1978 New York Yankees season




Season for the Major League Baseball team the New York Yankees


































1978 New York Yankees
1978 AL East Champions
1978 AL Champions
1978 World Series Champions
Major League affiliations

  • American League (since 1901)


  • Eastern Division (since 1969)

Location

  • Yankee Stadium (since 1976)

  • New York City (since 1903)

Other information
Owner(s) George Steinbrenner
General manager(s) Cedric Tallis
Manager(s)
Billy Martin, Dick Howser, Bob Lemon
Local television
WPIX
(Phil Rizzuto, Frank Messer, Bill White)
Local radio
WINS (AM)
(Frank Messer, Phil Rizzuto, Bill White, Fran Healy)
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The 1978 New York Yankees season was the 76th season for the Yankees. The team finished with a record of 100–63, finishing one game ahead of the Boston Red Sox to win their third American League East title. The two teams were tied after 162 games, leading to a one-game playoff, which the Yankees won.


In the ALCS, they defeated the Kansas City Royals in 4 games. In the World Series, they defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in 6 games in a rematch of the 1977 World Series. New York was managed by Billy Martin, Dick Howser and Bob Lemon. The Yankees played at Yankee Stadium.


The season was tumultuous for the Yankees, as Jackson was suspended in a midseason showdown with Billy Martin, which later resulted in Martin resigning mid-season. For television viewers of the Bronx Bombers, it was the first season to be broadcast nationwide via satellite via WPIX, which that year became a superstation as well partly in response to Ted Turner's WTCG-TV nationwide broadcasts of the Atlanta Braves beginning on Opening Day of 1977. WPIX remained the team's exclusive broadcast partner for the Greater New York television viewers on FTA television and the by now superstation status and satellite broadcasts finally enabled millions all over the country to watch Yankees home and away games live as they happened.




Contents






  • 1 Offseason


  • 2 Regular season


    • 2.1 Season summary


    • 2.2 Game log


      • 2.2.1 AL East tie-breaker game




    • 2.3 Season standings


    • 2.4 Record vs. opponents


    • 2.5 Notable transactions


      • 2.5.1 Draft picks




    • 2.6 Roster


    • 2.7 Notable events




  • 3 Player stats


    • 3.1 Batting


      • 3.1.1 Starters by position


      • 3.1.2 Other batters




    • 3.2 Pitching


      • 3.2.1 Starting pitchers


      • 3.2.2 Other pitchers


      • 3.2.3 Relief pitchers






  • 4 Postseason


    • 4.1 ALCS


      • 4.1.1 Game 1


      • 4.1.2 Game 2


      • 4.1.3 Game 3


      • 4.1.4 Game 4




    • 4.2 World Series




  • 5 Awards and honors


    • 5.1 Franchise records


    • 5.2 All-Stars


    • 5.3 Other team leaders




  • 6 Farm system


  • 7 Notes


  • 8 References





Offseason



  • November 22, 1977: Goose Gossage was signed as a free agent by the Yankees.[1]

  • December 5, 1977: Jesús Figueroa was drafted from the Yankees by the Chicago Cubs in the 1977 rule 5 draft.[2]

  • December 9, 1977: Sergio Ferrer was traded by the Yankees to the New York Mets for Roy Staiger.[3]

  • December 12, 1977: Stan Thomas and Ed Ricks (minors) were traded by the Yankees to the Chicago White Sox for Jim Spencer, Tommy Cruz and Bob Polinsky (minors).[4]



Regular season


During the season, Ron Guidry became the last pitcher to win at least 25 games in one season for the Yankees in the 20th century.[5] Guidry won the Cy Young Award by unanimous vote. In 273 2/3 innings, he compiled a record of 25–3, with 248 strikeouts, 1.74 ERA, and 9 shutouts.


Relief pitcher Goose Gossage won Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award, leading the American League with 27 saves.



Season summary


In July, the team was 14 games behind the Boston Red Sox, but rallied in the second half of the season to finish tied for first place. The Yankees were victorious over the Red Sox in the one-game playoff for the AL East title. This game featured Bucky Dent's famous 3-run go-ahead home run in the 7th inning. For decades people have mistakenly thought the Yankees trailed by 14.5 games but it was never more than 14 games. The Yankees were 14 games behind the Red Sox on July 17 and July 19, 1978.



Game log



AL East tie-breaker game





















































October 2, 1978 at Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H
E
New York Yankees 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 5 8 0
Boston Red Sox 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 4 11 0

WP: Ron Guidry (25-3)   LP: Mike Torrez (16-13)   Sv: Goose Gossage (27)
Home runs:
NYY: Bucky Dent, Reggie Jackson
BOS: Carl Yastrzemski


Season standings













































































AL East

W

L

Pct.

