1979 National League

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1979 National League
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The 1979 season of the National League was the one hundred fourth 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	Pittsburgh Pirates	163	98	64	1	.601	-.-	775 (4.75)	643 (3.94)	0.272	0.329	0.416	3.41	0.979
2	Montreal Expos	160	95	65	0	.594	2.0	701 (4.38)	581 (3.63)	0.264	0.318	0.408	3.14	0.979
3	St. Louis Cardinals	163	86	76	1	.528	12.0	731 (4.48)	693 (4.25)	0.278	0.332	0.401	3.72	0.980
4	Philadelphia Phillies	163	84	78	1	.515	14.0	683 (4.19)	718 (4.40)	0.266	0.339	0.396	4.16	0.983
5	Chicago Cubs	162	80	82	0	.494	18.0	706 (4.36)	707 (4.36)	0.269	0.327	0.403	3.88	0.975
6	New York Mets	163	63	99	1	.387	35.0	593 (3.64)	706 (4.33)	0.250	0.312	0.350	3.84	0.978
Western Division
1	Cincinnati Reds	161	90	71	0	.559	-.-	731 (4.54)	644 (4.00)	0.264	0.338	0.396	3.58	0.980
2	Houston Astros	162	89	73	0	.549	1.5	583 (3.60)	582 (3.59)	0.256	0.315	0.344	3.20	0.978
3	Los Angeles Dodgers	162	79	83	0	.488	11.5	739 (4.56)	717 (4.43)	0.263	0.331	0.412	3.83	0.981
4	San Francisco Giants	162	71	91	0	.438	19.5	672 (4.15)	751 (4.64)	0.246	0.319	0.365	4.16	0.974
5	San Diego Padres	161	68	93	0	.422	22.0	603 (3.75)	681 (4.23)	0.242	0.309	0.348	3.69	0.978
6	Atlanta Braves	160	66	94	0	.413	23.5	669 (4.18)	763 (4.77)	0.256	0.318	0.377	4.18	0.970

League leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Frank Taveras	Pittsburgh Pirates/New York Mets	164
At Bats	Omar Moreno	Pittsburgh Pirates	695
Runs Scored	Keith Hernandez	St. Louis Cardinals	116
Hits	Garry Templeton	St. Louis Cardinals	211
Doubles	Keith Hernandez	St. Louis Cardinals	48
Triples	Garry Templeton	St. Louis Cardinals	19
Home Runs	Dave Kingman	Chicago Cubs	48
Total Bases	Dave Winfield	San Diego Padres	333
Runs Batted In	Dave Winfield	San Diego Padres	118
Stolen Bases	Omar Moreno	Pittsburgh Pirates	77
Caught Stealing	Billy North	San Francisco Giants	24
Walks	Mike Schmidt	Philadelphia Phillies	120
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Dave Winfield	San Diego Padres	24
Hit by Pitch	Greg Luzinski	Philadelphia Phillies	10
Strikeouts	Dave Kingman	Chicago Cubs	131
Sacrifice Hits	Craig Reynolds	Houston Astros	34
Sacrifice Flies	Cesar Cedeno Dave Parker Mike Schmidt	Houston Astros Pittsburgh Pirates Philadelphia Phillies	9
Grounded into Double Plays	Steve Garvey	Los Angeles Dodgers	25
Batting Average	Keith Hernandez	St. Louis Cardinals	0.344
On-Base Percentage	Pete Rose	Philadelphia Phillies	0.418
Slugging Percentage	Dave Kingman	Chicago Cubs	0.613
On-Base plus Slugging	Dave Kingman	Chicago Cubs	0.956
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Dave Winfield	San Diego Padres	165

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Joe Niekro Phil Niekro	Houston Astros Atlanta Braves	21
Losses	Phil Niekro	Atlanta Braves	20
Win-Loss Percentage	Jim Bibby	Pittsburgh Pirates	0.750
Appearances	Kent Tekulve	Pittsburgh Pirates	94
Games Started	Phil Niekro	Atlanta Braves	44
Complete Games	Phil Niekro	Atlanta Braves	23
Shutouts	Joe Niekro Steve Rogers Tom Seaver	Houston Astros Montreal Expos Cincinnati Reds	5
Games Finished	Kent Tekulve	Pittsburgh Pirates	67
Saves	Bruce Sutter	Chicago Cubs	37
Innings Pitched	Phil Niekro	Atlanta Braves	342.0
Batters Faced	Phil Niekro	Atlanta Braves	1436
Hits Allowed	Phil Niekro	Atlanta Braves	311
Home Runs Allowed	Phil Niekro	Atlanta Braves	41
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Phil Niekro	Atlanta Braves	113
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Kent Tekulve	Pittsburgh Pirates	20
Hit Batsmen	Phil Niekro	Atlanta Braves	11
Strikeouts	J.R. Richard	Houston Astros	313
Wild Pitches	Joe Niekro J.R. Richard	Houston Astros Houston Astros	19
Balks	Steve Carlton	Philadelphia Phillies	11
Runs Allowed	Phil Niekro	Atlanta Braves	160
Earned Runs Allowed	Vida Blue	San Francisco Giants	132
Earned Run Average	J.R. Richard	Houston Astros	2.71
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Ken Forsch	Houston Astros	1.069

All-Star Game

The National League won 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 Tom Lasorda.

