The 1979

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

season was a season in American baseball. The team finished 82–80, fourth in the

American League West The American League West is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. The division has five teams as of the 2013 season, but had four teams from 1994 to 2012, and had as many as seven teams before the 1994 realignment. Although its teams curr ...

Offseason

In January 1979, the Twins attempted to trade

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

Rod Carew Rodney Cline Carew (born October 1, 1945) is a Panamanian former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a first baseman, second baseman and designated hitter from 1967 to 1985 for the Minnesota Twins ...

to the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...

in exchange for

Chris Chambliss Carroll Christopher Chambliss (born December 26, 1948) is an American professional baseball player and coach (baseball), coach. He played in Major League Baseball from to for the Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves. He served ...

Juan Beníquez Juan José Beníquez Torres (born May 13, 1950) is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, California Angels, Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Royals an ...

Dámaso García Dámaso Domingo García Sánchez (7 February 1957 – 15 April 2020) was a Dominican professional baseball second baseman, best known for his time spent with the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB), in the 1980s. García was orig ...

, and

Dave Righetti David Allan Righetti (born November 28, 1958), nicknamed "Rags", is an American professional baseball coach and former player. A left-handed pitcher, Righetti played in Major League Baseball from 1979 through 1995 for the New York Yankees, San F ...

, but were unable to finalize a deal. Carew would instead be traded to the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ...

on February 3.

Notable transactions

* October 3, 1978: Dave Johnson was released by the Twins. * December 4, 1978:

Dan Ford Darnell Glenn Ford (born May 19, 1952) is a former professional baseball player. Nicknamed "Disco Dan", he played in the Major Leagues primarily as an outfielder from 1975 to 1985 for the Minnesota Twins, California Angels, and Baltimore Orioles. ...

was traded by the Twins to the

for

Ron Jackson Ronnie Damien Jackson (born May 9, 1953 in Birmingham, Alabama) is a coach and a former player in Major League Baseball. He was the hitting coach for the Boston Red Sox in 2004 when they won their first World Series in 86 seasons. From 1975 t ...

and

Danny Goodwin Danny Kay Goodwin (born September 2, 1953) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a first baseman and designated hitter from 1975 to 1982. He also played in the Nippon Professional Baseball ...

. * December 8, 1978: Greg Field (minors) and a player to be named later were traded by the Twins to the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major lea ...

for

Jerry Koosman Jerome Martin Koosman (born December 23, 1942) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, and Philadelphia Phillies between and . ...

. The Twins completed the deal by sending

Jesse Orosco Jesse Russell Orosco (born April 21, 1957) is a Mexican American former relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who holds the major league record for career pitching appearances, having pitched in 1,252 games. He pitched most notably for the New ...

to the Mets on February 7, 1979. * January 6, 1979: Mike Marshall was signed as a free agent by the Twins. * February 3, 1979:

was traded by the Twins to the

for

Ken Landreaux Kenneth Francis Landreaux (born December 22, 1954) is an American former professional baseball center fielder. He played in Major League Baseball for the California Angels, Minnesota Twins, and Los Angeles Dodgers from 1977 through 1987. Pla ...

, Dave Engle,

Paul Hartzell Paul F. Hartzell is an American former professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) in all or part of six seasons, between 1976 and 1984. During that time, he pitched for the California Angels, Minnesota Twins, Ba ...

, and

Brad Havens Bradley David Havens (born November 17, 1959) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Minnesota Twins (1981–83), Baltimore Orioles (1985–86), Los Angeles Dodgers (1987–88), Cleveland Indians (1988–89) and Detroit Tigers (1989). ...

Regular season

Three

homered in the May 15 win over

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, the sixteenth straight Minnesota game with at least one

Twins Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

homer. The streak will end on May 16. Nine players homered 28 times during the club's record-setting streak. Only one Twins player made the

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or d ...

: shortstop Roy Smalley. Smalley hit 24 HR, drove in 95 runs, and scored 85 runs, all team-leading totals.

, acquired in the Carew trade, batted .305 with 15 HR and 83 RBI.

, acquired in the

trade, hit 14 HR and collected 68 RBI. Reliever Mike Marshall continued as manager

Gene Mauch Gene William Mauch (November 18, 1925 – August 8, 2005) was an American professional baseball player and manager, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a second baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers (, ), Pittsburgh Pirates (), Chicago Cub ...

's all-purpose reliever, pitching in a league-leading 90 games, racking up 10 relief wins along with a league-leading 32 saves. Veteran

won 20 games. Dave Goltz (14-13) and Geoff Zahn (13-7) had double-digit wins. Smalley turned 144

double play In baseball and softball, a double play (denoted as DP in baseball statistics) is the act of making two outs during the same continuous play. Double plays can occur any time there is at least one baserunner and fewer than two outs. In Major Lea ...

s this year, setting a major league record for shortstops. The team total of 203 double plays set a new season record.

Third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system u ...

John Castino John Anthony Castino (born October 23, 1954) is a former Major League Baseball player. Castino played as an infielder, primarily at third base and second base, with the Minnesota Twins from 1979 through 1984. Professional career Castino gradua ...

shared the AL Rookie of the Year award with

Alfredo Griffin Alfredo Claudino Baptist Read Griffin (born October 6, 1957) is a Dominican former professional baseball player. He played shortstop in Major League Baseball (MLB) for four teams from 1976 to 1993. Playing career Griffin began his career as a m ...

of the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

. Each received 7 first place votes. 1,070,521 fans attended Twins games, the fourth lowest total in the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league b ...

. It was only the second time since 1970 the team attracted over one million fans.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

* June 5, 1979: 1979 Major League Baseball draft ** Randy Bush was drafted by the Twins in the 2nd round. **

Mike Kinnunen Michael John Kinnunen is a former professional baseball pitcher. He pitched in parts of three seasons between and . He holds the major league record for most pitching appearances without a decision of any kind (win, loss or save) with 48. Care ...

was drafted by the Twins in the 10th round. * June 29, 1979: Rudy Meoli was purchased by the Twins from the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

. * July 25, 1979: Craig Kusick was purchased from the Twins by the

.Craig Kusick
at ''Baseball Reference''

Roster

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''

Other batters

''Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in''

Pitching

Starting pitchers

''Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

Other pitchers

''Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

Relief pitchers

''Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

Farm system

Notes

References

*
Player stats from www.baseball-reference.comTeam info from www.baseball-almanac.com
{{Minnesota Twins Minnesota Twins seasons Minnesota Twins season