1978-1979 Cuban National League

The 1978-1979 season was the eighteenth season of Cuba's national baseball system.

Serie Nacional

Sancti Spíritus won its only title in the 18th Serie Nacional. The team, managed by Cándido Andrade, was followed closely by Villa Clara (2.5 games out) and Vegueros (3.5 games out).

Wilfredo Sánchez of Citricultores wins his fourth batting title, in the closest race in serie history. His .3774 average barely beats that of Agustín Arias. Pedro José Rodríguez, Sr. wins his third home run title with another 19 homer season, and leads the league with 53 runs batted in as well. Villa Clara's Nivaldo Pérez wins nine games with no losses and has a 0.86 ERA to capture best pitching honors. Camagüey hurler Gaspar Legón leads the league with 12 victories.

Cuba's second multi-pitcher no-hitter occurs on February 18 at Granma's Estadio Mártires de Barbados. In the home team's 14 – 0 blowout of Ciego de Ávila, Juan R. Gómez, Pablo Castro, and José Brizuela throw nine no-hit innings with Gómez recording the win.

Standings

Bold indicates Serie Nacional champion

Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB
Sancti Spíritus	51	39	12	0	0.765	-.-
Villa Clara	51	36	14	1	0.720	2.5
Vegueros	50	35	14	1	0.714	3.0
Cienfuegos	51	31	20	0	0.608	8.0
Forestales	50	30	20	0	0.600	8.5
Camagüey	50	28	21	1	0.571	10.0
Granma	49	27	21	1	0.563	10.5
Citricultores	51	28	23	0	0.549	11.0
Ciego de Ávila	51	26	25	0	0.510	13.0
Metropolitanos	51	25	25	1	0.500	13.5
Santiago de Cuba	51	23	28	0	0.451	16.0
Industriales	49	22	27	0	0.449	16.0
Henequeneros	51	22	29	0	0.431	17.0
Guantánamo	50	21	29	0	0.420	17.5
Holguín	51	19	32	0	0.373	20.0
Las Tunas	51	15	35	1	0.300	23.5
La Habana	50	14	36	0	0.280	24.5
Isla de la Juventud	50	10	40	0	0.200	28.5

Leaders

Bold indicates either wooden bat record or aluminum bat record (1976-1977 to 1998-1999), Italics indicate Serie Nacional record

Batting

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Batting Average	Wilfredo Sánchez	Citricultores	.377	80 hits in 212 at-bats
Runs Scored	Pedro J. Rodríguez	Cienfuegos	42
Base Hits	Wilfredo Sánchez	Citricultores	80
Doubles	Armando Capiró Jorge Beltrán Lourdes Gourriel Sr.	Industriales Industriales Sancti Spíritus	12
Triples	Sixto Hernández	Cienfuegos	6
Home Runs	Pedro J. Rodríguez	Cienfuegos	19
Runs Batted In	Pedro J. Rodríguez	Cienfuegos	53
Base-on-Balls	Antonio Muñoz	Sancti Spíritus	72
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Antonio Muñoz	Sancti Spíritus	13
Hit-by-Pitch	Pedro J. Rodríguez	Cienfuegos	10
Strikeouts	Pedro Peñalver	La Habana	51
Sacrifice Hit	David Sánchez Reinaldo Bravo	Vegueros Holguín	8
Sacrifice Fly	Wilfredo Hernández Juan Dranguet Gerardo Simón	Guantánamo Guantánamo Guantánamo	5
Stolen Bases	Víctor Mesa	Villa Clara	20

