1979 Oakland Athletics season


The 1979 Oakland Athletics season involved the A's finishing 7th in the American League West with a record of 54 wins and 108 losses. Only 306,763 paying customers showed up to watch the A's in 1979, the team's worst attendance since leaving Philadelphia.
Team owner Charlie Finley nearly sold the team to buyers who would have moved them to New Orleans 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 over their move to Los Angeles and didn't want to lose both teams.
The Athletics' 54-108 finish remains, as of 2020, their worst since moving to Oakland in 1968. On a brighter note, the season saw the debut of Rickey Henderson. Henderson, a future Hall-of-Famer, would play for the team between 1979 and 1998.

Offseason

On June 24, Rickey Henderson made his major league debut against the Texas Rangers. In four at bats, Henderson had two hits and a stolen base.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

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
PosPlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
C143516119.2312271
1B125472136.2881977
2B12240093.233123
LF8935196.274126
DH133478118.247942

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
PlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
9831376.243840
10522642.186220
3910619.179013
309117.18716
238919.21304
237811.14113
247314.19214
286210.16103

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
PlayerGIPWLERASO
30176.22175.0495
1484.2284.3650

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
PlayerGIPWLERASO
29146.1584.8096
36118.1155.5564
4082.2343.7052
512106.007

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
PlayerGWLSVERASO
512526.5626

Farm system