The 1979 Chicago Cubs season was the 108th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 104th in the National League and the 64th at Wrigley Field, and the first to be beamed via satellite and cable television to viewers all over the United States on WGN Television, thanks to a postseason decision by the company management to uplink its broadcast signals via satellite with the help of Oklahoma-based United Video Satellite Group, making them the pioneer superstation in the country's midwest and the Cubs games of that season the third superstation baseball broadcasts live via satellite relay after the Braves and the Yankees. It was the first season of over 40 to be broadcast all over the country, slowly making the team a national brand. The Cubs finished fifth in the National League East with a record of 80–82. This was the first season in which the players last names appeared on the uniforms but only on the away jerseys. It wouldn't be until 1993 when names would appear on the home jerseys.

Offseason October 26, 1978: Rudy Meoli was released by the Cubs.Rudy Meoli at Baseball Reference February 23, 1979: Manny Trillo, Greg Gross, and Dave Rader were traded by the Cubs to the Philadelphia Phillies for Barry Foote, Ted Sizemore, Jerry Martin, Derek Botelho, and Henry Mack (minors).Manny Trillo at Baseball Reference March 20, 1979: The Cubs traded a player to be named later to the Detroit Tigers for Steve Dillard. The Cubs completed the deal by sending Ed Putman to the Tigers on March 24.Ed Putman at Baseball Reference

Regular season On May 17, the Phillies beat the Cubs 23–22 at Wrigley Field in ten innings, with a 30-mph wind blowing out to left field. This was only the second time since 1913 that both teams scored 20 or more runs in a game, the only previous instance also being a Cubs–Phillies game.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions May 23, 1979: Ray Burris was traded by the Cubs to the New York Yankees for Dick Tidrow.Ray Burris at Baseball Reference June 26, 1979: Bobby Murcer was traded by the Cubs to the New York Yankees for Paul Semall (minors).Bobby Murcer at Baseball Reference August 17, 1979: Ted Sizemore was traded by the Cubs to the Boston Red Sox for a player to be named later and cash. The Red Sox completed the trade by sending Mike O'Berry to the Cubs on October 23, 1979.Ted Sizemore at Baseball Reference

Roster 1979 Chicago Cubs Roster Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

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 132 429 109 .254 16 56 1B Bill Buckner 149 591 168 .284 14 66 2B 98 330 82 .248 2 24 SS Iván DeJesús 160 636 180 .283 5 52 3B Steve Ontiveros 152 519 148 .285 4 57 LF Dave Kingman 145 532 153 .288 48 115 CF 150 534 145 .272 19 73 RF Scot Thompson 128 346 100 .289 2 29

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 Larry Biitner 111 272 79 .290 3 50 Bobby Murcer 58 190 49 .258 7 22 Mike Vail 87 179 60 .335 7 35 89 166 47 .283 5 24 Mick Kelleher 73 142 36 .254 0 10 Tim Blackwell 63 122 20 .164 0 12 Ken Henderson 62 81 19 .235 2 8 Steve Macko 19 40 9 .225 0 3 43 36 11 .306 0 1 Sam Mejías 31 11 2 .182 0 0 Bruce Kimm 9 11 1 .091 0 0 Gene Clines 10 10 2 .200 0 0 Steve Davis 3 4 0 .000 0 1 Kurt Seibert 7 2 0 .000 0 0 Karl Pagel 1 1 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 Rick Reuschel 36 239.0 18 12 3.62 125 Lynn McGlothen 42 212.0 13 14 4.12 147 Dennis Lamp 38 200.1 11 10 3.50 86 Mike Krukow 28 164.2 9 9 4.21 119 Ken Holtzman 23 117.2 6 9 4.59 44

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 90.0 1 7 4.80 104 4 13.0 0 1 5.54 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 Bruce Sutter 62 6 6 37 2.22 110 63 11 5 4 2.72 68 Willie Hernández 51 4 4 0 5.01 53 Donnie Moore 39 1 4 1 5.18 43 14 0 0 0 6.23 14 13 0 1 0 2.60 10 7 0 0 0 0.60 5

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Quad Cities

Notes

References

External links 1979 Chicago Cubs season at Baseball Reference