1979 American League

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1979 American League
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The 1979 season of the American League was the seventy-ninth season of the league.

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Standings

Bold indicates league champion, Italics indicates World Series champion

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS (RS/G)	RA (RA/G)	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	FPCT
Eastern Division
1	Baltimore Orioles	159	102	57	0	.642	-.-	757 (4.76)	582 (3.66)	0.261	0.336	0.419	3.26	0.980
2	Milwaukee Brewers	161	95	66	0	.590	8.0	807 (5.01)	722 (4.48)	0.280	0.345	0.448	4.03	0.980
3	Boston Red Sox	160	91	69	0	.569	11.5	841 (5.26)	711 (4.44)	0.283	0.344	0.456	4.03	0.977
4	New York Yankees	160	89	71	0	.556	13.5	734 (4.59)	672 (4.20)	0.266	0.329	0.406	3.83	0.981
5	Detroit Tigers	161	85	76	0	.528	18.0	770 (4.78)	738 (4.58)	0.269	0.340	0.415	4.27	0.980
6	Cleveland Indians	161	81	80	0	.503	22.0	760 (4.72)	805 (5.00)	0.258	0.339	0.384	4.57	0.979
7	Toronto Blue Jays	162	53	109	0	.327	50.5	613 (3.78)	862 (5.32)	0.251	0.308	0.363	4.82	0.975
Western Division
1	California Angels	162	88	74	0	.543	-.-	866 (5.35)	768 (4.74)	0.282	0.351	0.429	4.34	0.978
2	Kansas City Royals	162	85	77	0	.525	3.0	851 (5.25)	816 (5.04)	0.282	0.344	0.422	4.45	0.977
3	Texas Rangers	162	83	79	0	.512	5.0	750 (4.63)	698 (4.31)	0.278	0.334	0.409	3.86	0.979
4	Minnesota Twins	162	82	80	0	.506	6.0	764 (4.72)	725 (4.48)	0.278	0.341	0.402	4.13	0.979
5	Chicago White Sox	160	73	87	0	.456	14.0	730 (4.56)	748 (4.68)	0.275	0.331	0.410	4.10	0.972
6	Seattle Mariners	162	67	95	0	.414	21.0	711 (4.39)	820 (5.06)	0.269	0.331	0.404	4.58	0.978
7	Oakland Athletics	162	54	108	0	.333	34.0	573 (3.54)	860 (5.31)	0.239	0.302	0.346	4.75	0.972

League leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Don Baylor Buddy Bell Rick Bosetti Willie Horton Ruppert Jones Roy Smalley	California Angels Texas Rangers Toronto Blue Jays Seattle Mariners Seattle Mariners Minnesota Twins	162
At Bats	Buddy Bell	Texas Rangers	670
Runs Scored	Don Baylor	California Angels	120
Hits	George Brett	Kansas City Royals	212
Doubles	Cecil Cooper Chet Lemon	Milwaukee Brewers Chicago White Sox	44
Triples	George Brett	Kansas City Royals	20
Home Runs	Gorman Thomas	Milwaukee Brewers	45
Total Bases	Jim Rice	Boston Red Sox	369
Runs Batted In	Don Baylor	California Angels	139
Stolen Bases	Willie Wilson	Kansas City Royals	83
Caught Stealing	Bobby Bonds	Cleveland Indians	23
Walks	Darrell Porter	Kansas City Royals	121
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Ken Singleton	Baltimore Orioles	16
Hit by Pitch	Chet Lemon	Chicago White Sox	13
Strikeouts	Gorman Thomas	Milwaukee Brewers	175
Sacrifice Hits	Rob Wilfong	Minnesota Twins	25
Sacrifice Flies	Dan Ford Darrell Porter	California Angels Kansas City Royals	13
Grounded into Double Plays	Bruce Bochte	Seattle Mariners	27
Batting Average	Fred Lynn	Boston Red Sox	0.333
On-Base Percentage	Fred Lynn	Boston Red Sox	0.423
Slugging Percentage	Fred Lynn	Boston Red Sox	0.637
On-Base plus Slugging	Fred Lynn	Boston Red Sox	1.060
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Fred Lynn	Boston Red Sox	176

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Mike Flanagan	Baltimore Orioles	23
Losses	Phil Huffman	Toronto Blue Jays	18
Win-Loss Percentage	Ron Davis	New York Yankees	0.875
Appearances	Mike Marshall	Minnesota Twins	90
Games Started	Dennis Martinez	Baltimore Orioles	39
Complete Games	Dennis Martinez	Baltimore Orioles	18
Shutouts	Mike Flanagan Dennis Leonard Nolan Ryan	Baltimore Orioles Kansas City Royals California Angels	5
Games Finished	Mike Marshall	Minnesota Twins	84
Saves	Mike Marshall	Minnesota Twins	32
Innings Pitched	Dennis Martinez	Baltimore Orioles	292.1
Batters Faced	Dennis Martinez	Baltimore Orioles	1206
Hits Allowed	Dave Goltz	Minnesota Twins	282
Home Runs Allowed	Fergie Jenkins	Texas Rangers	40
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Mike Torrez	Boston Red Sox	121
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Dave Heaverlo	Oakland Athletics	18
Hit Batsmen	Ken Kravec	Chicago White Sox	14
Strikeouts	Nolan Ryan	California Angels	223
Wild Pitches	Rick Langford	Oakland Athletics	16
Balks	Roger Erickson	Minnesota Twins	4
Runs Allowed	Mike Torrez	Boston Red Sox	144
Earned Runs Allowed	Mike Torrez	Boston Red Sox	126
Earned Run Average	Ron Guidry	New York Yankees	2.78
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Scott McGregor	Baltimore Orioles	1.076

All-Star Game

The American League lost the fiftieth midsummer classic at Kingdome in Seattle, WA on Tuesday, July 17, 1979 by a score of 7 to 6. The league's manager was Bob Lemon.

