1979 Houston Astros

89-73 • .549 Win% • 2nd in NL W

The 1979 Houston Astros went 89-73 (.549) finishing 2nd in the NL W division. The club scored 583 runs, allowed 582, and played home games at Astrodome. Team leaders included Jose Cruz (9 HR, 72 RBI) and Joe Niekro (21-11, 3.00 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

89 Wins
73 Losses
.549 Win %
2nd Rank
583 R 582 RA
Diff +1

📁 Franchise Info

Houston Astros Active
→

⚡ Quick Stats

583 Runs Scored
582 Runs Allowed
+1 Run Diff
1,915K Attendance

📈 vs. 1979 NL Average

Batting Avg .256 2% below the 1979 league average (.260)
OBP .315 3% below the 1979 league average (.324)
SLG .344 11% below the 1979 league average (.384)
Team ERA 3.20 14% better than the 1979 league average (3.73)
Runs Scored 583 15% below the 1979 league average (682 R)

🏟️ Home Ballpark

🏟️
StadiumAstrodome
📅
Home Games 81
👥
Total Attendance 1,915,449
📊
Avg per Game 23,647

⚾ Batting Leaders

Team HR Leaders — 1979

Batting Avg

1 Denny Walling 0.327 2 Jeffrey Leonard 0.290 3 Jose Cruz 0.289 4 Terry Puhl 0.287 5 Enos Cabell 0.272

Home Runs

1 Jose Cruz 9 2 Terry Puhl 8 3 Enos Cabell 6 4 Cesar Cedeno 6 5 Art Howe 6

RBI

1 Jose Cruz 72 2 Enos Cabell 67 3 Cesar Cedeno 54 4 Terry Puhl 49 5 Jeffrey Leonard 47
1979 Houston Astros — RBI
Player G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB AVG
Enos Cabell 155 603 60 164 30 5 6 67 21 68 37 0.272
Terry Puhl 157 600 87 172 22 4 8 49 58 46 30 0.287
Jose Cruz 157 558 73 161 33 7 9 72 72 66 36 0.289
Craig Reynolds 146 555 63 147 20 9 0 39 21 49 12 0.265
Cesar Cedeno 132 470 57 123 27 4 6 54 64 52 30 0.262
Jeffrey Leonard 134 411 47 119 15 5 0 47 46 68 23 0.290
Art Howe 118 355 32 88 15 2 6 33 36 37 3 0.248
Alan Ashby 108 336 25 68 15 2 2 35 26 70 0 0.202
Rafael Landestoy 129 282 33 76 9 6 0 30 29 24 13 0.270
Julio Gonzalez 68 181 16 45 5 2 0 10 5 14 2 0.249
Bob Watson 49 163 15 39 4 0 3 18 16 23 0 0.239
Denny Walling 82 147 21 48 8 4 3 31 17 21 3 0.327
Bruce Bochy 56 129 11 28 4 0 1 6 13 25 0 0.217
J. R. Richard 38 95 6 12 1 1 2 6 1 24 0 0.126
Joe Niekro 38 83 1 10 2 0 0 4 2 21 0 0.120
Luis Pujols 26 75 7 17 2 1 0 8 2 14 0 0.227
Ken Forsch 26 58 4 8 1 0 0 3 4 22 0 0.138
Joaquin Andujar 46 57 3 5 1 0 2 7 2 32 0 0.088
Jesus Alou 42 43 3 11 4 0 0 10 6 7 0 0.256
Jimmy Sexton 52 43 8 9 0 0 0 1 7 7 1 0.209
Rick Williams 31 31 2 8 1 0 0 0 3 18 0 0.258
Reggie Baldwin 14 20 0 4 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0.200
Vern Ruhle 13 19 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 11 0 0.053
Dave Bergman 13 15 4 6 0 0 1 2 0 3 0 0.400
Randy Niemann 26 15 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 6 0 0.133
Danny Heep 14 14 0 2 0 0 0 2 1 4 0 0.143
Joe Sambito 63 7 1 2 1 0 0 2 5 0 0 0.286
Alan Knicely 7 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 0.000
Frank Riccelli 11 6 1 2 1 0 0 3 0 1 0 0.333
Tom Wiedenbauer 4 6 0 4 1 0 0 2 0 2 0 0.667
Frank LaCorte 12 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0.000
George Throop 14 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.000
Bert Roberge 26 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0.000
Tom Dixon 19 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000
Pete Ladd 10 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
Bo McLaughlin 12 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.000
Mike Mendoza 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
Gordie Pladson 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
Bobby Sprowl 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
Gary Wilson 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000

