1979 – Pittsburgh Pirates starter John Candelaria and closer Kent Tekulve combine on a 4 – 0 shutout over the Baltimore Orioles as the Pirates send the World Series to its seventh game. Jim Palmer is the losing pitcher.
1979 – In the World Series, the Baltimore Orioles score six runs in the 8th inning en route to a 9 – 6 win, taking a 3-1 Series advantage over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Pinch-hit doubles by John Lowenstein and Terry Crowley drive in four runs.
1979 – In the World Series, Baltimore scores five runs off Bruce Kison in the 1st inning of Game 1, then hangs on to defeat the Pirates, 5 – 4.
With his 5th-inning, solo HR, Willie Stargell passes Honus Wagner as the Pittsburgh Pirates’ all-time RBI leader, bringing his career total thus far to 1,476. His milestone shot makes it 3 – 0, Bucs, and they will hang on to beat Chicago, 5 – 3, clinching the National League Eastern Division title in the process. Exactly seven years after his late friend and mentor Roberto Clemente would enter the 3,000-hit club on his final regular season at-bat, Stargell, one of his era’s premier run-producers, culminates his 1979 MVP season by gaining this gratifying and much-deserved distinction. In a sense, the season itself could be seen as a culmination of his entire career, both by virtue of winning at least part of the NL MVP award he should have won in 1971 (the current edition being awarded jointly to Stargell and Keith Hernandez of the Cards) and by getting a retroactive mulligan on his 1971 World Series no-show and making the most of it, following in Clemente’s footsteps by winning a World Series MVP on his second try. In addition, Stargell will be named NLCS MVP, the only player ever to receive all three awards in the same season.
9/27/1979: Padre Dave Winfield homered off Mike LaCoss in Cincinnati. The hit occurred in the first inning with two on and one out and was lost to rain.
Frank White becomes the fourth player in the team’s 11-year history to hit for the cycle when he triples in the ninth inning of the Royals’ 4-0 victory over California at Anaheim Stadium. The Kansas City second baseman joins Freddie Patek (1971), John Mayberry (1977), and George Brett (1979), who also have completed the rare feat playing for the franchise.
Dennis Leonard shuts out California, 4 – 0, and Royals SS Frank White hits for the cycle.
Atlanta’s Phil Niekro notches his 20th win of the season by beating his brother Joe, the National League’s only other 20-game winner this season, 9 – 4. The Niekro brothers are the second pair (the other was Jim Perry and Gaylord Perry) to win 20 games in the same year, and Phil Niekro, who finishes at 21-20, is the first pitcher since Wilbur Wood in 1973 to win and lose 20 games the same year, and the first NL pitcher to do so since 1905.
With a week to go, Herman Franks resigns as Cubs manager, and is replaced by Preston Gomez, most recently a coach with the Dodgers. After resigning, Franks criticizes a number of Cubs players, including Barry Foote, Mike Vail, Bill Buckner and Ted Sizemore.
September 29, 1979 Pittsburgh Pirate Gary Hargis Came into the game as a pinch runner for Tim Foli in the 13th inning. Was stranded at second. Hargis never played another inning in the majors. The modern day “Moonlight Graham”. Game ticket & learn more about the players, teams, stadiums and dates in history @ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF90YWdzIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsiYmVmb3JlIjoiIiwiYWZ0ZXIiOiIiLCJsaW5rX3RvX3Rlcm1fcGFnZSI6Im9uIiwic2VwYXJhdG9yIjoiIHwgIiwiY2F0ZWdvcnlfdHlwZSI6InBvc3RfdGFnIn19@…
Enjoy our free trial and start listening to games, interviews and shows! Ruth, Mantle, Aaron, and Seaver!