1979 Minnesota Twins season

March 2026 November 2013 Minnesota Twins 1979 American League West Metropolitan Stadium Bloomington, Minnesota 82 80 y 4th Calvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes) Calvin Griffith Gene Mauch KMSP-TV (Bob Kurtz, Larry Osterman) 830 WCCO AM (Herb Carneal, Joe McConnell) The 1979 Minnesota Twins season was the 19th season for the Minnesota Twins franchise in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, their 19th season at Metropolitan Stadium and the 79th overall in the American League. The team finished 82–80, fourth in the American League West. Offseason In January 1979, the Twins attempted to trade first baseman Rod Carew to the New York Yankees in exchange for Chris Chambliss, Juan Beníquez, Dámaso García, and Dave Righetti, but were unable to finalize a deal. January 30, 1979 Yankees, Twins still dickering https://books.google.com/books?id=2E1SAAAAIBAJ&dq=St.+Petersburg+Times&pg=PA16&article_id=6263,5355638 2024-09-05 St. Petersburg Times 7c United Press International Carew would instead be traded to the California Angels on February 3. Notable transactions October 3, 1978: Dave Johnson was released by the Twins.Dave Johnson Career Stats https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/johnsda03.shtml 2024-09-05 Baseball-Reference.com en December 4, 1978: Dan Ford was traded by the Twins to the California Angels for Ron Jackson and Danny Goodwin.Dan Ford Career Stats https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/fordda01.shtml 2024-09-05 Baseball-Reference.com en December 8, 1978: Greg Field (minors) and a player to be named later were traded by the Twins to the New York Mets for Jerry Koosman. The Twins completed the deal by sending Jesse Orosco to the Mets on February 7, 1979.Jerry Koosman Career Stats https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/koosmje01.shtml 2024-09-05 Baseball-Reference.com en January 6, 1979: Mike Marshall was signed as a free agent by the Twins.Mike Marshall Career Stats https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/marshmi01.shtml 2024-09-05 Baseball-Reference.com en February 3, 1979: Rod Carew was traded by the Twins to the California Angels for Ken Landreaux, Dave Engle, Paul Hartzell, and Brad Havens.Rod Carew Career Stats https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/carewro01.shtml 2024-09-05 Baseball-Reference.com en Regular season Three Minnesota Twins homered in the May 15 win over Texas, the sixteenth straight Minnesota game with at least one Twins homer. The streak will end on May 16. Nine players homered 28 times during the club's record-setting streak. Only one Twins player made the All-Star Game: shortstop Roy Smalley. Smalley hit 24 HR, drove in 95 runs, and scored 85 runs, all team-leading totals. Ken Landreaux, acquired in the Carew trade, batted .305 with 15 HR and 83 RBI. Ron Jackson, acquired in the Dan Ford trade, hit 14 HR and collected 68 RBI. Reliever Mike Marshall continued as manager Gene Mauch's all-purpose reliever, pitching in a league-leading 90 games, racking up 10 relief wins along with a league-leading 32 saves. Veteran Jerry Koosman won 20 games. Dave Goltz (14–13) and Geoff Zahn (13–7) had double-digit wins. Smalley turned 144 double plays this year, setting a major league record for shortstops. The team total of 203 double plays set a new season record. Third baseman John Castino shared the AL Rookie of the Year award with Alfredo Griffin of the Toronto Blue Jays. Each received 7 first place votes.https://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1979.shtml Baseball Awards Voting for 1979 Baseball-Reference.com 2016-01-28 1,070,521 fans attended Twins games, the fourth lowest total in the American League. It was only the second time since 1970 the team attracted over one million fans. Season standings Record vs. opponents MIN Notable transactions June 5, 1979: 1979 Major League Baseball draft Randy Bush