# 1979 California Angels season

The 1979 California Angels season was their 19th in Major League Baseball. The Angels reached the postseason for the first time by winning the American League West Division with a record of 88–74, three games ahead of the Kansas City Royals in Jim Fregosi's first season as manager. The Angels were defeated by the Baltimore Orioles 3–1 in the 1979 American League Championship Series. Don Baylor had an outstanding season, playing in all 162 games, scoring 120 runs (tops in the American League), hitting 36 home runs and driving in 139 runs (also leading the American League) on his way to being named the American League Most Valuable Player, gaining 20 of 28 first place votes.

## Offseason

* December 4, 1978: Ron Jackson and Danny Goodwin were traded by the Angels to the Minnesota Twins for Dan Ford.
* January 9, 1979: 1979 Major League Baseball draft
** Al Newman was drafted by the Angels in the 3rd round.
** Otis Nixon was drafted by the Angels in the 1st round (4th pick) of the secondary phase, but did not sign.
* January 29, 1979: Bobby Jones was released by the Angels.
* February 3, 1979: Ken Landreaux, Dave Engle, Paul Hartzell, and Brad Havens were traded by the Angels to the Minnesota Twins for Rod Carew.
* March 27, 1979: Willie Davis was signed by the California Angels as a free agent.

## Regular season
### 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

* April 19, 1979: Curt Brown was signed as an amateur free agent by the Angels.
* May 4, 1979: Dave Chalk was traded by the Angels to the Texas Rangers for Bert Campaneris.
* July 31, 1979: Terry Humphrey was released by the Angels.

