# 1979 New York Mets season

The 1979 New York Mets season was the 18th season for the Mets, who played home games at Shea Stadium. Led by manager Joe Torrethe team had a 63–99 record and finished in sixth place in the National League East, thirty-five games behind the first place Pittsburgh Pirates. This was also the first season that the players' names appeared on the back of the uniforms.

## Offseason

* October 2, 1978: Paul Siebert was traded by the Mets to the St. Louis Cardinals for Bob Coluccio.
* December 4, 1978: Bobby Brown was drafted by the Mets from the New York Yankees in the 1978 rule 5 draft.
* December 5, 1978: Tom Grieve and Kim Seaman were traded by the Mets to the St. Louis Cardinals for Pete Falcone.
* December 8, 1978: Jerry Koosman was traded by the Mets to the Minnesota Twins for a player to be named later and Greg Field (minors). The Minnesota Twins completed the trade by sending Jesse Orosco to the Mets on February 7, 1979.
* March 25, 1979: Bobby Brown was selected off waivers from the Mets by the Toronto Blue Jays.
* March 27, 1979: Nino Espinosa was traded by the Mets to the Philadelphia Phillies for Richie Hebner and José Moreno.

## Regular season

The 1979 season was worse than 1978. The Mets were in last place by mid-May, and finished the season in last place for the third straight year. Attendance was below 1 million for the first time in team history, hitting a record low of just 788,000.

### Season standings

vteNL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 98 | 64 | .605 | — | 48‍–‍33 | 50‍–‍31 |
| Montreal Expos | 95 | 65 | .594 | 2 | 56‍–‍25 | 39‍–‍40 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 86 | 76 | .531 | 12 | 42‍–‍39 | 44‍–‍37 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 84 | 78 | .519 | 14 | 43‍–‍38 | 41‍–‍40 |
| Chicago Cubs | 80 | 82 | .494 | 18 | 45‍–‍36 | 35‍–‍46 |
| New York Mets | 63 | 99 | .389 | 35 | 28‍–‍53 | 35‍–‍46 |

### 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 | — |

### Opening Day starters

* Kelvin Chapman
* Doug Flynn
* Richie Hebner
* Steve Henderson
* Elliott Maddox
* Lee Mazzilli
* Willie Montañez
* John Stearns
* Craig Swan

### Notable transactions

* June 5, 1979: 1979 Major League Baseball Draft
** Tim Leary was drafted by the Mets in the 1st round (2nd pick).
** Ron Gardenhire was drafted by the Mets in the 6th round.
** Dave Smith was drafted by the Mets in the 27th round.
** Bill Mooneyham was drafted by the Mets in the 1st round (22nd pick) of the secondary phase, but did not sign.
* June 15, 1979: Bob Myrick and Mike Bruhert were traded by the Mets to the Texas Rangers for Dock Ellis.
* August 12, 1979: Willie Montañez was traded by the Mets to the Texas Rangers for two players to be named later. The Rangers sent Ed Lynch to the Mets on September 18 and Mike Jorgensen on October 23 to complete the deal.
* August 20, 1979: Ray Burris was selected off waivers by the Mets from the New York Yankees.
* September 21, 1979: Dock Ellis was purchased from the Mets by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

### 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 | John Stearns | 155 | 538 | 131 | .243 | 9 | 66 |
| 1B | Willie Montañez | 109 | 410 | 96 | .234 | 5 | 47 |
| 2B | Doug Flynn | 157 | 555 | 135 | .243 | 4 | 61 |
| SS | Frank Taveras | 153 | 635 | 167 | .263 | 1 | 33 |
| 3B | Richie Hebner | 136 | 473 | 127 | .268 | 10 | 79 |
| LF | Steve Henderson | 98 | 350 | 107 | .306 | 5 | 39 |
| CF | Lee Mazzilli | 158 | 597 | 181 | .303 | 15 | 79 |
| RF | Joel Youngblood | 158 | 590 | 162 | .275 | 16 | 60 |

#### 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 |
| Elliott Maddox | 86 | 224 | 60 | .268 | 1 | 12 |
| Alex Treviño | 79 | 207 | 56 | .271 | 0 | 20 |
| Ed Kranepool | 82 | 155 | 36 | .232 | 2 | 17 |
| Dan Norman | 44 | 110 | 27 | .245 | 3 | 11 |
| Bruce Boisclair | 59 | 98 | 18 | .184 | 0 | 4 |
| Gil Flores | 70 | 93 | 18 | .194 | 1 | 10 |
| Ron Hodges | 59 | 86 | 14 | .163 | 0 | 5 |
| Kelvin Chapman | 35 | 80 | 12 | .150 | 0 | 4 |
| José Cardenal | 11 | 37 | 11 | .297 | 2 | 4 |
| Sergio Ferrer | 32 | 9 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Tim Foli | 3 | 7 | 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 |
| Craig Swan | 35 | 251.1 | 14 | 13 | 3.29 | 145 |
| Pete Falcone | 33 | 184.0 | 6 | 14 | 4.16 | 113 |
| Kevin Kobel | 30 | 161.2 | 6 | 8 | 3.51 | 67 |
| Dock Ellis | 17 | 85.0 | 3 | 7 | 6.04 | 41 |
| Pat Zachry | 7 | 42.2 | 5 | 1 | 3.59 | 17 |
| Juan Berenguer | 5 | 30.2 | 1 | 1 | 2.93 | 25 |
| Ray Burris | 4 | 21.2 | 0 | 2 | 3.32 | 10 |
| John Pacella | 4 | 16.1 | 0 | 2 | 4.41 | 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 |
| Andy Hassler | 29 | 80.1 | 4 | 5 | 3.70 | 53 |
| Tom Hausman | 19 | 78.2 | 2 | 6 | 2.75 | 33 |
| Mike Scott | 18 | 52.1 | 1 | 3 | 5.33 | 21 |

#### 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 |
| Neil Allen | 50 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 3.55 | 65 |
| Dale Murray | 58 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 4.82 | 37 |
| Ed Glynn | 46 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 3.00 | 32 |
| Wayne Twitchell | 33 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 5.23 | 44 |
| Dwight Bernard | 32 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4.70 | 20 |
| Skip Lockwood | 27 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 1.49 | 42 |
| Jesse Orosco | 18 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4.89 | 22 |
| Jeff Reardon | 18 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1.74 | 10 |
| Roy Lee Jackson | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.20 | 10 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Tidewater Tides | International League | Frank Verdi |
| AA | Jackson Mets | Texas League | Bob Wellman |
| A | Lynchburg Mets | Carolina League | Jack Aker |
| A-Short Season | Little Falls Mets | New York–Penn League | Matt Galante |
| A-Short Season | Grays Harbor Mets | Northwest League | Dan Monzon |