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 to the

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

in exchange for Chris Chambliss, Juan Beníquez, Dámaso García, and Dave Righetti, 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 ha ...

on February 3.

Notable transactions

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

and Danny Goodwin. * 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 league ...

for Jerry Koosman. The Twins completed the deal by sending Jesse Orosco to the Mets on February 7, 1979. * January 6, 1979: Mike Marshall was signed as a free agent by the Twins. * February 3, 1979: Rod Carew 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 Ralph David Engle (born November 30, 1956) is a former Major League Baseball utility player who played for the Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers and Milwaukee Brewers of the American League and the Montreal Expos of the National League from 1981 to ...

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, Balt ...

, 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 language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, the sixteenth straight Minnesota game with at least one Twins 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: 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 Dan Ford 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 Cubs ...

's all-purpose reliever, pitching in a league-leading 90 games, racking up 10 relief wins along with a league-leading 32 saves. Veteran Jerry Koosman won 20 games.

Dave Goltz David Allan Goltz (born June 23, 1949) is a former professional baseball player who pitched in the Major Leagues from 1972 to 1983. Biography Dave Goltz attended high school in Rothsay, Minnesota where he was a multi-sport star athlete. Goltz s ...

(14-13) and

Geoff Zahn Geoffery Clayton Zahn (born December 19, 1945) is a former professional baseball pitcher. He pitched thirteen seasons in Major League Baseball from 1973 to 1985. In his career, he had a Win–loss record of 111–109, an earned run average of 3.74 ...

(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 Leag ...

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 us ...

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 graduat ...

shared the AL Rookie of the Year award with Alfredo Griffin 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 ...

. 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 Randy is a given name, popular in the United States and Canada. It is primarily a masculine name. It was originally derived from the names Randall, Randolf, Randolph, as well as Bertrand and Andrew, and may be a short form (hypocorism) of the ...

was drafted by the Twins in the 2nd round. ** Mike Kinnunen was drafted by the Twins in the 10th round. * June 29, 1979:

Rudy Meoli Rudolph Bartholomew Meoli (born May 1, 1951) is an American former professional baseball player who appeared in 310 games over all or parts of six seasons in Major League Baseball for the California Angels (, –), Chicago Cubs () and Philadelphi ...

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 Craig Robert Kusick (September 30, 1948 – September 27, 2006) was an American professional baseball first baseman and designated hitter. He played in Major League Baseball for the Minnesota Twins and Toronto Blue Jays. His son, 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