1979 Detroit Tigers

85-76 • .528 Win% • 5th in AL E

The 1979 Detroit Tigers went 85-76 (.528) finishing 5th in the AL E division. The club scored 770 runs, allowed 738, and played home games at Tiger Stadium. Team leaders included Steve Kemp (26 HR, 105 RBI) and Jack Morris (17-7, 3.28 ERA).

W (Wins):
Games credited to a pitcher whose team took a lead it never surrendered while he was the pitcher of record.
L (Losses):
Games charged to the pitcher of record when the opposing team took a lead it never surrendered.
RS (Runs Scored (team)):
Total runs a team scored across the season.
RA (Runs Allowed):
Total runs a team allowed across the season.

Data updated

📊 Season Record

85 Wins
76 Losses
.528 Win %
5th Rank
770 R 738 RA
Diff +32

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⚡ Quick Stats

770 Runs Scored
738 Runs Allowed
+32 Run Diff
1,630K Attendance

📈 vs. 1979 AL Average

Batting Avg .269 equal to the 1979 league average (.269)
OBP .339 1% above the 1979 league average (.334)
SLG .414 2% above the 1979 league average (.408)
Team ERA 4.27 1% worse than the 1979 league average (4.22)
Runs Scored 770 2% above the 1979 league average (752 R)

🏟️ Home Ballpark

🏟️
StadiumTiger Stadium
📅
Home Games 80
👥
Total Attendance 1,630,939
📊
Avg per Game 20,386

⚾ Batting Leaders

Team HR Leaders — 1979

Batting Avg

1 Steve Kemp 0.318 2 Champ Summers 0.313 3 Ron LeFlore 0.300 4 Lynn Jones 0.296 5 Lou Whitaker 0.286

Home Runs

1 Steve Kemp 26 2 Champ Summers 20 3 Jason Thompson 20 4 Lance Parrish 19 5 John Wockenfuss 15

RBI

1 Steve Kemp 105 2 Jason Thompson 79 3 Lance Parrish 65 4 Ron LeFlore 57 5 Jerry Morales 56
1979 Detroit Tigers — RBI
Player G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB AVG
Ron LeFlore 148 600 110 180 22 10 9 57 52 95 78 0.300
Lance Parrish 143 493 65 136 26 3 19 65 49 105 6 0.276
Jason Thompson 145 492 58 121 16 1 20 79 70 90 2 0.246
Steve Kemp 134 490 88 156 26 3 26 105 68 70 5 0.318
Alan Trammell 142 460 68 127 11 4 6 50 43 55 17 0.276
Jerry Morales 129 440 50 93 23 1 14 56 30 56 10 0.211
Lou Whitaker 127 423 75 121 14 8 3 42 78 66 20 0.286
Aurelio Rodriguez 106 343 27 87 18 0 5 36 11 40 0 0.254
Rusty Staub 68 246 32 58 12 1 9 40 32 18 1 0.236
Champ Summers 90 246 47 77 12 1 20 51 40 33 7 0.313
John Wockenfuss 87 231 27 61 9 1 15 46 18 40 2 0.264
Lynn Jones 95 213 33 63 8 0 4 26 17 22 9 0.296
Tom Brookens 60 190 23 50 5 2 4 21 11 40 10 0.263
Mark Wagner 75 146 16 40 3 0 1 13 16 25 3 0.274
Phil Mankowski 42 99 11 22 4 0 0 8 10 16 0 0.222
Al Greene 29 59 9 8 1 0 3 6 10 15 0 0.136
Ed Putman 21 39 4 9 3 0 2 4 4 12 0 0.231
Kirk Gibson 12 38 3 9 3 0 1 4 1 3 3 0.237
Dave Stegman 12 31 6 6 0 0 3 5 2 3 1 0.194
Dave Machemer 19 26 8 5 1 0 0 2 3 2 0 0.192
Tim Corcoran 18 22 4 5 1 0 0 6 4 2 1 0.227
Rick Peters 12 19 3 5 0 0 0 2 5 3 0 0.263
Dan Gonzales 7 18 1 4 1 0 0 2 0 2 1 0.222
Milt May 6 11 1 3 2 0 0 3 1 1 0 0.273
Fernando Arroyo 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
Steve Baker 21 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
Jack Billingham 35 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
Sheldon Burnside 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
Mike Chris 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
Mark Fidrych 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
John Hiller 43 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
Aurelio Lopez 61 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
Jack Morris 28 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
Dan Petry 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
Bruce Robbins 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
Dave Rozema 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
Bruce Taylor 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
Dave Tobik 37 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
Pat Underwood 27 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
Milt Wilcox 33 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
Kip Young 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000