### Game log

1979 Game Log: 88–74 (Home: 49–32; Away: 39–42) :
April: 15–8 (Home: 7–6; Away: 8–2)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordStreak
1April 4@ Mariners4–537,7480–1L1
2April 6@ Mariners6–148,8310–2L2
3April 7@ Mariners5–418,0101–2W1
4April 8@ Mariners7–59,1832–2W2
5April 10Twins1–833,1712–3L1
6April 11Twins11–221,6333–3W1
7April 12Twins7–122,2114–3W2
8April 13@ Athletics10–12,9855–3W3
9April 14@ Athletics9–32,6496–3W4
10April 15@ Athletics8–12,2437–3W5
11April 17@ Twins6–037,5298–3W6
12April 18@ Twins11–63,7769–3W7
13April 19@ Twins6–43,53710–3W8
14April 20Athletics7–427,41711–3W9
15April 21Athletics13–134,72812–3W10
16April 22Athletics6–736,13012–4L1
17April 24Orioles2–722,34312–5L2
18April 25Orioles2–519,93912–6L3
19April 26Orioles2–421,59812–7L4
20April 27Red Sox8–629,40813–7W1
21April 28Red Sox5–041,95414–7W2
22April 29Red Sox0–235,20614–8L1
23April 30Yankees2–137,18015–8W1 :
May: 15–12 (Home: 7–1; Away: 8–11)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordStreak
24May 1Yankees8–12 (11)38,85815–9L1
25May 2Yankees1–040,64816–9W1
May 4@ OriolesPostponed (rain). Makeup: July 19
26May 5@ Orioles1–920,45516–10L1
27May 6@ Orioles0–625,63016–11L2
28May 7@ Red Sox4–923,31916–12L3
29May 8@ Red Sox10–221,16017–12W1
30May 9@ Red Sox8–924,81517–12L1
31May 10@ Red Sox5–324,99018–13W1
32May 11@ Yankees4–137,98819–13W1
33May 12@ Yankees5–628,78319–14L1
34May 13@ Yankees10–1230,08319–15L2
35May 15Brewers2–121,23520–15W1
36May 16Brewers4–3 (11)21,53321–15W2
37May 17Brewers8–522,06022–15W3
38May 18White Sox7–325,59823–15W4
39May 19White Sox10–641,94124–15W5
40May 20White Sox4–027,18925–15W6
41May 22@ Brewers1–79,85725–16L1
42May 23@ Brewers0–18,40825–17L2
43May 24@ Brewers6–716,31425–18L3
44May 25@ White Sox1–620,55425–19L4
45May 26@ White Sox8–431,57626–19W1
46May 27@ White Sox4–225,02527–19W2
47May 27@ White Sox9–125,02528–19W3
48May 29@ Mariners6–44,06829–19W4
49May 30@ Mariners3–25,20630–19W5
50May 31@ Mariners10–125,26630–20L1 :
June: 14–15 (Home: 7–9; Away: 7–6)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordStreak
51June 1Indians4–720,07030–21L2
52June 2Indians5–241,96931–21W1
53June 3Indians3–524,40931–22L1
54June 4Blue Jays4–216,97932–22W1
55June 5Blue Jays3–018,86233–22W2
56June 6Blue Jays4–518,83533–23L1
57June 8Tigers6–428,29834–23W1
58June 9Tigers9–136,49935–23W2
59June 10Tigers7–1030,22935–24L1
60June 11@ Indians9–410,67436–24W1
61June 12@ Indians10–119,94536–25L1
62June 13@ Blue Jays8–928,57736–26L2
63June 13@ Blue Jays10–228,57737–26W1
64June 14@ Blue Jays10–215,09738–26W2
65June 15@ Tigers8–741,15139–26W3
66June 16@ Tigers4–239,24040–26W4
67June 17@ Tigers4–832,74440–27L1
68June 18Rangers5–037,09641–27W1
69June 19Rangers1–226,55341–28L1
70June 20Rangers5–426,89542–28W1
71June 21Rangers2–3 (11)26,42242–29L1
72June 22Royals5–930,73742–30L2
73June 23Royals4–1341,00242–31L3
74June 24Royals2–532,21042–32L4
75June 26@ Rangers1–228,69542–33L5
76June 27@ Rangers2–428,89942–34L6
77June 28@ Rangers4–1429,10142–35L7
78June 29@ Royals6–5 (11)36,70543–35W1
79June 30@ Royals8–541,45144–35W2 :
July: 17–11 (Home: 13–5; Away: 4–6)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordStreak
80July 1@ Royals14–232,63645–35W3
81July 2Athletics8–327,63946–35W4
82July 3Athletics3–022,49847–35W5
83July 4Athletics17–641,95848–35W6
84July 5Athletics0–323,79348–36L1
85July 6Orioles7–324,67949–36W1
86July 7Orioles10–137,38250–36W2
87July 8Orioles2–729,06250–37L1
88July 9Red Sox6–027,69251–37W1
89July 10Red Sox4–336,61952–37W2
90July 11Red Sox3–939,21052–38L1
91July 13Yankees6–141,80553–38W1
92July 14Yankees8–7 (12)41,69354–38W2
93July 15Yankees5–440,73955–38W3
94July 19@ Orioles4–3 (11)33,60356–38W1
95July 19@ Orioles0–333,60356–39L1
96July 20@ Orioles1–225,68256–40L2
97July 21@ Orioles2–1051,38156–41L3
98July 22@ Red Sox5–6 (10)35,17256–42L4
99July 23@ Red Sox9–235,02457–42W1
100July 24@ Yankees5–633,49757–43L1
101July 25@ Yankees9–547,44958–43W1
102July 26@ Yankees0–243,13658–44L1
103July 27Twins1–338,94558–45L2
104July 28Twins5–041,89159–45W1
105July 29Twins9–333,51060–45W2
106July 30Mariners0–835,54860–46L1
107July 31Mariners8–125,19861–46W1 :
August: 11–17 (Home: 5–8; Away: 6–9)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordStreak
108August 1Mariners6–729,44661–47L1
109August 3@ Twins1–430,65361–48L2
110August 4@ Twins7–126,08462–48W1
111August 5@ Twins11–741,18263–48W2
112August 5@ Twins1–741,18263–49L1
113August 6@ Athletics5–28,16064–49W1
114August 7@ Athletics5–92,90564–50L1
115August 8@ Athletics8–13,46365–50W1
116August 10Mariners6–8 (14)28,96965–51L1
117August 11Mariners8–141,94066–51W1
118August 12Mariners4–327,34567–51W2
119August 13Tigers3–534,03267–52L1
120August 14Tigers3–629,46567–53L2
121August 15Tigers1–631,88567–54L3
122August 17Blue Jays5–625,05067–55L4
123August 18Blue Jays7–530,36168–55W1
124August 19Blue Jays4–223,81469–55W2
125August 20Indians6–535,49770–55W3
126August 21Indians7–1230,90270–56L1
127August 22Indians3–1330,62570–57L2
128August 24@ Blue Jays4–618,07770–58L3
129August 25@ Blue Jays24–225,20771–58W1
130August 26@ Blue Jays3–922,61971–59L1
131August 27@ Tigers2–322,87471–60L2
132August 28@ Tigers2–1219,17871–61L3
133August 29@ Tigers1–219,88071–62L4
134August 30@ Indians1–78,64771–63L5
135August 31@ Indians9–810,50172–63W1 :
September: 16–11 (Home: 10–3; Away: 6–8)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordStreak
136September 1@ Indians7–422,80473–63W2
137September 2@ Indians5–26,35974–63W3
138September 3White Sox6–534,68475–63W4
139September 4White Sox7–1026,03675–64L1
140September 5White Sox9–823,70576–64W1
141September 6White Sox10–920,93077–64W2
142September 7Brewers6–330,68578–64W3
143September 8Brewers3–237,62479–64W4
144September 9Brewers5–227,34180–64W5
145September 11@ White Sox7–86,85880–65L1
146September 12@ White Sox5–117,55180–66L2
147September 14@ Brewers8–717,84081–66W1
148September 15@ Brewers2–345,73281–67L1
149September 16@ Brewers1–219,90681–68L2
150September 17@ Royals4–1638,32781–69L3
151September 18@ Royals6–429,73382–69W1
152September 19@ Royals4–631,41282–70L1
153September 20@ Royals11–632,65983–70W1
154September 21Rangers1–337,45083–71L1
155September 22Rangers3–133,73084–71W1
156September 23Rangers6–141,49885–71W2
157September 24Royals4–340,42386–71W3
158September 25Royals4–140,63187–71W4
159September 26Royals0–440,56587–72L1
160September 28@ Rangers0–511,96587–73L2
161September 29@ Rangers3–619,16787–74L3
162September 30@ Rangers11–59,08688–74W1 :
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement Bold = Angels team member :