Postseason

The American League Championship Series, featured Baltimore Orioles, the Eastern Division winner, and the California Angels, the Western Division winner. The Orioles defeated the Angels, 3 games to 1.

In the World Series, the American League champion Baltimore Orioles were defeated by the National League's Pittsburgh Pirates, 4 games to 3.

Award winners

The winner of the league's Most Valuable Player Award, given its Most Valuable Player, was Don Baylor, a designated hitter with the California Angels. In the award's voting, he had 347 out of a possible 392 points and 20 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Cy Young Award, given its best pitcher, was Mike Flanagan of the Baltimore Orioles. In the award's voting, he had 136 out of a possible 140 points and 26 first place votes.

The winners of the league's Rookie of the Year Award, given its best rookie player, were John Castino of the Minnesota Twins and Alfredo Griffin of the Toronto Blue Jays. In the award's voting, both had 7 out of a possible 28 points and 7 first place votes.

Gold Gloves

The following players won the Gold Glove Award, given to the league's best fielders as voted upon by its managers and coaches, at their respective position.

Position	Player	Team
P	Jim Palmer	Baltimore Orioles
C	Jim Sundberg	Texas Rangers
1B	Cecil Cooper	Milwaukee Brewers
2B	Frank White	Kansas City Royals
3B	Buddy Bell	Texas Rangers
SS	Rick Burleson	Boston Red Sox
OF	Dwight Evans	Boston Red Sox
	Sixto Lezcano	Milwaukee Brewers
	Fred Lynn	Boston Red Sox

Monthly Awards

• Player of the Month Award
  • April: Cecil Cooper, Milwaukee Brewers
  • May: Don Baylor, California Angels
  • June: Dan Meyer, Seattle Mariners
  • July: Don Baylor, California Angels
  • August: Fred Lynn, Boston Red Sox
  • September: Alfredo Griffin, Toronto Blue Jays

• Pitcher of the Month Award
  • April: Tommy John, New York Yankees
  • May: Jim Kern, Texas Rangers
  • June: Mark Clear, California Angels
  • July: Sid Monge, Cleveland Indians
  • August: Rick Langford, Oakland Athletics
  • September: Rich Gossage, New York Yankees

Hall of Fame Game

The thirty-seventh annual Hall of Fame Game was played on August 6 at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, NY near the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In the game, the American League's Texas Rangers defeated the San Diego Padres of the National League by a score of 12 to 5.

Umpires

• Larry Barnett
• Homer Bishop*
• Steve Borga*
• Nick Bremigan
• Joe Brinkman
• Mike Briscese*
• Bud Brown*
• Doug Brown*
• Jeff Brown*
• Bob Campbell*
• Al Clark
• Dick Clegg*
• Curly Clement*
• Jack Conn*
• Alan Contant*
• Terry Cooney
• Doug Cossey*
• Derryl Cousins
• Jim Cuneo*
• Dale Davidson*
• Bill Deegan
• Don Denkinger
• Lou DiMuro
• Roy Dreke*
• Jim Dunne*
• Harold Easley*
• George Eshelman*
• Jim Evans
• Mike Farmer*
• Harry Farnsworth*
• Dick Feaser*
• Mike Fitzpatrick*
• Bill Follmer*
• Dale Ford
• Al Forman*
• Gene Fowler*
• Lester Fuchs*
• Larry Gallagher*
• Rich Garcia
• Ed George*
• Russ Goetz
• Merrill Hadry*
• Bill Hafner*
• Bill Haller
• Marvin Hecht*
• Dick Heitzer*
• Ted Hendry
• Bill Henry
• Bill Ivory*
• Charles Jackson*
• Johnny James*
• Mark Johnson
• Bob Jones*
• Ken Kaiser
• Wayne Keister*
• Ken Kirby*
• Greg Kosc
• Bill Kunkel
• Richard LaPierre*
• Bill Laude*
• Richie Lazar*
• Jay Levet*
• Jerry Loeber*
• Phil Lospitalier*
• Ron Luciano
• Charlie Lupo*
• Fred Mabbott*
• John Mackin*
• George Maloney
• Jimmy Marino*
• Boyd Mauer*
• Gary McAvoy*
• Larry McCoy
• Jim McKean
• Jim McNally*
• Durwood Merrill
• Clarence Merritt*
• Gale Miller*
• Dan Morrison
• Bob Moyer*
• Jim Mulcahy*
• Dick Nelson*
• Jerry Neudecker
• Les Novack*
• Jim O'Brien*
• Jim O'Connor*
• Tom O'Connor*
• Steve Palermo
• Rich Panas*
• Dallas Parks
• Tony Patch*
• Dave Perez*
• Dave Phillips
• Jerry Phipps*
• Lester Pratt*
• Al Purduski*
• Tom Ravashiere*
• Rick Reed
• Mike Reilly
• Len Riccio*
• Bob Rice*
• Bill Robinson*
• Rocky Roe
• Bob Roesner*
• Roy Roth*
• Dick Runchey*
• Joe Sawchuk*
• Al Scheel*
• Don Schirmer*
• Don Schulte*
• Duane Shaw*
• John Shulock
• Harold Siroka*
• Don Slattery*
• Dave Slickenmeyer*
• Fred Spenn
• Bill Sprincz*
• Marty Springstead
• George Sweeney*
• Charles Swenson*
• Joe Bob Taylor*
• Russ Terlop*
• Ted Theilander*
• Mike Thompson*
• Hank Tillman*
• Woody Urchak*
• Vic Voltaggio
• Dale Williams*
• Larry Zirbel*

* Denotes a fill-in umpire