# 1979 Boston Red Sox season

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.

## Regular season

Record by month :
| Month | Record | Record | Cumulative | Cumulative | AL East | AL East | Ref. |
| Month | Won | Lost | Won | Lost | Position | GB | Ref. |
| April | 13 | 7 | 13 | 7 | 1st | +1⁄2 | |
| May | 14 | 12 | 27 | 19 | 2nd | 2 | |
| June | 20 | 8 | 47 | 27 | 2nd | 4+1⁄2 | |
| July | 15 | 13 | 62 | 40 | 2nd | 7+1⁄2 | |
| August | 16 | 13 | 78 | 53 | 3rd | 8+1⁄2 | |
| September | 13 | 16 | 91 | 69 | 3rd | 11+1⁄2 | |
The Red Sox only played 160 games, as a home game scheduled against the Milwaukee Brewers on August 12, and an away game scheduled against the Chicago White Sox on August 29, 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. Yaz became the seventh AL player and 18th MLB player to collect 400 home runs. He joined the 3,000 hit club with a single off of Jim Beattie of the Yankees on September 12. 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.

### Season standings

vteAL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Baltimore Orioles | 102 | 57 | .642 | — | 55‍–‍24 | 47‍–‍33 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 95 | 66 | .590 | 8 | 52‍–‍29 | 43‍–‍37 |
| Boston Red Sox | 91 | 69 | .569 | 11½ | 51‍–‍29 | 40‍–‍40 |
| New York Yankees | 89 | 71 | .556 | 13½ | 51‍–‍30 | 38‍–‍41 |
| Detroit Tigers | 85 | 76 | .528 | 18 | 46‍–‍34 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Cleveland Indians | 81 | 80 | .503 | 22 | 47‍–‍34 | 34‍–‍46 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 53 | 109 | .327 | 50½ | 32‍–‍49 | 21‍–‍60 |

### Record vs. opponents

1979 American League recordvte 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

* June 13, 1979: Pete Ladd, a player to be named later, and cash were traded by the Red Sox to the Houston Astros for Bob Watson. The Red Sox completed the deal by sending Bobby Sprowl to the Astros on June 19.
* August 17, 1979: The Red Sox traded a player to be named later and cash to the Chicago Cubs for Ted Sizemore. The Red Sox completed the deal by sending Mike O'Berry to the Cubs on October 23.

### Opening Day lineup

| 2 | Jerry Remy | 2B |
| 7 | Rick Burleson | SS |
| 19 | Fred Lynn | CF |
| 14 | Jim Rice | DH |
| 8 | Carl Yastrzemski | LF |
| 15 | George Scott | 1B |
| 3 | Jack Brohamer | 3B |
| 24 | Dwight Evans | RF |
| 10 | Bob Montgomery | C |
| 43 | Dennis Eckersley | P |
Source:

### Roster
## 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 | Gary Allenson | 108 | 241 | 49 | .203 | 3 | 22 |
| 1B | Bob Watson | 84 | 312 | 105 | .337 | 13 | 53 |
| 2B | Jerry Remy | 80 | 306 | 91 | .297 | 0 | 29 |
| SS | Rick Burleson | 153 | 627 | 174 | .278 | 5 | 60 |
| 3B | Butch Hobson | 146 | 528 | 138 | .261 | 28 | 93 |
| LF | Jim Rice | 158 | 619 | 201 | .325 | 39 | 130 |
| CF | Fred Lynn | 147 | 531 | 177 | .333 | 39 | 122 |
| RF | Dwight Evans | 152 | 489 | 134 | .274 | 21 | 58 |
| DH | Carl Yastrzemski | 147 | 518 | 140 | .270 | 21 | 87 |

#### 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 Fisk | 91 | 320 | 87 | .272 | 10 | 42 |
| Jack Brohamer | 64 | 192 | 51 | .266 | 1 | 11 |
| George Scott | 45 | 156 | 35 | .224 | 4 | 23 |
| Tom Poquette | 63 | 154 | 51 | .331 | 2 | 23 |
| Stan Papi | 50 | 117 | 22 | .188 | 1 | 6 |
| Jim Dwyer | 76 | 113 | 30 | .265 | 2 | 14 |
| Ted Sizemore | 26 | 88 | 23 | .261 | 1 | 6 |
| Bob Montgomery | 32 | 86 | 30 | .349 | 0 | 7 |
| Larry Wolfe | 47 | 78 | 19 | .244 | 3 | 15 |
| Mike O'Berry | 43 | 59 | 10 | .169 | 1 | 4 |
| Frank Duffy | 6 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### 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 Torrez | 36 | 252.1 | 16 | 13 | 4.49 | 125 |
| Dennis Eckersley | 33 | 246.2 | 17 | 10 | 2.99 | 150 |
| Bob Stanley | 40 | 216.2 | 16 | 12 | 3.99 | 56 |
| Steve Renko | 27 | 171.0 | 11 | 9 | 4.11 | 99 |
| Chuck Rainey | 20 | 103.2 | 8 | 5 | 3.82 | 41 |
| John Tudor | 6 | 28.0 | 1 | 2 | 6.43 | 11 |

#### 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 Ripley | 16 | 64.2 | 3 | 1 | 5.15 | 34 |
| Joel Finch | 15 | 57.1 | 0 | 3 | 4.87 | 25 |

#### 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 Drago | 56 | 10 | 3 | 13 | 3.03 | 67 |
| Tom Burgmeier | 44 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2.74 | 60 |
| Bill Campbell | 41 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 4.28 | 25 |
| Jim Wright | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.09 | 15 |
| Win Remmerswaal | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7.08 | 16 |
| Andy Hassler | 8 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8.80 | 7 |

## Awards and honors

* Rick Burleson – Gold Glove Award (SS)
* Dwight Evans – Gold Glove Award (OF)
* Fred Lynn – Gold Glove Award (OF), AL Player of the Month (August)

### All-Star Game

* Rick Burleson, reserve SS
* Fred Lynn, starting CF
* Jim Rice, starting RF
* Bob Stanley, reserve P
* Carl Yastrzemski, starting 1B

## 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: