# 1979 Kansas City Royals season

The 1979 Kansas City Royals season was their 11th season in Major League Baseball. The Royals finished second in the American League West at 85–77, three games behind the California Angels and ending Kansas City's run of three consecutive division titles. Darrell Porter tied a single-season franchise record with 112 runs batted in. George Brett led the American League in hits (212) and triples (20). Manager Whitey Herzog was fired following the season.

## Offseason

* January 9, 1979: Mike Bielecki was drafted by the Royals in the 6th round of the 1979 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.
* February 26, 1979: Eduardo Rodríguez was purchased by the Royals from the Milwaukee Brewers.

## 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 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 3, 1979: Doug Bird was traded by the Royals to the Philadelphia Phillies for Todd Cruz.
* April 27, 1979: George Throop was traded by the Royals to the Houston Astros for a player to be named later. The Astros completed the deal by sending Keith Drumright to the Royals on October 26.
* June 5, 1979: 1979 Major League Baseball draft
** Atlee Hammaker was drafted by the Royals in the 1st round (21st pick).
** Dan Marino was drafted by the Royals in the 4th round (99th pick overall).
** John Elway was drafted by the Royals in the 18th round (463rd pick overall).

### 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 | Darrell Porter | 157 | 533 | 155 | .291 | 20 | 112 |
| 1B | Pete LaCock | 132 | 408 | 113 | .277 | 3 | 56 |
| 2B | Frank White | 127 | 467 | 124 | .266 | 10 | 48 |
| 3B | George Brett | 154 | 645 | 212 | .329 | 23 | 107 |
| SS | Freddie Patek | 106 | 306 | 77 | .252 | 1 | 37 |
| LF | Willie Wilson | 154 | 588 | 185 | .315 | 6 | 49 |
| CF | Al Cowens | 136 | 516 | 152 | .295 | 9 | 73 |
| RF | Hal McRae | 101 | 393 | 113 | .288 | 10 | 74 |

#### 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 |
| U L Washington | 101 | 268 | 68 | .254 | 2 | 25 |
| John Wathan | 90 | 199 | 41 | .206 | 2 | 28 |
| Clint Hurdle | 59 | 171 | 41 | .240 | 3 | 30 |
| George Scott | 44 | 146 | 39 | .267 | 1 | 20 |
| Todd Cruz | 55 | 118 | 24 | .203 | 2 | 15 |
| Steve Braun | 58 | 116 | 31 | .267 | 4 | 10 |
| Jamie Quirk | 51 | 79 | 24 | .304 | 1 | 11 |
| Jerry Terrell | 31 | 40 | 12 | .300 | 1 | 2 |
| Tom Poquette | 21 | 26 | 5 | .192 | 0 | 3 |
| Jim Nettles | 11 | 23 | 2 | .087 | 0 | 1 |
| Joe Zdeb | 15 | 23 | 4 | .174 | 0 | 0 |
| Jim Gaudet | 3 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| Germán Barranca | 5 | 5 | 3 | .600 | 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 |
| Paul Splittorff | 36 | 240.0 | 15 | 17 | 4.24 | 77 |
| Dennis Leonard | 32 | 236.0 | 14 | 12 | 4.08 | 126 |
| Larry Gura | 39 | 233.2 | 13 | 12 | 4.47 | 85 |
| Rich Gale | 34 | 181.2 | 9 | 10 | 5.65 | 103 |
| Craig Chamberlain | 10 | 69.2 | 4 | 4 | 3.75 | 30 |

#### 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 |
| Steve Busby | 22 | 94.1 | 6 | 6 | 3.63 | 45 |
| Marty Pattin | 31 | 94.1 | 5 | 2 | 4.58 | 41 |

#### 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 |
| Al Hrabosky | 58 | 9 | 4 | 11 | 3.74 | 39 |
| Dan Quisenberry | 32 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3.15 | 13 |
| Steve Mingori | 30 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5.79 | 18 |
| Eduardo Rodríguez | 29 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4.84 | 26 |
| Renie Martin | 25 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 5.19 | 25 |
| Bill Paschall | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.59 | 3 |
| Gary Christenson | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.38 | 4 |
| Craig Eaton | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.70 | 4 |
| George Throop | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 1 |
| Jerry Terrell | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Omaha Royals | American Association | Gordon Mackenzie |
| AA | Jacksonville Suns | Southern League | Joe Jones |
| A | Fort Myers Royals | Florida State League | Gene Lamont |
| Rookie | GCL Royals Blue | Gulf Coast League | Brian Murphy |
| Rookie | GCL Royals Gold | Gulf Coast League | José Martínez |