# 1978 San Francisco Giants season

The 1978 San Francisco Giants season was the Giants' 96th season in Major League Baseball, their 21st season in San Francisco since their move from New York following the 1957 season, and their 19th at Candlestick Park. The team finished in third place in the National League West with an 89–73 record, 6 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

## Offseason

* October 25, 1977: Frank Riccelli was traded by the Giants to the St. Louis Cardinals for a player to be named later. The Cardinals completed the deal by sending Jim Dwyer to the Giants on June 15, 1978.
* March 15, 1978: Gary Alexander, Gary Thomasson, Dave Heaverlo, Alan Wirth, John Henry Johnson, Phil Huffman, a player to be named later, and $300,000 were traded by the Giants to the Oakland Athletics for Vida Blue. The Giants completed the trade by sending Mario Guerrero to the Athletics on April 7.
* March 21, 1978: Alan Hargesheimer was signed as an amateur free agent by the Giants.
* March 27, 1978: Randy Elliott was released by the Giants.

## Regular season

The Giants won 42 games by a one run margin, an MLB record.

### 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 | — |

### Opening Day starters

* Rob Andrews
* Jack Clark
* Darrell Evans
* Larry Herndon
* Marc Hill
* Johnnie LeMaster
* Willie McCovey
* John Montefusco
* Terry Whitfield

### Notable transactions

* June 6, 1978: John Rabb was drafted by the Giants in the 11th round of the 1978 Major League Baseball draft.
* July 18, 1978: The Giants traded a player to be named later to the St. Louis Cardinals for John Tamargo. The Giants completed the deal by sending Rob Dressler to the Cardinals on July 24.

### 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 | Marc Hill | 117 | 358 | 87 | .243 | 3 | 36 |
| 1B | Willie McCovey | 108 | 351 | 80 | .228 | 12 | 64 |
| 2B | Bill Madlock | 122 | 447 | 138 | .309 | 15 | 44 |
| SS | Johnny LeMaster | 101 | 272 | 64 | .235 | 1 | 14 |
| 3B | Darrell Evans | 159 | 547 | 133 | .243 | 20 | 78 |
| LF | Terry Whitfield | 149 | 488 | 141 | .289 | 10 | 32 |
| CF | Larry Herndon | 151 | 471 | 122 | .259 | 1 | 72 |
| RF | Jack Clark | 156 | 592 | 181 | .306 | 25 | 98 |

#### 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 |
| Mike Ivie | 117 | 318 | 98 | .308 | 11 | 55 |
| Roger Metzger | 75 | 235 | 61 | .260 | 0 | 17 |
| Héctor Cruz | 79 | 197 | 44 | .223 | 6 | 24 |
| Rob Andrews | 79 | 177 | 39 | .220 | 1 | 11 |
| Jim Dwyer | 73 | 173 | 39 | .225 | 5 | 22 |
| Mike Sadek | 40 | 109 | 26 | .239 | 2 | 9 |
| Vic Harris | 53 | 100 | 15 | .150 | 1 | 11 |
| John Tamargo | 36 | 92 | 22 | .239 | 1 | 8 |
| Tom Heintzelman | 27 | 35 | 8 | .229 | 2 | 6 |
| Skip James | 41 | 21 | 2 | .095 | 0 | 3 |
| Art Gardner | 7 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Dennis Littlejohn | 2 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 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 |
| Bob Knepper | 36 | 260.0 | 17 | 11 | 2.63 | 147 |
| Vida Blue | 35 | 258.0 | 18 | 10 | 2.79 | 171 |
| John Montefusco | 36 | 238.2 | 11 | 9 | 3.81 | 177 |
| Ed Halicki | 29 | 199.0 | 9 | 10 | 2.85 | 105 |
| Jim Barr | 32 | 163.0 | 8 | 11 | 3.53 | 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 |
| Lynn McGlothen | 5 | 12.2 | 0 | 0 | 4.97 | 9 |
| Philip Nastu | 3 | 8.0 | 0 | 1 | 5.63 | 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 |
| Gary Lavelle | 67 | 13 | 10 | 14 | 3.32 | 63 |
| Randy Moffitt | 70 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 3.31 | 52 |
| John Curtis | 46 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3.71 | 38 |
| Charlie Williams | 25 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5.44 | 22 |
| Greg Minton | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8.04 | 6 |
| Ed Plank | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.05 | 1 |
| Terry Cornutt | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |

## Awards and honors

All-Star Game
* Jack Clark
* Vida Blue
Sporting News
* National league Pitcher of the Year: Vida Blue
Major League Baseball
* National League Player of the Month: Jack Clark (May 1978)

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Phoenix Giants | Pacific Coast League | Rocky Bridges |
| AA | Waterbury Giants | Eastern League | Andy Gilbert |
| A | Fresno Giants | California League | John VanOrnum |
| A | Cedar Rapids Giants | Midwest League | Jack Mull |
| Rookie | Great Falls Giants | Pioneer League | Ernie Rodriguez |