🎯 Pitching Leaders

Team K Leaders — 1979

ERA

1 Aurelio Lopez 2.41 2 Jack Morris 3.28 3 Jack Billingham 3.30 4 Dave Rozema 3.51 5 Bruce Robbins 3.91

Wins

1 Jack Morris 17 2 Milt Wilcox 12 3 Jack Billingham 10 4 Aurelio Lopez 10 5 Dan Petry 6

Strikeouts

1 Jack Morris 113 2 Milt Wilcox 109 3 Aurelio Lopez 106 4 Pat Underwood 83 5 Jack Billingham 59
1979 Detroit Tigers — Strikeouts
Player W L ERA G GS SV IP H ER BB SO
Jack Morris 17 7 3.28 27 27 0 197.2 179 72 59 113
Milt Wilcox 12 10 4.35 33 29 0 196.1 201 95 73 109
Jack Billingham 10 7 3.30 35 19 3 158.0 163 58 60 59
Aurelio Lopez 10 5 2.41 61 0 21 127.0 95 34 51 106
Pat Underwood 6 4 4.59 27 15 0 121.2 126 62 29 83
Dan Petry 6 5 3.95 15 15 0 98.0 90 43 33 43
Dave Rozema 4 4 3.51 16 16 0 97.1 101 38 30 33
Steve Baker 1 7 6.64 21 12 1 84.0 97 62 51 54
John Hiller 4 7 5.22 43 0 9 79.1 83 46 55 46
Dave Tobik 3 5 4.33 37 0 3 68.2 59 33 25 48
Bruce Robbins 3 3 3.91 10 8 0 46.0 45 20 21 22
Kip Young 2 2 6.39 13 7 0 43.2 60 31 11 22
Mike Chris 3 3 6.92 13 8 0 39.0 46 30 21 31
Sheldon Burnside 1 1 6.33 10 0 0 21.1 28 15 8 13
Bruce Taylor 1 2 4.82 10 0 0 18.2 16 10 7 8
Mark Fidrych 0 3 10.43 4 4 0 14.2 23 17 9 5
Fernando Arroyo 1 1 8.25 6 0 0 12.0 17 11 4 7

👥 Roster (41)

Fernando Arroyo Steve Baker Jack Billingham Tom Brookens Sheldon Burnside Mike Chris Tim Corcoran Mark Fidrych Kirk Gibson Dan Gonzales Al Greene John Hiller +29 more

41 players

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The 1979 Detroit Tigers in brief

The 1979 Detroit Tigers finished 85-76, a .528 winning percentage, placing 5th in the AL East. Runs came in at 770 scored against 738 allowed (+32). Pitchers allowed 4.27 earned runs per nine innings, against a league figure of 4.22. The 770 runs scored compare with a league average of 752 per club, 2% more. Tiger Stadium was home in 1979, drawing a total attendance of 1,630,939.

The home run leader was Steve Kemp, who hit 26. The hits leader was Ron LeFlore with 180. Jack Morris led the pitchers with 17 wins. Aurelio Lopez saved 21 games. The roster section lists 41 players who appeared for the club. Neighboring pages cover the 1978 season and the 1980 season.

Frequently Asked Questions about the 1979 Detroit Tigers

What was the 1979 Detroit Tigers record?
The 1979 Detroit Tigers finished 85-76 (.528 win pct).
Who led the 1979 Detroit Tigers in home runs?
Steve Kemp led the 1979 Detroit Tigers with 26 home runs.
What was the 1979 Detroit Tigers team ERA?
The 1979 Detroit Tigers posted a team ERA of 4.27.
Did the 1979 Detroit Tigers win the World Series?
No. The 1979 Detroit Tigers did not win the World Series.
Where did the 1979 Detroit Tigers play?
The 1979 Detroit Tigers played home games at Tiger Stadium.
Who led the 1979 Detroit Tigers in hitting and pitching?
Team leaders were Steve Kemp (26 HR, 105 RBI) and Jack Morris (17-7, 3.28 ERA).
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