The 1979 New York Mets season was the 18th season for the Mets, who played home games at Shea Stadium. Led by manager Joe Torre, the team had a 63–99 record and finished in sixth place in the National League East, thirty-five games behind the first place Pittsburgh Pirates. This was also the first season that the players' names appeared on the back of the uniforms.

Offseason October 2, 1978: Paul Siebert was traded by the Mets to the St. Louis Cardinals for Bob Coluccio.Paul Siebert page at Baseball Reference December 4, 1978: Bobby Brown was drafted by the Mets from the New York Yankees in the 1978 rule 5 draft.Bobby Brown page at Baseball Reference December 5, 1978: Tom Grieve and Kim Seaman were traded by the Mets to the St. Louis Cardinals for Pete Falcone.Kim Seaman page at Baseball Reference December 8, 1978: Jerry Koosman was traded by the Mets to the Minnesota Twins for a player to be named later and Greg Field (minors). The Minnesota Twins completed the trade by sending Jesse Orosco to the Mets on February 7, 1979.Jerry Koosman page on Baseball Reference March 25, 1979: Bobby Brown was selected off waivers from the Mets by the Toronto Blue Jays. March 27, 1979: Nino Espinosa was traded by the Mets to the Philadelphia Phillies for Richie Hebner and José Moreno.José Moreno page at Baseball Reference

Regular season The 1979 season was worse than 1978. The Mets were in last place by mid-May, and finished the season in last place for the third straight year. Attendance was below 1 million for the first time in team history, hitting a record low of just 788,000.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Opening Day starters Kelvin Chapman Doug Flynn Richie Hebner Steve Henderson Elliott Maddox Lee Mazzilli Willie Montañez John Stearns Craig Swan

Notable transactions June 5, 1979: 1979 Major League Baseball draft Tim Leary was drafted by the Mets in the 1st round (2nd pick).Tim Leary page at Baseball Reference Ron Gardenhire was drafted by the Mets in the 6th round.Ron Gardenhire page at Baseball Reference Dave Smith was drafted by the Mets in the 27th round.Dave Smith page at Baseball Reference Bill Mooneyham was drafted by the Mets in the 1st round (22nd pick) of the secondary phase, but did not sign.Bill Mooneyham page at Baseball-Reference June 15, 1979: Bob Myrick and Mike Bruhert were traded by the Mets to the Texas Rangers for Dock Ellis.Dock Ellis page at Baseball-Reference August 12, 1979: Willie Montañez was traded by the Mets to the Texas Rangers for two players to be named later. The Rangers sent Ed Lynch to the Mets on September 18 and Mike Jorgensen on October 23 to complete the deal.Willie Montañez page at Baseball-Reference August 20, 1979: Ray Burris was selected off waivers by the Mets from the New York Yankees.Ray Burris page at Baseball Reference September 21, 1979: Dock Ellis was purchased from the Mets by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Roster 1979 New York Mets Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders Manager

Coaches

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 John Stearns 155 538 131 .243 9 66 1B 109 410 96 .234 5 47 2B 157 555 135 .243 4 61 SS Frank Taveras 153 635 167 .263 1 33 3B 136 473 127 .268 10 79 LF 98 350 107 .306 5 39 CF 158 597 181 .303 15 79 RF Joel Youngblood 158 590 162 .275 16 60

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 86 224 60 .268 1 12 Alex Treviño 79 207 56 .271 0 20 Ed Kranepool 82 155 36 .232 2 17 Dan Norman 44 110 27 .245 3 11 Bruce Boisclair 59 98 18 .184 0 4 Gil Flores 70 93 18 .194 1 10 Ron Hodges 59 86 14 .163 0 5 35 80 12 .150 0 4 José Cardenal 11 37 11 .297 2 4 32 9 0 .000 0 0 3 7 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 Craig Swan 35 251.1 14 13 3.29 145 33 184.0 6 14 4.16 113 30 161.2 6 8 3.51 67 Dock Ellis 17 85.0 3 7 6.04 41 Pat Zachry 7 42.2 5 1 3.59 17 5 30.2 1 1 2.93 25 Ray Burris 4 21.2 0 2 3.32 10 John Pacella 4 16.1 0 2 4.41 12

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 Andy Hassler 29 80.1 4 5 3.70 53 Tom Hausman 19 78.2 2 6 2.75 33 18 52.1 1 3 5.33 21

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 50 6 10 8 3.55 65 Dale Murray 58 4 8 4 4.82 37 Ed Glynn 46 1 4 7 3.00 32 Wayne Twitchell 33 5 3 0 5.23 44 Dwight Bernard 32 0 3 0 4.70 20 Skip Lockwood 27 2 5 9 1.49 42 18 1 2 0 4.89 22 Jeff Reardon 18 1 2 2 1.74 10 Roy Lee Jackson 8 1 0 0 2.20 10

Farm system

Notes

References 1979 New York Mets at Baseball Reference 1979 New York Mets team page at www.baseball-almanac.com