The 1979

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

season was the team's 80th season overall, and their 79th in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. The team finished in fifth place 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 ...

with a record of 73 wins and 87 losses, 15 games behind the first-place

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 ...

Regular season

The team opened the season with reserve infielder

Don Kessinger Donald Eulon Kessinger (born July 17, 1942) is an American former professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop from to , most prominently as a member of the Chicago Cubs where, he was a six-time Al ...

acting as player-manager. He was relieved of his managerial duties on August 2, with the team's record at 46-60, at which point he also retired as a player. He was replaced by coach

Tony La Russa Anthony La Russa Jr. (; born October 4, 1944) is an American former professional baseball player, coach, and manager. His MLB career has spanned from 1963 to 2022, in several roles. He is the former manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, Oakland At ...

, making his major league managerial debut. The team went 27-27 the rest of the season.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Opening Day lineup

Harry Chappas Harry Perry Chappas (born October 26, 1957 in Mount Rainier, Maryland) is a former shortstop with the Chicago White Sox in parts of three seasons, from 1978 until 1980. Though he appeared in only 72 career games, he became a cult hero on the So ...

, SS *

Claudell Washington Claudell Washington (August 31, 1954June 10, 2020) was an American baseball outfielder who played seventeen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Oakland Athletics, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, New York Mets, Atlanta B ...

, RF *

Chet Lemon Chester Earl Lemon (born February 12, 1955) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder. A native of Jackson, Mississippi, he grew up in Los Angeles. He was drafted in the first round of the 1972 Major League Baseball draft and played 16 seaso ...

, CF *

Jorge Orta Jorge Orta Núñez (born November 26, 1950) is a Mexican former professional baseball second baseman and outfielder. He played fifteen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1972 to 1987 for the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Los An ...

, DH * Lamar Johnson, 1B *

Alan Bannister Alan Bannister (born September 3, 1951) is a retired professional baseball player who played in the major leagues for the Philadelphia Phillies Chicago White Sox (1976–80), Cleveland Indians Houston Astros (1984) and Texas Rangers Original ...

, 2B *

Ralph Garr Ralph Allen Garr (born December 12, 1945), nicknamed "Road Runner", is an American former professional baseball player, scout, and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder from through — most notably as a member of th ...

, LF *

Eric Soderholm Eric Thane Soderholm (born September 24, 1948) is a former Major League Baseball third baseman who played for the Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers, and New York Yankees from 1971 to 1980. Soderholm was selected with the 1st overa ...

, 3B *

Marv Foley Marvis Edwin Foley (born August 29, 1953) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) catcher and coach, and minor league manager. He played for the Chicago White Sox and Texas Rangers in all or part of five seasons between 1978 and 1984, w ...

, C *

Ken Kravec Kenneth Peter Kravec (born July 29, 1951) is an American professional baseball scout and a former Major League pitcher and front office official. The , left-hander appeared in 160 games pitched, 128 as a starter, exclusively for the White Sox ...

, P

Notable transactions

* May 16, 1979:

Nardi Contreras Arnaldo Juan Contreras (born September 19, 1951) is an American former professional baseball pitcher and coach. His brief time in Major League Baseball, as well as the majority of his time as a coach, came with the Chicago White Sox. He currently ...

was signed as a free agent by the White Sox. * June 5, 1979: 1979 Major League Baseball Draft **

Ricky Seilheimer Ricky Allen Seilheimer is an American former professional baseball catcher. He was drafted in the first round of the 1979 Major League Baseball Draft by the Chicago White Sox. He made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut in at the age of 19, th ...

was drafted by the White Sox in the 1st round (19th pick). **

Fran Mullins Francis Joseph Mullins (born May 14, 1957) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an infielder. Mullins played at least one game at all four infield positions, but saw most of his playing ti ...

was drafted by the White Sox in the 3rd round. **

Jimmy Key James Edward Key (born April 22, 1961) is a former left-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Toronto Blue Jays (1984–1992), New York Yankees (1993–1996), and Baltimore Orioles (1997–1998). His best personal y ...

was drafted by the White Sox in the 10th round, but did not sign. * June 15, 1979:

was traded by the White Sox to the Texas Rangers for

Ed Farmer Edward Joseph Farmer (October 18, 1949 – April 1, 2020) was an American professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for eight different teams, predominantly in the American League, between 1971 and 1983. The team h ...

and

Gary Holle Gary Charles Holle (born August 11, 1954) is an American former professional baseball first baseman who played for the Texas Rangers of the Major League Baseball (MLB) in 1979. Career Prior to playing professionally, he attended Catholic Centra ...

. * July 6, 1979:

Rich Hinton Richard Michael Hinton is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He pitched parts of six seasons between 1971 and 1979, including three separate stints with the Chicago White Sox. Draft history Hinton was originally drafted in the 23rd round in ...

was traded by the White Sox to the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

for

Juan Bernhardt Juan Ramón Bernhardt Coradin (born August 31, 1953 in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic) is a retired professional baseball player whose career spanned 13 seasons. Bernhardt spent parts of four seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with ...

.Rich Hinton page at Baseball Reference
/ref>

Roster

Disco Demolition Night

Disco Demolition Night (also known as "Anti-Disco Night" and "Disco Sucks Night") was a

promotional event In marketing, promotion refers to any type of marketing communication used to inform target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or issue, most of the time persuasive in nature. It helps marketers to create a distinctive pl ...

that took place on July 12, 1979, at

Comiskey Park Comiskey Park was a baseball park in Chicago, Illinois, located in the Armour Square neighborhood on the near-southwest side of the city. The stadium served as the home of the Chicago White Sox of the American League from 1910 through 1990. Buil ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. It was held during a scheduled twi-night doubleheader between the

and the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

. After the first game, a throng of fans stormed the field, damaging it so badly that the second game had to be forfeited to Detroit.

Player stats

Batting

''Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; BB = Base on balls; SO = Strikeouts; AVG = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases''

Pitching

''Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; HR = Home runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts''

Farm system

Notes

References

*
1979 Chicago White Sox at Baseball Reference
{{Chicago White Sox Chicago White Sox seasons Chicago White Sox season

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...