The 1978 San Diego Padres season was the tenth in franchise history. They finished in fourth place in the National League West with a record of 84–78, eleven games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers. This was the Padres' first-ever winning season.
Offseason November 29, 1977: Oscar Gamble was signed as a free agent by the Padres.Oscar Gamble page at Baseball Reference January 10, 1978: Mike Martin was selected in the 1st round (6th pick) of the 1978 draft secondary phase.Mike Martin page at Baseball Reference January 25, 1978: Dave Tomlin was traded along with $125,000 by the Padres to the Texas Rangers for Gaylord Perry.Gaylord Perry page at Baseball Reference February 2, 1978: Mickey Lolich was signed as a free agent by the Padres.Mickey Lolich page at Baseball Reference
Regular season In 1978, the Padres achieved their first winning season in team history, finishing , six games over .500. On June 9, the one-third point of the season, the team stood at . The last two-thirds of the season, they went , which included a ten-game winning streak from July 25 to August 4. The Padres were also extremely impressive at home that season, going .
Notable contributing players:
Gaylord Perry became the second Padre in three seasons to win the National League Cy Young Award, leading the league in wins (21) and winning percentage (.778). Rollie Fingers won the league's Rolaids Relief Award, leading the league in saves (37). As for position players, OF Dave Winfield lead the team with his best offensive season to date (.308, 24 HR, 97 RBI, 21 SB, 151 OPS+). SS Ozzie Smith finished 2nd in the National League Rookie of the Year voting (40 SB). Along with their notable contributions, all 4 players have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Along with the 1979 season, this is the only time in franchise history that the Padres had 4 future Hall-of-Famers on their roster.
Opening Day lineup
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Notable transactions May 26, 1978: George Hendrick was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Eric Rasmussen.Eric Rasmussen page at Baseball Reference June 5, 1978: Steve Hamrick (minors) was traded to the Kansas City Royals for a player to be named later. The Royals completed the deal by sending Gary Lance to the Padres on September 29.Gary Lance page at Baseball Reference June 6, 1978: 1978 Major League Baseball draft Andy Hawkins was selected in the first round (fifth overall).Andy Hawkins page at Baseball Reference Doug Gwosdz was selected in the second round.Doug Gwosdz page at Baseball Reference Steve Fireovid was selected in the seventh round.Steve Fireovid page at Baseball Reference June 14, 1978: Dan Spillner was traded to the Cleveland Indians for Dennis Kinney.Dan Spillner page at Baseball Reference
Roster 1978 San Diego Padres Roster Pitchers Catchers
Infielders Outfielders Manager
Coaches
Player stats = Indicates team leader 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 88 226 50 .221 1 11 1B Gene Tenace 142 401 90 .224 16 61 2B 101 320 80 .250 2 29 SS Ozzie Smith 159 590 152 .258 1 46 3B Bill Almon 138 405 102 .252 0 21 LF Gene Richards 154 555 171 .308 4 45 CF Derrel Thomas 128 352 80 .227 3 26 RF 158 587 181 .308 24 97
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 Oscar Gamble 126 375 103 .275 7 47 Jerry Turner 106 225 63 .280 8 37 62 217 52 .240 2 33 Tucker Ashford 75 155 38 .245 3 26 36 111 27 .243 3 8 54 97 21 .216 1 7 24 90 24 .267 0 4 Don Reynolds 57 87 22 .253 0 10 Chuck Baker 44 58 12 .207 0 3 32 53 12 .226 0 4 19 40 8 .200 0 2 Jim Beswick 17 20 1 .050 0 0 Jim Wilhelm 10 19 7 .368 0 4 5 8 1 .125 0 1
Pitching = Indicates league leader
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 37 260.2 21 6 2.73 154 Randy Jones 37 253.0 13 14 2.88 71 Bob Owchinko 36 202.1 10 13 3.56 94 27 146.1 12 10 4.06 59
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 50 166.0 8 11 3.69 102 12 26.2 0 3 6.08 16 4 7.2 1 0 5.87 1 Steve Mura 5 7.2 0 2 11.74 5
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 67 6 13 37 2.52 72 45 4 3 10 2.13 104 56 5 1 2 3.28 31 20 2 1 1 1.56 13 17 1 0 0 4.56 16 7 0 1 0 6.43 2 4 1 0 0 6.14 2 3 0 0 0 10.80 2
Awards and honors Gaylord Perry, Cy Young Award Winner
All-Stars
1978 Major League Baseball All-Star Game Rollie Fingers Dave Winfield
Farm system
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007
References
External links 1978 San Diego Padres team page at Baseball Reference 1978 San Diego Padres team page at Baseball Almanac