Postseason

The National League Championship Series, featured Pittsburgh Pirates, the Eastern Division winner, and the Cincinnati Reds, the Western Division winner. The Pirates defeated the Reds, 3 games to 0.

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

Award winners

The winners of the league's Most Valuable Player Award, given its Most Valuable Player, were Keith Hernandez of the St. Louis Cardinals and Willie Stargell of the Pittsburgh Pirates. In the award's voting, both had 216 out of a possible 336 points and 10 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Cy Young Award, given its best pitcher, was Bruce Sutter of the Chicago Cubs. In the award's voting, he had 72 out of a possible 120 points and 10 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Rookie of the Year Award, given its best rookie player, was Rick Sutcliffe, a pitcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the award's voting, he had 20 out of a possible 24 points and 20 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	Phil Niekro	Atlanta Braves
C	Bob Boone	Philadelphia Phillies
1B	Keith Hernandez	St. Louis Cardinals
2B	Manny Trillo	Philadelphia Phillies
3B	Dave Concepción	Cincinnati Reds
SS	Mike Schmidt	Philadelphia Phillies
OF	Garry Maddox	Philadelphia Phillies
	Dave Parker	Pittsburgh Pirates
	Dave Winfield	San Diego Padres

Monthly Awards

• Player of the Month Award
  • April: George Foster, Cincinnati Reds
  • May: Lou Brock, St. Louis Cardinals
  • June: George Foster, Cincinnati Reds
  • July: Mike Schmidt, Philadelphia Phillies
  • August: Keith Hernandez, St. Louis Cardinals
  • September: Pete Rose, Philadelphia Phillies

• Pitcher of the Month Award
  • April: Ken Forsch, Houston Astros
  • May: Joe Niekro, Houston Astros
  • June: Joaquin Andujar, Houston Astros
  • July: Dick Tidrow, Chicago Cubs
  • August: Rick Reuschel, Chicago Cubs
  • September: J.R. Richard, Houston Astros

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 National League's San Diego Padres lost to the Texas Rangers of the American League by a score of 12 to 5.

Umpires

• Andy Anderson*
• Bill Andress*
• John Baird*
• Mike Barston*
• Jack Baswell*
• Bob Beck*
• Joe Bendekovits*
• Terry Bovey*
• Fred Brocklander
• Frank Campagna*
• Dick Cavenaugh*
• Nick Colosi
• Émilien Côté*
• Jerry Crawford
• Jim Cuneo*
• Jerry Dale
• Satch Davidson
• Bob Davis*
• Bob Engel
• Jerry Fick*
• Steve Fields
• Frank Fisher*
• Tom Fleming*
• Bob Freels*
• Bruce Froemming
• Eric Gregg
• Roger Grooms*
• Merrill Hadry*
• Ray Hamil*
• Howard Hansen*
• Bob Hantak*
• Lanny Harris
• Doug Harvey
• Bill Henry*
• Ron Hutson*
• Ron Jeffers*
• Jim Jones*
• Howard Jumper*
• John Kibler
• Jacques Lauzon*
• Bill Lawson*
• Jerry Loeber*
• Phil Lospitalier*
• Charlie Lupo*
• Joe Maher*
• Boyd Mauer*
• John McSherry
• Bud Miller*
• Greg Mills*
• Ed Montague
• Joe Mrvos*
• Joe Myers*
• Pete Negri*
• Bob Nelson*
• Ed Norris*
• Ed Oliger*
• Andy Olsen
• Dave Pallone
• Tony Patch*
• Ray Perez*
• Joe Pomponi*
• Paul Pryor
• Frank Pulli
• Jim Quick
• Jim Rains*
• Dutch Rennert
• Dennis Riccio*
• Len Riccio*
• Roy Roth*
• Paul Runge
• Cliff Schaller*
• John Schleyer*
• Joe Schratz*
• Bob Schroeder*
• Jim Scott*
• Mick Sharkey*
• Bob Sharp*
• Harold Siroka*
• Don Slattery*
• Dave Slickenmeyer*
• Harry Smail*
• Gene Smith*
• Michel Spinelli*
• Jack Stansell*
• Dick Stello
• John Stewart*
• Murray Strey*
• Terry Tata
• Tom Telford*
• Hank Tillman*
• Les Treitel*
• Dick Tremblay*
• Dick Urlage*
• Ed Vargo
• Jim Waller*
• Harry Wendelstedt
• Joe West
• Lee Weyer
• Bill Williams
• Charlie Williams
• Dale Williams*

* Denotes a fill-in umpire