978, the brothers become the first to pitch no-hit games.
- May 17 - Dave Kingman of the Cubs hit three home runs and Mike Schmidt of the Phillies hit two, and Philadelphia beat Chicago, 23-22, in 10 innings at Wrigley Field. Bill Buckner had a grand slam and seven RBIs for Chicago. The game included 11 home runs and 50 hits.
- June 12 - The Detroit Tigers win the first game of a scheduled doubleheader 4-1 on Disco Demolition Night at Chicago's Comiskey Park. Thousands of fans swarm onto the field between the games, littering and tearing it up, causing the White Sox to forfeit the second game.
- July 17 - The National League wins its eighth straight All-Star Game, 7–6, at Seattle. Lee Mazzilli hit a home run to tie the game in the 8th, and walks in the 9th to bring in the winning run. Dave Parker, with two outstanding throws, is named the MVP, and Pete Rose plays a record five All-Star positions. The Boston Red Sox provide the starting outfield for the American League with Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice and Fred Lynn.
- July 24 - The Boston Red Sox' Carl Yastrzemski hits his 400th home run off Oakland Athletics pitcher Mike Morgan in the 7th inning of the Red Sox' 7-3 win over the Athletics at Boston's Fenway Park.
- August 13 - The St. Louis Cardinals' Lou Brock slashes his 3,000th hit off the hand of Chicago Cubs pitcher Dennis Lamp in a 3-2 Cardinals win.
- September 12 - Carl Yastrzemski records his 3000th career hit.
- October 17 - In Game Seven of the World Series, Willie Stargell hits his third home run of the Series to send the Pittsburgh Pirates to their third straight win over the Baltimore Orioles, to win the World Championship. Stargell wins Series MVP honors.
Movies
- Bleacher Bums (TV)
Births
January-March
- January 3 - Rosman García
- January 5 - Rubén Quevedo
- January 21 - Byung-Hyun Kim
- January 23 - Juan Rincón
- January 29 - Lance Niekro
- February 9 - Akinori Iwamura
- February 15 - Luis Ugueto
- February 24 - Brian Esposito
- February 24 - Dennis Tankersley
- March 3 - Jorge Julio
- March 6 - Clint Barmes
- March 6 - Erik Bedard
- March 12 - Félix Escalona
- March 13 - Johan Santana
- March 16 - Hee Seop Choi
- March 20 - Wilfredo Rodríguez
- March 23 - Mark Buehrle
- March 27- Michael Cuddyer
April-June
- April 7 - Adrián Beltré
- April 12 - Jordan De Jong
- April 19 - Nick Gorneault
- April 23 - Carlos Silva
- May 1 - Brandon Claussen
- May 10 - Tony Alvarez
- May 20 - Jayson Werth
- May 23 - César Crespo
- May 24 - Joe Kennedy
- May 25 - Chris Young
- June 6 - Jeremy Affeldt
- June 8 - Pete Orr
- June 26 - Luis A. González
July-September
- July 13 - Kei Igawa
- July 19 - Rick Ankiel
- July 22 - Juan Uribe
- August 2 - Humberto Quintero
- August 10 - Dan Johnson
- August 13 - Corey Patterson
- August 19 - Rocky Cherry
- August 23 - Chris Roberson
- August 29 - Eduardo Villacis
- August 30 - Luis Rivas
- August 31 - Tim Raines, Jr.
- September 5 - Cliff Bartosh
- September 7 - Nathan Haynes
- September 19 - Lenny DiNardo
- September 27 - Jon Garland
October-December
- October 14 - Duaner Sánchez
- October 21 - Khalil Greene
- November 1 - Coco Crisp
- November 6 - Adam LaRoche
- November 9 - Adam Dunn
- November 11 - J.R. House
- November 19 - Ryan Howard
- November 24 - Horacio Ramírez
- November 28 - Mike Schultz
- November 29 - Francis Beltrán
- December 12 - Garrett Atkins
- December 15 - Kevin Cameron
- December 19 - Rafael Soriano
Deaths
- February 7 - Warren Giles, 82, president of the National League from 1951 to 1969, and of the Cincinnati Reds from 1937 to 1951
- February 8 - Art Williams, 44, the first black umpire in the National League, working from 1972 to 1977 including the 1975 NLCS
- March 2 - Dale Alexander, 75, first baseman who batted .331 in five seasons with the Tigers and Red Sox, winning the 1932 batting title, before an injury ended his career; later a scout
- March 29 - Luke Easter, 63, first baseman in the Negro Leagues who had 100 RBI in each of his first two seasons with the Cleveland Indians
- April 3 - Harry Simpson, 63, outfielder and first baseman who led the AL in triples twice
- June 17 - Duffy Lewis, 91, left fielder for the Boston Red Sox who starred on three champions and mastered Fenway Park's sloping left field
- June 18 - Hal Trosky, 66, first baseman for the Indians who batted .302 lifetime and had six 100-RBI seasons
- July 22 - Amos Strunk, 90, a center fielder for the Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox between 1908 through 1924 and a member of four World Series champion teams
- August 2 - Thurman Munson, 32, 7-time All-Star catcher for the New York Yankees since 1969 who batted .300 five times and won the 1976 MVP award; 1970 Rookie of the Year won three Gold Gloves and batted .357 in 30 postseason games
- August 9 - Walter O'Malley, 75, owner of the Dodgers franchise since 1950, during which time the team won four World Series titles; he moved the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles and constructed Dodger Stadium
- September 4 - Turkey Stearnes, 78, center fielder in the Negro Leagues who led the Negro National League in home runs six times while batting .350
- October 22 - , 88, sportswriter for The New York Times for 41 years
- November 18 - Freddie Fitzsimmons, 78, knuckleball pitcher who won 217 games for the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers
- December 15 - Stan Hack, 70, 5-time All-Star third baseman for the Chicago Cubs who batted .301 lifetime and posted a .394 career on-base percentage, the highest of any 20th-century third baseman; scored 100 runs seven times and led NL in hits and steals twice each