# 1978 San Diego Padres season

The 1978 San Diego Padres season was the tenth in franchise history. They finished in fourth place in the National League West with a record of 84–78, eleven games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers. This was the Padres' first-ever winning season.

## Offseason

* November 29, 1977: Oscar Gamble was signed as a free agent by the Padres.
* January 10, 1978: Mike Martin was selected in the 1st round (6th pick) of the 1978 Draft secondary phase.
* January 25, 1978: Dave Tomlin was traded along with $125,000 by the Padres to the Texas Rangers for Gaylord Perry.
* February 2, 1978: Mickey Lolich was signed as a free agent by the Padres.

## Regular season

In 1978, the Padres achieved their first winning season in team history, finishing 84–78 (.519), six games over .500. On June 9, the one-third point of the season, the team stood at 23–31 (.426). The last two-thirds of the season, they went 61–47 (.565), which included a ten-game winning streak from July 25 to August 4. The Padres were also extremely impressive at home that season, going 51–30 (.630).
Notable contributing players:
Gaylord Perry became the second Padre in three seasons to win the National League Cy Young Award, leading the league in wins (21) and winning percentage (.778). Rollie Fingers won the league's Rolaids Relief Award, leading the league in saves (37). As for position players, OF Dave Winfield lead the team with his best offensive season to date (.308, 24 HR, 97 RBI, 21 SB, 151 OPS+). SS Ozzie Smith finished 2nd in the National League Rookie of the Year voting (40 SB). Along with their notable contributions, all 4 players have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Along with the 1979 season, this is the only time in franchise history that the Padres had 4 future Hall-of-Famers on their roster.

### Season standings

vteNL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 95 | 67 | .586 | — | 54‍–‍27 | 41‍–‍40 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 92 | 69 | .571 | 2½ | 49‍–‍31 | 43‍–‍38 |
| San Francisco Giants | 89 | 73 | .549 | 6 | 50‍–‍31 | 39‍–‍42 |
| San Diego Padres | 84 | 78 | .519 | 11 | 50‍–‍31 | 34‍–‍47 |
| Houston Astros | 74 | 88 | .457 | 21 | 50‍–‍31 | 24‍–‍57 |
| Atlanta Braves | 69 | 93 | .426 | 26 | 39‍–‍42 | 30‍–‍51 |

### Record vs. opponents

1978 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 5–7 | 6–12 | 8–10 | 5–13 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 2–10 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 5–7 |
| Chicago | 7–5 | — | 7–5 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 7–11 | 11–7 | 4–14 | 7–11 | 7–5 | 4–8 | 15–3 |
| Cincinnati | 12–6 | 5–7 | — | 11–7 | 9–9 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 4–7 | 9–9 | 12–6 | 8–4 |
| Houston | 10–8 | 6–6 | 7–11 | — | 7–11 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 8–10 | 6–12 | 7–5 |
| Los Angeles | 13–5 | 8–4 | 9–9 | 11–7 | — | 8–4 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 5–7 |
| Montreal | 7–5 | 11–7 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 4–8 | — | 8–10 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 9–9 |
| New York | 6–6 | 7–11 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 10–8 | — | 6–12 | 7–11 | 5–7 | 3–9 | 7–11 |
| Philadelphia | 4-8 | 14–4 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 9–9 | 12–6 | — | 11–7 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 10–8 |
| Pittsburgh | 10–2 | 11–7 | 7–4 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 11–7 | 11–7 | 7–11 | — | 5–7 | 4–8 | 9–9 |
| San Diego | 10–8 | 5–7 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 4–8 | 7–5 | — | 8–10 | 9–3 |
| San Francisco | 7–11 | 8–4 | 6–12 | 12–6 | 7–11 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 10–8 | — | 9–3 |
| St. Louis | 7–5 | 3–15 | 4–8 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 3–9 | 3–9 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 26, 1978: George Hendrick was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Eric Rasmussen.
* June 5, 1978: Steve Hamrick (minors) was traded to the Kansas City Royals for a player to be named later. The Royals completed the deal by sending Gary Lance to the Padres on September 29.
* June 6, 1978: 1978 Major League Baseball Draft
** Andy Hawkins was selected in the first round (fifth overall).
** Doug Gwosdz was selected in the second round.
** Steve Fireovid was selected in the seventh round.
* June 14, 1978: Dan Spillner was traded to the Cleveland Indians for Dennis Kinney.