was drafted by the Twins in the 2nd round.Randy Bush Career Stats https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bushra01.shtml 2024-09-05 Baseball-Reference.com en Mike Kinnunen was drafted by the Twins in the 10th round.Mike Kinnunen Career Stats https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kinnumi01.shtml 2024-09-05 Baseball-Reference.com en June 29, 1979: Rudy Meoli was purchased by the Twins from the Philadelphia Phillies.Rudy Meoli Career Stats https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/meoliru01.shtml 2024-09-05 Baseball-Reference.com en July 25, 1979: Craig Kusick was purchased from the Twins by the Toronto Blue Jays.Craig Kusick Career Stats https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kusiccr01.shtml 2024-09-05 Baseball-Reference.com en Roster 1979 Minnesota Twins Roster Pitchers 27 Mike Bacsik 31 Ken Brett 19 Roger Erickson 21 Terry Felton 30 Dave Goltz 18 Paul Hartzell 21 Jeff Holly 15,31 Darrell Jackson 36 Jerry Koosman 28 Mike Marshall 17 Pete Redfern 20 Gary Serum 40 Kevin Stanfield 23 Paul Thormodsgard 38 Geoff Zahn Catchers 14 Glenn Borgmann 16 Butch Wynegar Infielders  1 John Castino 26 Mike Cubbage 25 Danny Goodwin 15 Ron Jackson 22 Craig Kusick 34 José Morales 32 Bob Randall  5 Roy Smalley  7 Rob Wilfong Outfielders  8 Glenn Adams 33 Dave Edwards 44 Ken Landreaux 24 Willie Norwood 10 Hosken Powell  9 Bombo Rivera 25,12 Rick Sofield 35 Gary Ward Other batters 37 Dan Graham 37 Jesús Vega Manager  4 Gene Mauch Coaches 45 Johnny Goryl 41 Karl Kuehl 42 Camilo Pascual 43 Jerry Zimmerman Player stats = Indicates team leader 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 Butch Wynegar 149 504 136 .270 7 57 1B Ron Jackson baseball, born 1953 159 583 158 .271 14 68 2B Rob Wilfong 140 419 131 .313 9 59 SS Roy Smalley Roy Smalley III 162 621 168 .271 24 95 3B John Castino 148 393 112 .285 5 52 LF Bombo Rivera 112 263 74 .281 2 31 CF Ken Landreaux 151 564 172 .305 15 83 RF Hosken Powell 104 338 99 .293 2 36 DH José Morales 92 191 51 .267 2 27 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 Glenn Adams 119 326 98 .301 8 50 Willie Norwood Willie Norwood (baseball) 76 270 67 .248 6 30 Mike Cubbage 94 243 67 .276 2 23 Dave Edwards Dave Edwards (baseball) 96 229 57 .249 8 35 Bob Randall Bob Randall (baseball) 80 199 49 .246 0 14 Danny Goodwin 58 159 46 .289 5 27 Rick Sofield 35 93 28 .301 0 12 Glenn Borgmann 31 70 14 .200 0 8 Craig Kusick 24 54 13 .241 3 6 Gary Ward 10 14 4 .286 0 1 Jesús Vega 4 7 0 .000 0 0 Dan Graham 2 4 0 .000 0 0 Pitching = Indicates league leader 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 Jerry Koosman 37 263.2 20 13 3.38 157 Dave Goltz 36 250.2 14 13 4.16 132 Geoff Zahn 26 169.0 13 7 3.57 58 Paul Hartzell 28 163.0 6 10 5.36 44 Roger Erickson Roger Erickson (baseball) 24 123.0 3 10 5.63 47 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 Pete Redfern 40 108.1 7 3 3.49 85 Darrell Jackson Darrell Jackson (baseball) 24 69.1 4 4 4.28 43 Gary Serum 20 64.0 1 3 6.61 31 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 Mike Marshall Mike Marshall (pitcher) 90 10 15 32 2.65 81 Mike Bacsik Mike Bacsik (right-handed pitcher) 31 4 2 0 4.39 33 Ken Brett 9 0 0 0 4.97 3 Jeff Holly 6 0 0 0 7.11 5 Kevin Stanfield 3 0 0 0 6.00 1 Terry Felton 1 0 0 0 0.00 1 Paul Thormodsgard 1 0 0 0 9.00 1 Farm system Minor League Baseball AAA Toledo Mud Hens International League Cal Ermer AA Orlando Twins Southern League Roy McMillan A Visalia Oaks California League Tom Kelly A Wisconsin Rapids Twins Midwest League Rick Stelmaszek Rookie Elizabethton Twins Appalachian League Fred Waters Notes 2 References Johnson Lloyd Wolff Miles The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball 2nd Durham, North Carolina Baseball America 1997 978-0-9637189-8-3 Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com Team info from www.baseball-almanac.com Category:Minnesota Twins seasons Minnesota Twins season Minnesota Twins