Major League Season Recap 1979

Major League Season Recap 1979

Major League Season Recap 1979 World Series – Pittsburgh Pirates NL over Baltimore Orioles AL 4 games to 3 World Series MVP – Willie Stargell Babe Ruth Award – Willie Stargell ALCS Baltimore Orioles over California Angels 3 games to 1 ALCS MVP – NLCS Pittsburgh Pirates over Cincinnati Reds 3 games to 0 NLCS MVP – Willie Stargell Awards…

Two players share the Most Valuable Player Award for the first time in history

Two players share the Most Valuable Player Award for the first time in history

1979 – For the first time in major league history, two players share the Most Valuable Player Award. The National League co-winners are Willie Stargell, the spiritual leader of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who hit .281 with 32 home runs, and St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Keith Hernandez, who led the NL in runs (116), doubles (48) and batting average (.344).

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.

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.

Keith Hernandez

St. Louis Cardinals 1B Keith Hernandez wins the first of his 11 straight Gold Glove Awards (a MLB record at first base)

1978 – The Sporting News announces the Gold Glove winners. Shortstop Mark Belanger wins for the eighth and final time, while first baseman Keith Hernandez and catcher Bob Boone are each honored for the first time.

Danny Goodwin is chosen as the first player in the June draft and turns down a reported $50‚000 offer from the White Sox to attend Southern University

Danny Goodwin is chosen as the first player in the June draft and turns down a reported $50‚000 offer from the White Sox to attend Southern University

June 8, 1971 – Danny Goodwin is chosen as the first player in the June draft and turns down a reported $50‚000 offer from the White Sox to attend Southern University. He will be chosen number one again in 1975. The Sox fail to sign 10 of their 14 picks. The Padres select P Jay…