The 1979

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

season involved the A's finishing 7th in the

American League West Division 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 ...

with a record of 54 wins and 108 losses. Only 306,763 paying customers (an average of 3,984 for 77 home dates; there were four doubleheaders) showed up to watch the A's in 1979, the team's worst attendance since leaving Philadelphia. Team owner

Charlie Finley Charles Oscar Finley (February 22, 1918 – February 19, 1996), nicknamed Charlie O or Charley O, was an American businessman who owned Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics. Finley purchased the franchise while it was located in Kansas Cit ...

nearly sold the team to buyers who would have moved them to

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

for 1979. Any deal to relocate fell through when the city of Oakland refused to release the A's from their lease. The city was in the midst of its battle with the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

over their move to Los Angeles and didn't want to lose both teams. The Athletics' 54-108 finish remains, as of 2022, their worst (by far) since moving to Oakland in 1968. On a brighter note, the season saw the debut of

Rickey Henderson Rickey Nelson Henley Henderson (born December 25, 1958) is an American retired professional baseball left fielder who played his 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for nine teams from 1979 to 2003, including four separate tenures with hi ...

. Henderson, a future Hall-of-Famer, would play for the team (in four separate stints) between 1979 and 1998.

Offseason

* October 3, 1978:

Rico Carty Ricardo Adolfo Jacobo Carty (born September 1, 1939), nicknamed "Beeg Boy", is a Dominican former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder from 1963 to 1979, most prominently as a member of the Atlanta Br ...

was purchased from the Athletics by 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 ...

. * January 9, 1979:

Lemmie Miller Lemmie Earl Miller (born June 2, 1960) is a former professional baseball outfielder. He appeared in eight games for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB) during the 1984 baseball season. Miller later moved to the Rockford, Ill ...

was drafted by the Athletics in the 1st round (6th pick) of the 1979 Major League Baseball Draft, but did not sign. * February 26, 1979:

Darryl Cias Darryl Richard Cias (born April 23, 1957) is a former professional baseball player. He played 19 games in Major League Baseball for the Oakland Athletics in 1983, mostly as a late-inning replacement for starting catcher Bob Kearney. He played in ...

was purchased by the Athletics from the

Salem Senators The Salem Senators are the longest lasting name used by several minor league baseball teams based in Salem in the U.S. state of Oregon. The team name derived from Salem being the capital of Oregon. The team was founded in 1940. The current incar ...

. * February 28, 1979:

Jim Todd Jim Todd (born 1952 in Billerica, Massachusetts) is a professional basketball coach who last served as an assistant for the New York Knicks. NBA coaching career Los Angeles Clippers He was the coach at Salem State College for nearly ten years, an ...

was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.

Regular season

On April 17, 1979, the A's had their smallest home crowd (and one of the smallest in a major league baseball game in the 20th century) when only 653 people came to the nearly 50,000 seat

Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Oakland Coliseum, currently naming rights, branded as RingCentral Coliseum, is a stadium in Oakland, California. It is part of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Complex, with the adjacent Oakland Arena, near Interstate 880 (California), In ...

to see them beat the Seattle Mariners, 6 to 5. On June 24,

made his major league debut against the Texas Rangers. In four

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

s, Henderson had two hits and a

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

* June 5, 1979:

Ronn Reynolds Ronn Dwayne Reynolds (born September 28, 1958), is an American former professional baseball catcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Houston Astros, and San Diego Padres. He batted and threw ...

was drafted by the Athletics in the 5th round of the 1979 Major League Baseball Draft, but did not sign. * June 15, 1979:

Mark Souza Kenneth Mark Souza (born February 1, 1955) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. Souza pitched in for the Oakland Athletics, throwing 7 innings over 5 games. Souza was originally drafted in the first round of the 1974 Major League Baseball ...

was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.Mark Souza page at Baseball-Reference
/ref>

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

References

External links

1979 Oakland Athletics team page at Baseball Reference1979 Oakland Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
{{Oakland Athletics Oakland Athletics seasons Oakland Athletics season

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...