🎯 Pitching Leaders

Team K Leaders — 1979

ERA

1 Bert Roberge 1.69 2 Joe Sambito 1.77 3 J. R. Richard 2.71 4 Joe Niekro 3.00 5 Ken Forsch 3.04

Wins

1 Joe Niekro 21 2 J. R. Richard 18 3 Joaquin Andujar 12 4 Ken Forsch 11 5 Joe Sambito 8

Strikeouts

1 J. R. Richard 313 2 Joe Niekro 119 3 Joe Sambito 83 4 Joaquin Andujar 77 5 Ken Forsch 58
1979 Houston Astros — Strikeouts
Player W L ERA G GS SV IP H ER BB SO
J. R. Richard 18 13 2.71 38 38 0 292.1 220 88 98 313
Joe Niekro 21 11 3.00 38 38 0 263.2 221 88 107 119
Joaquin Andujar 12 12 3.43 46 23 4 194.0 168 74 88 77
Ken Forsch 11 6 3.04 26 24 0 177.2 155 60 35 58
Rick Williams 4 7 3.26 31 16 0 121.1 122 44 30 37
Joe Sambito 8 7 1.77 63 0 22 91.1 80 18 23 83
Randy Niemann 3 2 3.76 26 7 1 67.0 68 28 22 24
Vern Ruhle 2 6 4.07 13 10 0 66.1 64 30 8 33
Bert Roberge 3 0 1.69 26 0 4 32.0 20 6 17 13
Frank LaCorte 1 2 5.00 12 3 0 27.0 21 15 10 24
Tom Dixon 1 2 6.66 19 1 0 25.2 39 19 15 9
George Throop 1 0 3.22 14 0 0 22.1 23 8 11 15
Frank Riccelli 2 2 4.09 11 2 0 22.0 22 10 18 20
Bo McLaughlin 1 2 5.51 12 0 0 16.1 22 10 4 12
Pete Ladd 1 1 2.92 10 0 0 12.1 8 4 8 6
Gary Wilson 0 0 12.27 6 0 0 7.1 15 10 6 6
Gordie Pladson 0 0 4.50 4 0 0 4.0 9 2 2 2
Bobby Sprowl 0 0 0.00 3 0 0 4.0 1 0 2 3
Mike Mendoza 0 0 0.00 1 0 0 1.0 0 0 0 0

👥 Roster (40)

Jesus Alou Joaquin Andujar Alan Ashby Reggie Baldwin Dave Bergman Bruce Bochy Enos Cabell Cesar Cedeno Jose Cruz Tom Dixon Ken Forsch Julio Gonzalez +28 more

40 players

📂 Quick Links

📅 1979 Season 🏠 All HOU Seasons

⏳ Browse Seasons

The 1979 Houston Astros in brief

The 1979 Houston Astros won 89 games and lost 73, ending up 2nd in the NL West. The Houston Astros scored 583 runs and allowed 582, a run differential of +1. At the plate the Houston Astros hit .256, 2% worse than the league's .260. Pitchers allowed 3.20 earned runs per nine innings, against a league figure of 3.73. League clubs averaged 682 runs that year, so the Houston Astros scored 15% fewer.

Astrodome was home in 1979, drawing a total attendance of 1,915,449. The home run leader was Jose Cruz, who hit 9. The hits leader was Terry Puhl with 172. On the mound, Joe Niekro won 21 games to lead the staff. The strikeout leader was J. R. Richard with 313. Joe Sambito saved 22 games.

Frequently Asked Questions about the 1979 Houston Astros

What was the 1979 Houston Astros record?
The 1979 Houston Astros finished 89-73 (.549 win pct).
Who led the 1979 Houston Astros in home runs?
Jose Cruz led the 1979 Houston Astros with 9 home runs.
What was the 1979 Houston Astros team ERA?
The 1979 Houston Astros posted a team ERA of 3.20.
Did the 1979 Houston Astros win the World Series?
No. The 1979 Houston Astros did not win the World Series.
Where did the 1979 Houston Astros play?
The 1979 Houston Astros played home games at Astrodome.
Who led the 1979 Houston Astros in hitting and pitching?
Team leaders were Jose Cruz (9 HR, 72 RBI) and Joe Niekro (21-11, 3.00 ERA).
All Seasons