# 1979 Seattle Mariners season

The 1979 Seattle Mariners season was the franchise's third since its creation. The Mariners ended the season in sixth place in the American League West with a record of 67–95 (.414). The Mariners hosted the All-Star Game on Tuesday, July 17.

## Offseason

* December 5, 1978: Enrique Romo, Rick Jones, and Tom McMillan were traded by the Mariners to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Odell Jones, Rafael Vásquez, and Mario Mendoza.
* December 8, 1978: Craig Reynolds was traded by the Mariners to the Houston Astros for Floyd Bannister.
* December 21, 1978: Mario Díaz was signed as an amateur free agent by the Mariners.
* January 27, 1979: Willie Horton was signed as a free agent by the Mariners.
* February 8, 1979: Jim Todd was released by the Mariners.
* February 22, 1979: Mike Davey was purchased by the Mariners from the Atlanta Braves.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| California Angels | 88 | 74 | .543 | — | 49‍–‍32 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Kansas City Royals | 85 | 77 | .525 | 3 | 46‍–‍35 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Texas Rangers | 83 | 79 | .512 | 5 | 44‍–‍37 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Minnesota Twins | 82 | 80 | .506 | 6 | 39‍–‍42 | 43‍–‍38 |
| Chicago White Sox | 73 | 87 | .456 | 14 | 33‍–‍46 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Seattle Mariners | 67 | 95 | .414 | 21 | 36‍–‍45 | 31‍–‍50 |
| Oakland Athletics | 54 | 108 | .333 | 34 | 31‍–‍50 | 23‍–‍58 |

### 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 | — |

### Opening Day lineup

* Julio Cruz, 2B
* Bill Stein, 3B
* Dan Meyer, 1B
* Leon Roberts, RF
* Willie Horton, DH
* Ruppert Jones, CF
* Tom Paciorek, LF
* Larry Cox, C
* Mario Mendoza, SS
* Glenn Abbott, starting pitcher

### Notable transactions

* April 10, 1979: Bobby Valentine signed as a free agent by the Mariners.
* June 5, 1979: 1979 Major League Baseball Draft
** Mike Hart was drafted by the Mariners in the 13th round.
** Bud Black was drafted by the Mariners in the 17th round.
** Tom Henke was drafted by the Mariners in the 20th round, but did not sign.
* June 7, 1979: Paul Mitchell was traded by the Mariners to the Milwaukee Brewers for Randy Stein.
* July 6, 1979: Juan Bernhardt was traded by the Mariners to the Chicago White Sox for Rich Hinton.

### All-Star Game

The 1979 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 50th playing of the midsummer classic between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 17, 1979, at the Kingdome, the home of the Mariners. The National League defeated the American League, 7–6.

### 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 | Larry Cox | 100 | 293 | 63 | .215 | 4 | 36 |
| 1B | Bruce Bochte | 150 | 554 | 175 | .316 | 16 | 100 |
| 2B | Julio Cruz | 107 | 414 | 112 | .271 | 1 | 29 |
| 3B | Dan Meyer | 144 | 525 | 146 | .278 | 20 | 74 |
| SS | Mario Mendoza | 148 | 373 | 74 | .198 | 1 | 24 |
| LF | Tom Paciorek | 103 | 310 | 83 | .267 | 6 | 42 |
| CF | Ruppert Jones | 162 | 622 | 166 | .267 | 21 | 78 |
| RF | Leon Roberts | 140 | 450 | 122 | .271 | 15 | 54 |
| DH | Willie Horton | 162 | 646 | 180 | .279 | 29 | 106 |

#### 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 |
| Larry Milbourne | 123 | 356 | 99 | .278 | 2 | 26 |
| Joe Simpson | 120 | 265 | 75 | .283 | 2 | 27 |
| Bill Stein | 88 | 250 | 62 | .248 | 7 | 27 |
| Bob Stinson | 95 | 247 | 60 | .243 | 6 | 28 |
| Bobby Valentine | 62 | 98 | 27 | .276 | 0 | 7 |
| John Hale | 54 | 63 | 14 | .222 | 2 | 7 |
| Rod Craig | 16 | 52 | 20 | .385 | 0 | 6 |
| Charlie Beamon | 27 | 25 | 5 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Juan Bernhardt | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 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 Parrott | 38 | 229.1 | 14 | 12 | 3.77 | 127 |
| Rick Honeycutt | 33 | 194.0 | 11 | 12 | 4.04 | 83 |
| Floyd Bannister | 30 | 182.1 | 10 | 15 | 4.05 | 115 |
| Odell Jones | 25 | 118.2 | 3 | 11 | 6.07 | 72 |
| Glenn Abbott | 23 | 116.2 | 4 | 10 | 5.17 | 25 |
| Roy Branch | 2 | 11.1 | 0 | 1 | 7.94 | 6 |

#### 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 |
| Rob Dressler | 21 | 104.0 | 3 | 2 | 4.93 | 36 |
| Paul Mitchell | 10 | 36.2 | 1 | 4 | 4.42 | 18 |
| Joe Decker | 9 | 27.1 | 0 | 1 | 4.28 | 12 |
| Wayne Twitchell | 4 | 13.2 | 0 | 2 | 5.27 | 5 |

#### 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 |
| Byron McLaughlin | 47 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 4.22 | 74 |
| Shane Rawley | 48 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 3.84 | 48 |
| John Montague | 41 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 5.57 | 60 |
| Randy Stein | 23 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5.88 | 39 |
| Rich Hinton | 14 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5.40 | 7 |
| Rafael Vásquez | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.06 | 9 |
| Jim Lewis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15.43 | 0 |

## Awards and honors
### All-Stars

1979 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
* Bruce Bochte, reserve

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Spokane Indians | Pacific Coast League | Rene Lachemann |
| A | San Jose Missions | California League | Bob Didier |
| A | Alexandria Mariners | Carolina League | Bobby Floyd |
| A-Short Season | Bellingham Mariners | Northwest League | Jeff Scott |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: San Jose