### 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 | Rick Sweet | 88 | 226 | 50 | .221 | 1 | 11 |
| 1B | Gene Tenace | 142 | 401 | 90 | .224 | 16 | 61 |
| 2B | Fernando González | 101 | 320 | 80 | .250 | 2 | 29 |
| SS | Ozzie Smith | 159 | 590 | 152 | .258 | 1 | 46 |
| 3B | Bill Almon | 138 | 405 | 102 | .252 | 0 | 21 |
| LF | Gene Richards | 154 | 555 | 171 | .308 | 4 | 45 |
| CF | Derrel Thomas | 128 | 352 | 80 | .227 | 3 | 26 |
| RF | Dave Winfield | 158 | 587 | 181 | .308 | 24 | 97 |

#### 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 |
| Oscar Gamble | 126 | 375 | 103 | .275 | 7 | 47 |
| Jerry Turner | 106 | 225 | 63 | .280 | 8 | 37 |
| Broderick Perkins | 62 | 217 | 52 | .240 | 2 | 33 |
| Tucker Ashford | 75 | 155 | 38 | .245 | 3 | 26 |
| George Hendrick | 36 | 111 | 27 | .243 | 3 | 8 |
| Dave Roberts | 54 | 97 | 21 | .216 | 1 | 7 |
| Barry Evans | 24 | 90 | 24 | .267 | 0 | 4 |
| Don Reynolds | 57 | 87 | 22 | .253 | 0 | 10 |
| Chuck Baker | 44 | 58 | 12 | .207 | 0 | 3 |
| Mike Champion | 32 | 53 | 12 | .226 | 0 | 4 |
| Bob Davis | 19 | 40 | 8 | .200 | 0 | 2 |
| Jim Beswick | 17 | 20 | 1 | .050 | 0 | 0 |
| Jim Wilhelm | 10 | 19 | 7 | .368 | 0 | 4 |
| Tony Castillo | 5 | 8 | 1 | .125 | 0 | 1 |

### 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 |
| Gaylord Perry | 37 | 260.2 | 21 | 6 | 2.73 | 154 |
| Randy Jones | 37 | 253.0 | 13 | 14 | 2.88 | 71 |
| Bob Owchinko | 36 | 202.1 | 10 | 13 | 3.56 | 94 |
| Eric Rasmussen | 27 | 146.1 | 12 | 10 | 4.06 | 59 |

#### 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 |
| Bob Shirley | 50 | 166.0 | 8 | 11 | 3.69 | 102 |
| Dave Freisleben | 12 | 26.2 | 0 | 3 | 6.08 | 16 |
| Mark Wiley | 4 | 7.2 | 1 | 0 | 5.87 | 1 |
| Steve Mura | 5 | 7.2 | 0 | 2 | 11.74 | 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 |
| Rollie Fingers | 67 | 6 | 13 | 37 | 2.52 | 72 |
| John D'Acquisto | 45 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 2.13 | 104 |
| Mark Lee | 56 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3.28 | 31 |
| Mickey Lolich | 20 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1.56 | 13 |
| Dan Spillner | 17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.56 | 16 |
| Dennis Kinney | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.43 | 2 |
| Dave Wehrmeister | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.14 | 2 |
| Juan Eichelberger | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.80 | 2 |

## Awards and honors

* Gaylord Perry, Cy Young Award Winner

### All-Stars

1978 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
* Rollie Fingers
* Dave Winfield

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Hawaii Islanders | Pacific Coast League | Dick Phillips |
| AA | Amarillo Gold Sox | Texas League | Glenn Ezell |
| A | Reno Silver Sox | California League | Eddie Watt |
| A-Short Season | Walla Walla Padres | Northwest League | Cliff Ditto |