Gunnera

The 1979 Milwaukee Brewers season involved the Brewers' finishing second in the American League East with a record of 95 wins and 66 losses. They scored at least one run in each of their first 160 games of the season, and were shutout (losing 5-0 to Minnesota) only in the 161st game which was to be their last game of the season.

Offseason

• December 21, 1978: Steve Lake was purchased from the Orioles by the Milwaukee Brewers.^[1]
• February 26, 1979: Eduardo Rodríguez was purchased from the Brewers by the Kansas City Royals.^[2]
• March 6, 1979: Vic Harris was signed as a free agent by the Brewers.^[3]
• March 28, 1979: Gary Beare was traded by the Brewers to the Philadelphia Phillies for Dan Boitano.^[4]

Regular season

Gorman Thomas enjoyed his best season in the majors, compiling career high numbers in home runs (45, tops in the AL), RBI (123), runs scored (97), hits (136), doubles (29), walks (98), on-base percentage (.356), total bases (300), slugging average (.539) and OPS (.895).

Season standings

AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Baltimore Orioles	102	57	0.642	—	55–24	47–33
Milwaukee Brewers	95	66	0.590	8	52–29	43–37
Boston Red Sox	91	69	0.569	11½	51–29	40–40
New York Yankees	89	71	0.556	13½	51–30	38–41
Detroit Tigers	85	76	0.528	18	46–34	39–42
Cleveland Indians	81	80	0.503	22	47–34	34–46
Toronto Blue Jays	53	109	0.327	50½	32–49	21–60

Record vs. opponents

1979 American League record Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	8–5	9–3	8–3	8–5	7–6	6–6	8–5	8–4	5–6	8–4	10–2	6–6	11–2
Boston	5–8	—	5–7	5–6	6–7	8–5	8–4	8–4	9–3	5–8	9–3	8–4	6–6	9–4
California	3–9	7–5	—	9–4	6–6	4–8	7–6	7–5	9–4	7–5	10–3	7–6	5–8	7–5
Chicago	3–8	6–5	4–9	—	6–6	3–9	5–8	5–7	5–8	4–8	9–4	5–8	11–2	7–5
Cleveland	5–8	7–6	6–6	6–6	—	6–6	6–6	4–9	8–4	5–8	8–4	7–5	5–7	8–5
Detroit	6–7	5–8	8–4	9–3	6–6	—	5–7	6–7	4–8	7–6	7–5	7–5	6–6	9–4
Kansas City	6–6	4–8	6–7	8–5	6–6	7–5	—	5–7	7–6	5–7	9–4	7–6	6–7	9–3
Milwaukee	5–8	4–8	5–7	7–5	9–4	7–6	7–5	—	8–4	9–4	6–6	9–3	9–3	10–3
Minnesota	4–8	3–9	4–9	8–5	4–8	8–4	6–7	4–8	—	7–5	9–4	10–3	4–9	11–1
New York	6–5	8–5	5–7	8–4	8–5	6–7	7–5	4–9	5–7	—	9–3	6–6	8–4	9–4
Oakland	4–8	3–9	3–10	4–9	4–8	5–7	4–9	6–6	4–9	3–9	—	8–5	2–11	4–8
Seattle	2–10	4–8	6–7	8–5	5–7	5–7	6–7	3–9	3–10	6–6	5–8	—	6–7	8–4
Texas	6–6	6–6	8–5	2–11	7–5	6–6	7–6	3–9	9–4	4–8	11–2	7–6	—	7–5
Toronto	2–11	4–9	5–7	5–7	5–8	4–9	3–9	3–10	1–11	4–9	8–4	4–8	5–7	—

Opening Day starters

• Sal Bando
• Mike Caldwell
• Cecil Cooper
• Larry Hisle
• Sixto Lezcano
• Don Money
• Charlie Moore
• Ben Oglivie
• Gorman Thomas
• Robin Yount

Notable transactions

• June 7, 1979: Randy Stein was traded by the Brewers to the Seattle Mariners for Paul Mitchell.^[5]

Roster

1979 Milwaukee Brewers
Roster
Pitchers 46 Jerry Augustine 34 Dan Boitano 48 Mike Caldwell 35 Bill Castro 23,47 Reggie Cleveland 18,45 Bob Galasso 30 Moose Haas 10 Bob McClure 43 Paul Mitchell 29 Lance Rautzhan 27 Andy Replogle 41 Jim Slaton 39 Lary Sorensen 25 Bill Travers		Catchers 13 Ray Fosse 21 Buck Martinez 22 Charlie Moore Infielders  6 Sal Bando 15 Cecil Cooper 17 Jim Gantner  4 Paul Molitor  7 Don Money  1 Tim Nordbrook  2 Lenn Sakata 19 Robin Yount		Outfielders 26 Dick Davis  9 Larry Hisle 16 Sixto Lezcano 24 Ben Oglivie 20 Gorman Thomas 14 Jim Wohlford		Manager 31 George Bamberger Coaches 12 Larry Haney 33 Frank Howard 32 Harvey Kuenn 38 Cal McLish 37 Buck Rodgers

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	Charlie Moore	111	337	101	.300	5	38
1B	Cecil Cooper	150	590	182	.308	24	106
2B	Paul Molitor	140	584	188	.322	9	62
SS	Robin Yount	149	577	154	.267	8	51
3B	Sal Bando	130	476	117	.246	9	43
LF	Ben Oglivie	139	514	145	.282	29	81
CF	Gorman Thomas	156	557	136	.244	45	123
RF	Sixto Lezcano	138	473	152	.321	28	101
DH	Dick Davis	91	335	89	.266	12	41

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
Don Money	92	350	83	.237	6	38
Jim Gantner	70	208	59	.284	2	22
Buck Martinez	69	196	53	.270	4	26
Jim Wohlford	63	175	46	.263	1	17
Larry Hisle	26	96	27	.281	3	14
Ray Fosse	19	52	12	.231	0	2
Lenn Sakata	4	14	7	.500	0	1
Tim Nordbrook	2	2	1	.500	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
Lary Sorensen	34	235.1	15	14	3.98	63
Mike Caldwell	30	235.0	16	6	3.29	89
Jim Slaton	32	213.0	15	9	3.63	80
Bill Travers	30	187.1	14	8	3.89	74
Moose Haas	29	184.2	11	11	4.78	95

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
Paul Mitchell	18	75.0	3	3	5.76	32

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
Bill Castro	39	3	1	6	2.03	10
Jerry Augustine	43	9	6	5	3.47	41
Bob McClure	36	5	2	5	3.88	37
Bob Galasso	31	3	1	3	4.38	28
Reggie Cleveland	29	1	5	4	6.71	22
Dan Boitano	5	0	0	0	1.50	5
Andy Replogle	3	0	0	0	5.63	2
Lance Rautzhan	3	0	0	0	9.00	2
Sal Bando	1	0	0	0	6.00	0
Jim Gantner	1	0	0	0	0.00	0
Buck Martinez	1	0	0	0	9.00	0

Farm system

The Brewers' farm system consisted of five minor league affiliates in 1979.^[6]

Level	Team	League	Manager
Triple-A	Vancouver Canadians	Pacific Coast League	John Felske
Double-A	Holyoke Millers	Eastern League	George Farson
Class A	Stockton Ports	California League	Lee Sigman
Class A	Burlington Bees	Midwest League	Duane Espy
Rookie	Butte Copper Kings	Pioneer League	Ken Richardson and Tom Gamboa

Notes

References

• 1979 Milwaukee Brewers at Baseball Reference
• 1979 Milwaukee Brewers at Baseball Almanac