## 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 | Brian Downing | 148 | 509 | 166 | .326 | 12 | 75 |
| 1B | Rod Carew | 110 | 409 | 130 | .318 | 3 | 44 |
| 2B | Bobby Grich | 153 | 534 | 157 | .294 | 30 | 101 |
| 3B | Carney Lansford | 157 | 654 | 188 | .287 | 19 | 79 |
| SS | Bert Campaneris | 85 | 239 | 56 | .234 | 0 | 15 |
| LF | Don Baylor | 162 | 628 | 186 | .296 | 36 | 139 |
| CF | Rick Miller | 120 | 427 | 125 | .293 | 2 | 28 |
| RF | Dan Ford | 142 | 569 | 165 | .290 | 21 | 101 |
| DH | Willie Aikens | 116 | 379 | 106 | .280 | 21 | 81 |

#### 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 |
| Joe Rudi | 90 | 330 | 80 | .242 | 11 | 61 |
| Jim Anderson | 96 | 234 | 58 | .248 | 3 | 23 |
| Larry Harlow | 62 | 159 | 37 | .233 | 0 | 14 |
| Tom Donohue | 38 | 107 | 24 | .224 | 3 | 14 |
| Merv Rettenmund | 35 | 76 | 20 | .263 | 1 | 10 |
| Rance Mulliniks | 22 | 68 | 10 | .147 | 1 | 8 |
| Willie Davis | 43 | 56 | 14 | .250 | 0 | 2 |
| Dickie Thon | 35 | 56 | 19 | .339 | 0 | 8 |
| Bobby Clark | 19 | 54 | 16 | .296 | 1 | 5 |
| Ralph Garr | 6 | 24 | 3 | .125 | 0 | 0 |
| Terry Humphrey | 9 | 17 | 1 | .059 | 0 | 0 |
| Orlando Ramírez | 13 | 12 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Ike Hampton | 4 | 5 | 2 | .400 | 0 | 0 |
| Brian Harper | 1 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| John Harris | 1 | 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 |
| Dave Frost | 36 | 239.0 | 16 | 10 | 3.57 | 107 |
| Nolan Ryan | 34 | 223.0 | 16 | 14 | 3.60 | 223 |
| Jim Barr | 36 | 197.0 | 10 | 12 | 4.20 | 69 |
| Don Aase | 37 | 185.1 | 9 | 10 | 4.81 | 96 |
| Chris Knapp | 20 | 98.0 | 5 | 5 | 5.51 | 36 |
| Frank Tanana | 17 | 90.1 | 7 | 5 | 3.89 | 46 |

#### Other pitchers

| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Steve Eddy | 7 | 32.1 | 1 | 1 | 4.73 | 7 |

#### 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 |
| Mark Clear | 52 | 11 | 5 | 14 | 3.63 | 98 |
| Dave LaRoche | 53 | 7 | 11 | 10 | 5.57 | 59 |
| Mike Barlow | 35 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5.13 | 33 |
| Dyar Miller | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.31 | 16 |
| John Montague | 14 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 5.09 | 6 |
| Ralph Botting | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8.80 | 22 |
| Bob Ferris | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.50 | 2 |
| Dave Schuler | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.80 | 0 |

## ALCS

The Baltimore Orioles defeated the Angels, three games to one.
| Game | Score | Date | Location | Attendance |
| 1 | California – 3, Baltimore – 6 | October 3 | Memorial Stadium | 52,787 |
| 2 | California – 8, Baltimore – 9 | October 4 | Memorial Stadium | 52,108 |
| 3 | Baltimore – 3, California – 4 | October 5 | Anaheim Stadium | 43,199 |
| 4 | Baltimore – 8, California – 0 | October 6 | Anaheim Stadium | 43,199 |

### Postseason game log

1979 Postseason Game Log (1–3) :
American League Championship Series vs. Baltimore Orioles
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceSeries
1October 3@ Orioles3–6 (11)Stanhouse (1–0)Montague (0–1)52,7870–1
2October 4@ Orioles8–9Flanagan (1–0)Frost (0–1)52,1080–2
3October 5Orioles4–3Aase (1–0)Stanhouse (1–1)43,1991–2
4October 6Orioles0–8McGregor (1–0)Knapp (0–1)43,1991–3 :
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement Bold = Angels team member :

## Awards and honors

* Don Baylor, American League MVP

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Salt Lake City Gulls | Pacific Coast League | Jimy Williams |
| AA | El Paso Diablos | Texas League | Moose Stubing |
| A | Salinas Packers | California League | Chris Cannizzaro |
| Rookie | Idaho Falls Angels | Pioneer League | Reuben Rodriguez |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Salt Lake City