# 1979 San Diego Padres season

The 1979 San Diego Padres season was the 11th season in franchise history.

## Offseason

* October 25, 1978: Oscar Gamble, Dave Roberts and $300,000 were traded by the Padres to the Texas Rangers for Mike Hargrove, Kurt Bevacqua, and Bill Fahey.
* March 1, 1979: Fred Kuhaulua was signed as a free agent by the Padres.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Cincinnati Reds | 90 | 71 | .559 | — | 48‍–‍32 | 42‍–‍39 |
| Houston Astros | 89 | 73 | .549 | 1½ | 52‍–‍29 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 79 | 83 | .488 | 11½ | 46‍–‍35 | 33‍–‍48 |
| San Francisco Giants | 71 | 91 | .438 | 19½ | 38‍–‍43 | 33‍–‍48 |
| San Diego Padres | 68 | 93 | .422 | 22 | 39‍–‍42 | 29‍–‍51 |
| Atlanta Braves | 66 | 94 | .412 | 23½ | 34‍–‍45 | 32‍–‍49 |

### Record vs. opponents

1979 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 4–8 | 6–12 | 7–11 | 12–6 | 1–9 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 4–8 | 6–12 | 11–7 | 4–8 |
| Chicago | 8–4 | — | 7–5 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 6–12 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 9–3 | 8–4 | 8–10 |
| Cincinnati | 12–6 | 5–7 | — | 8–10 | 11–7 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 10–7 | 6–12 | 8–4 |
| Houston | 11–7 | 6–6 | 10–8 | — | 10–8 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 14–4 | 7–11 | 6–6 |
| Los Angeles | 6–12 | 7–5 | 7–11 | 8–10 | — | 6–6 | 9–3 | 3–9 | 4–8 | 9–9 | 14–4 | 6–6 |
| Montreal | 9–1 | 12–6 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 6–6 | — | 15–3 | 11–7 | 7–11 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 10–8 |
| New York | 8–4 | 10–8 | 4–8 | 3–9 | 3–9 | 3–15 | — | 5–13 | 8–10 | 4–8 | 8–4 | 7–11 |
| Philadelphia | 5–7 | 9–9 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 7–11 | 13–5 | — | 8–10 | 9–3 | 6–6 | 7–11 |
| Pittsburgh | 8–4 | 12–6 | 4–8 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 11–7 | 10–8 | 10–8 | — | 7–5 | 9–3 | 11–7 |
| San Diego | 12–6 | 3–9 | 7–10 | 4–14 | 9–9 | 5–7 | 8–4 | 3–9 | 5–7 | — | 8–10 | 4–8 |
| San Francisco | 7–11 | 4–8 | 12–6 | 11–7 | 4–14 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 3–9 | 10–8 | — | 5–7 |
| St. Louis | 8–4 | 10–8 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 11–7 | 7–11 | 8–4 | 7–5 | — |

### Notable transactions

* June 5, 1979: Bob Geren was drafted by the Padres in the 1st round (24th pick) of the 1979 Major League Baseball Draft.
* June 15, 1979: Dave Wehrmeister was traded by the Padres to the Yankees for Jay Johnstone.

### 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 | Gene Tenace | 151 | 463 | 122 | .263 | 20 | 67 |
| 1B | Dan Briggs | 104 | 227 | 47 | .207 | 8 | 30 |
| 2B | Fernando González | 114 | 323 | 70 | .217 | 9 | 34 |
| SS | Ozzie Smith | 156 | 587 | 124 | .211 | 0 | 27 |
| 3B | Paul Dade | 76 | 283 | 78 | .276 | 1 | 19 |
| LF | Jerry Turner | 138 | 448 | 111 | .248 | 9 | 61 |
| CF | Gene Richards | 150 | 545 | 152 | .279 | 4 | 41 |
| RF | Dave Winfield | 159 | 597 | 184 | .308 | 34 | 118 |

#### 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 |
| Kurt Bevacqua | 114 | 297 | 75 | .253 | 1 | 34 |
| Bill Fahey | 73 | 209 | 60 | .287 | 3 | 19 |
| Jay Johnstone | 75 | 201 | 59 | .294 | 0 | 32 |
| Bill Almon | 100 | 198 | 45 | .227 | 1 | 8 |
| Barry Evans | 56 | 162 | 35 | .216 | 1 | 14 |
| Mike Hargrove | 52 | 125 | 24 | .192 | 0 | 8 |
| Jim Wilhelm | 39 | 103 | 25 | .243 | 0 | 8 |
| Fred Kendall | 46 | 102 | 17 | .167 | 1 | 6 |
| Broderick Perkins | 57 | 87 | 23 | .264 | 0 | 8 |
| Tim Flannery | 22 | 65 | 10 | .154 | 0 | 4 |
| Don Reynolds | 30 | 45 | 10 | .222 | 0 | 6 |
| Bobby Tolan | 22 | 21 | 4 | .190 | 0 | 2 |
| Brian Greer | 4 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Sam Perlozzo | 2 | 2 | 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 |
| Randy Jones | 39 | 263.0 | 11 | 12 | 3.63 | 112 |
| Gaylord Perry | 32 | 232.2 | 12 | 11 | 3.06 | 140 |
| Juan Eichelberger | 3 | 21.0 | 1 | 1 | 3.43 | 12 |

#### 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 | 49 | 205.0 | 8 | 16 | 3.38 | 117 |
| Eric Rasmussen | 45 | 156.2 | 6 | 9 | 3.27 | 54 |
| Bob Owchinko | 42 | 149.1 | 6 | 12 | 3.74 | 66 |
| John D'Acquisto | 51 | 133.2 | 9 | 13 | 4.92 | 137 |

#### 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 | 54 | 9 | 9 | 13 | 4.52 | 65 |
| Mark Lee | 46 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4.29 | 25 |
| Steve Mura | 38 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3.08 | 59 |
| Mickey Lolich | 27 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4.74 | 20 |
| Dennis Kinney | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.50 | 11 |
| Tom Tellmann | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16.88 | 1 |

## Awards and honors

1979 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

## Farm system

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