Pitching

Stat	Leader	Team	Number	Notes
Wins	Gaspar Legón	Camagüey	12
Win-Loss Percentage	Nivaldo Pérez	Villa Clara	1.000	9 - 0
Earned Run Average	Nivaldo Pérez	Villa Clara	0.86	7 ER in 73.2 IP
Innings Pitched	Juan R. Gómez	Granma	122.0
Games Pitched	Eduardo Rodríguez	Metropolitanos	20
Games Started	Asterio Zaldívar Roberto Ramos	Las Tunas Sancti Spíritus	15
Games Relieved	Eduardo Rodríguez	Metropolitanos	20
Complete Games	Rogelio García	Vegueros	12
Shutouts	Rogelio García	Vegueros	4
Hits Allowed	Gregorio Pérez	Las Tunas	111
Strikeouts	Rogelio García	Vegueros	102
Base-on-Balls	Roberto Ramos	Sancti Spíritus	54
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Manuel Álvarez	Ciego de Ávila	9
Hit Batters	Alfonso Ilivanes	Guantánamo	13

Award Winners

The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Wilfredo Sánchez a outfielder with Citricultores. The Most Valuable Pitcher (Lanzadores más Valiosos) was Nivaldo Pérez of Villa Clara. Alejo O´Reilly of Villa Clara was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año).

All-Star Series

The seventh All-Star Series featured two teams playing a 2-game series. Selección, managed by Servio Borges, defeated Oriente, 2 to 0.

Leaders

Batting

• Batting Average: .500 - Rodolfo Puente, Selección
• Base Hits: 4 - Rodolfo Puente, Selección
• Runs Scored: 2 - Rodolfo Puente, Selección; Armando Capiró, Selección
• Triples: 1 - Agustín Marquetti, Selección; Jorge Francis, Oriente
• Home Runs: 1 - Antonio Muñoz, Selección; Fidel García, Oriente; Elpidio Mancebo, Oriente
• Runs Batted In: 2 - Antonio Muñoz, Selección; Armando Capiró, Selección; Elpidio Mancebo, Oriente; Pedro José Rodríguez, Sr., Selección
• Stolen Bases: 1 - Jesús Guerra, Selección; Fermín Laffita, Oriente

Pitching

• Innings Pitched: 8.1 - Jesús Guerra, Selección
• Strikeouts: 8 - Santiago Mederos, Selección
• Earned Run Average: 0.00 - Mario Fernández, Oriente

Series Selectivas

The fifth Series Selectivas was won by Pinar del Río, managed by the José Pineda.

Standings

Team	G	W	L	WPCT	GB
Pinar del Río	60	40	20	0.667	-.-
Orientales	59	33	26	0.559	6.5
Habana	60	31	29	0.517	9.0
Matanzas	60	27	33	0.450	13.0
Camagüeyanos	60	25	35	0.417	15.0
Las Villas	59	23	36	0.390	16.5

Leaders

Batting

• Batting Average: .368 - Sixto Hernández, Las Villas
• Base Hits: 81 - Wilfredo Sánchez, Matanzas
• Runs Scored: 52 - Antonio Muñoz, Las Villas
• Doubles: 13 - Felipe Sarduy, Camagüeyanos; Reinaldo Fernández, Camagüeyanos
• Triples: 9 - Luis Crespo, Pinar del Río
• Home Runs: 25 - Antonio Muñoz, Las Villas
• Runs Batted In: 67 - Antonio Muñoz, Las Villas
• Stolen Bases: 12 - Alfonso Urquiola, Pinar del Río

Pitching

• Win-Loss Percentage: 1.000 (7 - 0) - Lázaro de la Torre, Habana
• Games Pitched: 21 - Lázaro de la Torre, Habana
• Complete Games: 15 - Braudilio Vinent, Orientales
• Wins: 11 - Rafael Rodríguez, Matanzas
• Innings Pitched: 137.0 - Braudilio Vinent, Orientales
• Strikeouts: 105 - Braudilio Vinent, Orientales
• Earned Run Average: 1.97 - Juan Oliva, Pinar del Río

Sources

• (March 17, 2004). "Cronología: 1979 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (March 22, 2004). "Tabla de Posiciones de la XVIII serie 1979 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• (November 18, 2005). "Guía Digital 2005-06". Guía Oficial de Béisbol 2005 (Digital). Instituto Nacional de Deportes, Educación Física y Recreación. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
• Peter C. Bjarkman. A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864–2006. : McFarland, 2007. ISBN 0786428295