The 1979 Oakland Athletics season was the 79th season for the Oakland Athletics franchise, all as members of the American League, and their 12th season in Oakland. The Athletics finished seventh in the American League West Division with a record of 54 wins and 108 losses. Only 306,763 paying customers (an average of 3,984 for 77 home dates; there were four doubleheaders) showed up to watch the A's in 1979, the team's worst attendance since leaving Philadelphia.

Team owner Charlie Finley nearly sold the team to buyers who would have moved them to New Orleans for 1979. Any deal to relocate fell through when the city of Oakland refused to release the A's from their lease. The city was in the midst of its battle with the Oakland Raiders over their move to Los Angeles and didn't want to lose both teams.

The Athletics' 54–108 finish was their worst since moving to Oakland in 1968 until it was surpassed in 2023, in which they finished 50–112 (). On a brighter note, the season saw the debut of Rickey Henderson. Henderson, a future Hall-of-Famer, would play for the team in four separate stints between 1979 and 1998.

Offseason October 3, 1978: Rico Carty was purchased from the Athletics by the Toronto Blue Jays.Rico Carty page at Baseball Reference January 9, 1979: Lemmie Miller was drafted by the Athletics in the 1st round (6th pick) of the 1979 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.Lemmie Miller page at Baseball Reference February 26, 1979: Darryl Cias was purchased by the Athletics from the Salem Senators.Darryl Cias page at Baseball Reference February 28, 1979: Jim Todd was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.Jim Todd page at Baseball Reference

Regular season On April 17, 1979, the A's had their smallest home crowd (and one of the smallest in a major league baseball game in the 20th century) when only 653 people came to the nearly 50,000 seat Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum"Only 653 See A's Win, 6-5", AP report in Fresno (CA) Bee, April 18, 1979, p. C-4 to see them beat the Seattle Mariners, 6 to 5.

On June 24, Rickey Henderson made his major league debut against the Texas Rangers. In four at bats, Henderson had two hits and a stolen base.Rickey Henderson page at Baseball Reference

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions June 5, 1979: Ronn Reynolds was drafted by the Athletics in the 5th round of the 1979 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.Ronn Reynolds page at Baseball-Reference June 15, 1979: Mark Souza was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.Mark Souza page at Baseball-Reference

Roster 1979 Oakland Athletics Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders Manager

Coaches (Bullpen) (Third Base) (Pitching) (First Base)

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 143 516 119 .231 22 71 1B 125 472 136 .288 19 77 2B 122 400 93 .233 1 23 SS Rob Picciolo 115 348 88 .253 2 27 3B Wayne Gross 138 442 99 .224 14 50 LF 89 351 96 .274 1 26 CF Dwayne Murphy 121 388 99 .255 11 40 RF Tony Armas 80 278 69 .248 11 34 DH 133 478 118 .247 9 42

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 98 313 76 .243 8 40 Mike Heath 74 258 66 .256 3 27 105 226 42 .186 2 20 Dave Chalk 66 212 47 .222 2 13 Mario Guerrero 46 166 38 .229 0 18 39 106 19 .179 0 13 30 91 17 .187 1 6 23 89 19 .213 0 4 23 78 11 .141 1 3 24 73 14 .192 1 4 28 62 10 .161 0 3

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 Rick Langford 34 218.2 12 16 4.28 101 Steve McCatty 31 185.2 11 12 4.22 87 30 176.2 2 17 5.04 95 Brian Kingman 18 112.2 8 7 4.31 58 14 84.2 2 8 4.36 50 Mike Morgan 13 77.1 2 10 5.94 17

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 29 146.1 5 8 4.80 96 36 118.1 1 5 5.55 64 40 82.2 3 4 3.70 52 5 12.0 1 0 6.00 7

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 Dave Heaverlo 62 4 11 9 4.20 40 51 2 5 2 6.56 26 Bob Lacey 42 1 5 4 5.85 33

Farm system

References

External links 1979 Oakland Athletics team page at Baseball Reference 1979 Oakland Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com