# 1979 Chicago Cubs season

The 1979 Chicago Cubs season was the 108th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 104th in the National League and the 64th at Wrigley Field, and the first to be beamed via satellite and cable television to viewers all over the United States on WGN Television, thanks to a postseason decision by the company management to uplink its broadcast signals via satellite with the help of Oklahoma-based United Video Satellite Group, making them the pioneer superstation in the country's midwest and the Cubs games of that season the third superstation baseball broadcasts live via satellite relay after the Braves and the Yankees. It was the first season of over 40 to be broadcast all over the country, slowly making the team a national brand. The Cubs finished fifth in the National League East with a record of 80–82. This was the first season in which the players last names appeared on the uniforms but only on the away jerseys. It wouldn't be until 1993 when names would appear on the home jerseys.

## Offseason

* October 26, 1978: Rudy Meoli was released by the Cubs.
* February 23, 1979: Manny Trillo, Greg Gross, and Dave Rader were traded by the Cubs to the Philadelphia Phillies for Barry Foote, Ted Sizemore, Jerry Martin, Derek Botelho, and Henry Mack (minors).
* March 20, 1979: The Cubs traded a player to be named later to the Detroit Tigers for Steve Dillard. The Cubs completed the deal by sending Ed Putman to the Tigers on March 24.

## Regular season

On May 17, the Phillies beat the Cubs 23–22 at Wrigley Field in ten innings, with a 30-mph wind blowing out to left field. This was only the second time since 1913 that both teams scored 20 or more runs in a game, the only previous instance also being a Cubs–Phillies game.

### 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 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 23, 1979: Ray Burris was traded by the Cubs to the New York Yankees for Dick Tidrow.
* June 26, 1979: Bobby Murcer was traded by the Cubs to the New York Yankees for Paul Semall (minors).
* August 17, 1979: Ted Sizemore was traded by the Cubs to the Boston Red Sox for a player to be named later and cash. The Red Sox completed the trade by sending Mike O'Berry to the Cubs on October 23, 1979.

### 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 | Barry Foote | 132 | 429 | 109 | .254 | 16 | 56 |
| 1B | Bill Buckner | 149 | 591 | 168 | .284 | 14 | 66 |
| 2B | Ted Sizemore | 98 | 330 | 82 | .248 | 2 | 24 |
| SS | Iván DeJesús | 160 | 636 | 180 | .283 | 5 | 52 |
| 3B | Steve Ontiveros | 152 | 519 | 148 | .285 | 4 | 57 |
| LF | Dave Kingman | 145 | 532 | 153 | .288 | 48 | 115 |
| CF | Jerry Martin | 150 | 534 | 145 | .272 | 19 | 73 |
| RF | Scot Thompson | 128 | 346 | 100 | .289 | 2 | 29 |

#### 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 |
| Larry Biitner | 111 | 272 | 79 | .290 | 3 | 50 |
| Bobby Murcer | 58 | 190 | 49 | .258 | 7 | 22 |
| Mike Vail | 87 | 179 | 60 | .335 | 7 | 35 |
| Steve Dillard | 89 | 166 | 47 | .283 | 5 | 24 |
| Mick Kelleher | 73 | 142 | 36 | .254 | 0 | 10 |
| Tim Blackwell | 63 | 122 | 20 | .164 | 0 | 12 |
| Ken Henderson | 62 | 81 | 19 | .235 | 2 | 8 |
| Steve Macko | 19 | 40 | 9 | .225 | 0 | 3 |
| Miguel Diloné | 43 | 36 | 11 | .306 | 0 | 1 |
| Sam Mejías | 31 | 11 | 2 | .182 | 0 | 0 |
| Bruce Kimm | 9 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 0 | 0 |
| Gene Clines | 10 | 10 | 2 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Steve Davis | 3 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 1 |
| Kurt Seibert | 7 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Karl Pagel | 1 | 1 | 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 |
| Rick Reuschel | 36 | 239.0 | 18 | 12 | 3.62 | 125 |
| Lynn McGlothen | 42 | 212.0 | 13 | 14 | 4.12 | 147 |
| Dennis Lamp | 38 | 200.1 | 11 | 10 | 3.50 | 86 |
| Mike Krukow | 28 | 164.2 | 9 | 9 | 4.21 | 119 |
| Ken Holtzman | 23 | 117.2 | 6 | 9 | 4.59 | 44 |

#### 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 |
| Bill Caudill | 29 | 90.0 | 1 | 7 | 4.80 | 104 |
| George Riley | 4 | 13.0 | 0 | 1 | 5.54 | 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 |
| Bruce Sutter | 62 | 6 | 6 | 37 | 2.22 | 110 |
| Dick Tidrow | 63 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 2.72 | 68 |
| Willie Hernández | 51 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 5.01 | 53 |
| Donnie Moore | 39 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 5.18 | 43 |
| Ray Burris | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.23 | 14 |
| Doug Capilla | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.60 | 10 |
| Dave Geisel | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.60 | 5 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Wichita Aeros | American Association | Jack Hiatt |
| AA | Midland Cubs | Texas League | Randy Hundley |
| A | Quad Cities Cubs | Midwest League | Jim Napier |
| A-Short Season | Geneva Cubs | New York–Penn League | Bob Hartsfield |
| Rookie | GCL Cubs | Gulf Coast League | Ken Rudolph |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Quad Cities