1978 San Francisco Giants season

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

1978 San Francisco Giants
LeagueNational League
DivisionWest
BallparkCandlestick Park
CitySan Francisco, California
OwnersBob Lurie
General managersSpec Richardson
ManagersJoe Altobelli
TelevisionKTVU
(Lon Simmons, Gary Park)
RadioKSFO
(Lon Simmons, Joe Angel)
← 1977 Seasons 1979 →

The 1978 San Francisco Giants season was the Giants' 96th season in Major League Baseball, their 21st season in San Francisco since their move from New York following the 1957 season, and their 19th at Candlestick Park. The team finished in third place in the National League West with an 89–73 record, 6 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Offseason

Regular season

The Giants won 42 games by a one run margin, an MLB record.[5]

Season standings

NL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Los Angeles Dodgers 95 67 0.586 54–27 41–40
Cincinnati Reds 92 69 0.571 49–31 43–38
San Francisco Giants 89 73 0.549 6 50–31 39–42
San Diego Padres 84 78 0.519 11 50–31 34–47
Houston Astros 74 88 0.457 21 50–31 24–57
Atlanta Braves 69 93 0.426 26 39–42 30–51

Record vs. opponents


Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta 5–7 6–12 8–10 5–13 5–7 6–6 8–4 2–10 8–10 11–7 5–7
Chicago 7–5 7–5 6–6 4–8 7–11 11–7 4–14 7–11 7–5 4–8 15–3
Cincinnati 12–6 5–7 11–7 9–9 8–4 7–5 7–5 4–7 9–9 12–6 8–4
Houston 10–8 6–6 7–11 7–11 6–6 7–5 6–6 4–8 8–10 6–12 7–5
Los Angeles 13–5 8–4 9–9 11–7 8–4 7–5 7–5 7–5 9–9 11–7 5–7
Montreal 7–5 11–7 4–8 6–6 4–8 8–10 9–9 7–11 6–6 5–7 9–9
New York 6–6 7–11 5–7 5–7 5–7 10–8 6–12 7–11 5–7 3–9 7–11
Philadelphia 4-8 14–4 5–7 6–6 5–7 9–9 12–6 11–7 8–4 6–6 10–8
Pittsburgh 10–2 11–7 7–4 8–4 5–7 11–7 11–7 7–11 5–7 4–8 9–9
San Diego 10–8 5–7 9–9 10–8 9–9 6–6 7–5 4–8 7–5 8–10 9–3
San Francisco 7–11 8–4 6–12 12–6 7–11 7–5 9–3 6–6 8–4 10–8 9–3
St. Louis 7–5 3–15 4–8 5–7 7–5 9–9 11–7 8–10 9–9 3–9 3–9


Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

Roster

1978 San Francisco Giants
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

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

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Marc Hill 117 358 87 .243 3 36
1B Willie McCovey 108 351 80 .228 12 64
2B Bill Madlock 122 447 138 .309 15 44
SS Johnny LeMaster 101 272 64 .235 1 14
3B Darrell Evans 159 547 133 .243 20 78
LF Terry Whitfield 149 488 141 .289 10 32
CF Larry Herndon 151 471 122 .259 1 72
RF Jack Clark 156 592 181 .306 25 98

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Mike Ivie 117 318 98 .308 11 55
Roger Metzger 75 235 61 .260 0 17
Héctor Cruz 79 197 44 .223 6 24
Rob Andrews 79 177 39 .220 1 11
Jim Dwyer 73 173 39 .225 5 22
Mike Sadek 40 109 26 .239 2 9
Vic Harris 53 100 15 .150 1 11
John Tamargo 36 92 22 .239 1 8
Tom Heintzelman 27 35 8 .229 2 6
Skip James 41 21 2 .095 0 3
Art Gardner 7 3 0 .000 0 0
Dennis Littlejohn 2 0 0 ---- 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Bob Knepper 36 260.0 17 11 2.63 147
Vida Blue 35 258.0 18 10 2.79 171
John Montefusco 36 238.2 11 9 3.81 177
Ed Halicki 29 199.0 9 10 2.85 105
Jim Barr 32 163.0 8 11 3.53 44

Other pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Lynn McGlothen 5 12.2 0 0 4.97 9
Philip Nastu 3 8.0 0 1 5.63 5

Relief pitchers

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

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Gary Lavelle 67 13 10 14 3.32 63
Randy Moffitt 70 8 4 12 3.31 52
John Curtis 46 4 3 1 3.71 38
Charlie Williams 25 1 3 0 5.44 22
Greg Minton 11 0 1 0 8.04 6
Ed Plank 5 0 0 0 4.05 1
Terry Cornutt 1 0 0 0 0.00 0

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

  • Jack Clark
  • Vida Blue

Sporting News

  • National league Pitcher of the Year: Vida Blue

Major League Baseball

  • National League Player of the Month: Jack Clark (May 1978)

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Phoenix Giants Pacific Coast League Rocky Bridges
AA Waterbury Giants Eastern League Andy Gilbert
A Fresno Giants California League John VanOrnum
A Cedar Rapids Giants Midwest League Jack Mull
Rookie Great Falls Giants Pioneer League Ernie Rodriguez

[9]

References

  1. ^ Frank Riccelli at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Vida Blue at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Alan Hargesheimer at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Randy Elliott at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ "Team Pitching Game Finder, From 1913 to 2017, (requiring run_diff=1)". Baseball Reference. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
  6. ^ "1978 San Francisco Giants Roster by Baseball Almanac".
  7. ^ John Rabb at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ John Tamargo at Baseball Reference
  9. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

External links