# 1979 Texas Rangers season

The 1979 Texas Rangers season was the 19th of the Texas Rangers franchise overall, their 8th in Arlington as the Rangers, and the 8th season at Arlington Stadium. The Rangers finished third in the American League West with a record of 83 wins and 79 losses.

## Offseason

* October 3, 1978: Len Barker and Bobby Bonds were traded by the Rangers to the Cleveland Indians for Larvell Blanks and Jim Kern. Bobby Cuellar and Dave Rivera were sent to Cleveland to complete the August 31, 1978 trade for Johnny Grubb.
* October 24, 1978: Sandy Alomar Sr. was released by the Rangers.
* October 25, 1978: Mike Hargrove, Kurt Bevacqua, and Bill Fahey were traded by the Rangers to the San Diego Padres for Oscar Gamble, Dave Roberts and $300,000.
* November 10, 1978: Dave Righetti, Juan Beníquez, Mike Griffin, Paul Mirabella, and Greg Jemison (minors) were traded by the Rangers to the New York Yankees for Domingo Ramos, Mike Heath, Sparky Lyle, Larry McCall, Dave Rajsich, and cash.
* December 8, 1978: Jim Mason was traded by the Rangers to the Montreal Expos for Mike Hart.

## Regular season

* June 24, 1979: Rickey Henderson made his major league debut for the Oakland Athletics in a game against the Rangers. Henderson had 4 at bats with 2 hits, and 1 stolen base.

### 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

* May 4, 1979: Bert Campaneris was traded by the Rangers to the California Angels for Dave Chalk.
* June 15, 1979: Dock Ellis was traded by the Rangers to the New York Mets for Bob Myrick and Mike Bruhert.
* June 15, 1979: Eric Soderholm was traded by the Chicago White Sox to the Texas Rangers for Ed Farmer and Gary Holle.
* August 1, 1979: Oscar Gamble, Amos Lewis (minors) and players to be named later were traded by the Rangers to the New York Yankees for Mickey Rivers and players to be named later. The Rangers completed the deal by sending Ray Fontenot and Gene Nelson to the Yankees on October 8. The Yankees completed the deal by sending Bob Polinsky (minors), Neal Mersch (minors), and Mark Softy (minors) to the Rangers on October 8.

### 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 | Jim Sundberg | 150 | 495 | 136 | .275 | 5 | 64 |
| 1B | Pat Putnam | 139 | 426 | 118 | .277 | 18 | 64 |
| 2B | Bump Wills | 146 | 543 | 148 | .273 | 5 | 46 |
| SS | Nelson Norman | 147 | 343 | 76 | .222 | 0 | 21 |
| 3B | Buddy Bell | 162 | 670 | 200 | .299 | 18 | 101 |
| LF | Billy Sample | 128 | 325 | 95 | .292 | 5 | 35 |
| CF | Al Oliver | 136 | 492 | 159 | .323 | 12 | 76 |
| RF | Richie Zisk | 144 | 503 | 132 | .262 | 18 | 64 |
| DH | John Ellis | 111 | 316 | 90 | .285 | 12 | 61 |

#### 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 |
| Johnny Grubb | 102 | 289 | 79 | .273 | 10 | 37 |
| Mickey Rivers | 58 | 247 | 74 | .300 | 6 | 25 |
| Oscar Gamble | 64 | 161 | 54 | .335 | 8 | 32 |
| Mike Jorgensen | 90 | 157 | 35 | .223 | 6 | 16 |
| Eric Soderholm | 63 | 147 | 40 | .272 | 4 | 19 |
| Willie Montañez | 38 | 144 | 46 | .319 | 8 | 24 |
| Larvell Blanks | 68 | 120 | 24 | .200 | 1 | 15 |
| Dave Roberts | 44 | 84 | 22 | .262 | 3 | 14 |
| Gary Gray | 16 | 42 | 10 | .238 | 0 | 1 |
| LaRue Washington | 25 | 18 | 5 | .278 | 0 | 2 |
| Greg Mahlberg | 7 | 17 | 2 | .118 | 1 | 1 |
| Bert Campaneris | 8 | 9 | 1 | .111 | 0 | 0 |
| Dave Chalk | 9 | 8 | 2 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| Gary Holle | 5 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 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 |
| Ferguson Jenkins | 37 | 259.0 | 16 | 14 | 4.07 | 164 |
| Steve Comer | 36 | 242.1 | 17 | 12 | 3.68 | 86 |
| Doc Medich | 29 | 149.0 | 10 | 7 | 4.17 | 58 |
| Doyle Alexander | 23 | 113.1 | 5 | 7 | 4.45 | 50 |
| Jon Matlack | 13 | 85.0 | 5 | 4 | 4.13 | 35 |
| John Henry Johnson | 17 | 82.1 | 2 | 6 | 4.92 | 46 |
| Dock Ellis | 10 | 46.2 | 1 | 5 | 5.98 | 10 |

#### 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 |
| Danny Darwin | 20 | 78.0 | 4 | 4 | 4.04 | 58 |
| Brian Allard | 7 | 33.1 | 1 | 3 | 4.32 | 14 |
| Ed Farmer | 11 | 33.0 | 2 | 0 | 4.36 | 25 |
| Jerry Don Gleaton | 5 | 9.2 | 0 | 1 | 6.52 | 2 |
| Larry McCall | 2 | 8.1 | 1 | 0 | 2.16 | 3 |

#### 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 |
| Jim Kern | 71 | 13 | 5 | 29 | 1.57 | 136 |
| Sparky Lyle | 67 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 3.13 | 48 |
| Dave Rajsich | 27 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3.52 | 32 |
| Bob Babcock | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.12 | 6 |

### Awards and honors

* Jim Kern, Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award
* Buddy Bell, 3B, Gold Glove
* Jim Sundberg, C, Gold Glove

### All-Stars

All-Star Game

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Tucson Toros | Pacific Coast League | Rich Donnelly |
| AA | Tulsa Drillers | Texas League | Jimmie Schaffer |
| A | Asheville Tourists | Western Carolinas League | Wayne Terwilliger |
| Rookie | GCL Rangers | Gulf Coast League | Andy Hancock |