GB

Home

Road

New York Yankees
100 63
0.613

55–26
45–37

Boston Red Sox
99 64
0.607
1
59–23
40–41

Milwaukee Brewers
93 69
0.574

54–27
39–42

Baltimore Orioles
90 71
0.559
9
51–30
39–41

Detroit Tigers
86 76
0.531
13½
47–34
39–42

Cleveland Indians
69 90
0.434
29
42–36
27–54

Toronto Blue Jays
59 102
0.366
40
37–44
22–58




Record vs. opponents




































































































































































































































































1978 American League Records


Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team
BAL
BOS
CAL
CWS
CLE
DET
KC
MIL
MIN
NYY
OAK
SEA
TEX
TOR

Baltimore
7–8 4–6 8–1 9–6 7–8 2–8 7–8 5–5 6–9 11–0 9–1 7–4 8–7

Boston
8–7 9–2 7–3 7–8 12–3 4–6 10–5 9–2 7–9 5–5 7–3 3–7 11–4

California
6–4 2–9 8–7 6–4 4–7 9–6 5–5 12–3 5–5 9–6 9–6 5–10 7–3

Chicago
1–8 3–7 7–8 8–2 2–9 8–7 4–7 8–7 1–9 7–8 7–8 11–4 4–6

Cleveland
6–9 8–7 4–6 2–8 5–10 5–6 5–10 5–5 6–9 4–6 8–1 1–9 10–4

Detroit
8–7 3–12 7–4 9–2 10–5 4–6 7–8 4–6 4–11 6–4 8–2 7–3 9–6

Kansas City
8–2 6–4 6–9 7–8 6–5 6–4 6–4 7–8 6–5 10–5 12–3 7–8 5–5

Milwaukee
8–7 5–10 5–5 7–4 10–5 8–7 4–6 4–7 10–5 9–1 5–5 6–4 12–3

Minnesota
5–5 2–9 3–12 7–8 5–5 6–4 8–7 7–4 3–7 9–6 6–9 6–9 6–4

New York
9–6 9–7 5–5 9–1 9–6 11–4 5–6 5–10 7–3 8–2 6–5 6–4 11–4

Oakland
0–11 5–5 6–9 8–7 6–4 4–6 5–10 1–9 6–9 2–8 13–2 6–9 7–4

Seattle
1–9 3–7 6–9 8–7 1–8 2–8 3–12 5–5 9–6 5–6 2–13 3–12 8–2

Texas
4–7 7–3 10–5 4–11 9–1 3–7 8–7 4–6 9–6 4–6 9–6 12–3 4–7

Toronto
7–8 4–11 3–7 6–4 4–10 6–9 5–5 3–12 4–6 4–11 4–7 2–8 7–4




Notable transactions



  • June 10, 1978: Ken Holtzman was traded by the Yankees to the Chicago Cubs for a player to be named later. The Cubs completed the deal by sending Ron Davis to the Yankees on June 12.[6]

  • June 14, 1978: Rawly Eastwick was traded by the Yankees to the Philadelphia Phillies for Bobby Brown and Jay Johnstone.[7]

  • June 15, 1978: Mickey Klutts, Dell Alston and $50,000 were traded by the Yankees to the Oakland Athletics for Gary Thomasson.[8]



Draft picks


  • June 6, 1978: 1978 Major League Baseball draft


    • Rex Hudler was drafted by the Yankees in the 1st round (18th pick). Player signed June 20, 1978.[9]


    • Steve Balboni was drafted by the Yankees in the 2nd round.[10]




Roster














1978 New York Yankees

Roster

Pitchers


  • 45 Jim Beattie


  • 43 Ken Clay


  • 53 Ron Davis


  • 36 Rawly Eastwick


  • 31 Ed Figueroa


  • 54 Goose Gossage


  • 49 Ron Guidry


  • 35 Don Gullett


  • 53 Ken Holtzman


  • 29 Catfish Hunter


  • 40 Bob Kammeyer


  • 36 Paul Lindblad


  • 28 Sparky Lyle


  • 40,53 Larry McCall


  • 47 Andy Messersmith


  • 52 Dave Rajsich


  • 19 Dick Tidrow




Catchers


  • 40 Fran Healy


  • 46 Mike Heath


  • 41 Cliff Johnson


  • 15 Thurman Munson


Infielders




  • 10 Chris Chambliss


  • 20 Bucky Dent


  • 25 Brian Doyle


  • 23 Dámaso García


  • 24 Mickey Klutts


  •  9 Graig Nettles


  • 26 Domingo Ramos


  • 30 Willie Randolph


  • 18 Dennis Sherrill


  • 11 Fred Stanley


  • 25 George Zeber




Outfielders


  •  2 Paul Blair


  • 44 Reggie Jackson


  • 27 Jay Johnstone


  • 14 Lou Piniella


  • 17 Mickey Rivers


  • 12 Jim Spencer


  • 24 Gary Thomasson


  •  6 Roy White


Other batters



  • 27 Dell Alston



Manager


  •  1 Billy Martin


  • 34 Dick Howser


  • 21 Bob Lemon


Coaches




  •  8 Yogi Berra


  • 42 Art Fowler (Pitching)


  • 32 Elston Howard (First base)


  • 34 Dick Howser (Third base)


  • 48 Clyde King


  • 33 Gene Michael




Notable events


The defending World Series champions got off to a slow start in 1978, prompting owner George Steinbrenner to put pressure on manager Billy Martin. Compounding the issue was the already-tumultuous relationship between Martin and Reggie Jackson, and Steinbrenner was pressuring him as well. On July 17, with the team at 47-42 and in fourth place in the American League East, it came to a head during a home contest with the Kansas City Royals. With the score tied 5-5 in the bottom of the 10th inning and Thurman Munson on first, Martin sent Jackson to the plate with orders to lay down a sacrifice bunt. Jackson tried to bunt the first pitch, but failed. Martin then relayed to third-base coach Dick Howser for Jackson to swing and Howser passed it on, but Jackson ignored Howser and attempted another bunt. Howser called time and talked with Jackson, but to no avail. On his final bunt attempt, Jackson fouled out to the catcher. Martin then removed Jackson from the game and suspended him for five games.


As Jackson's suspension was ending, Martin commented in a later post-game interview that (referring to Jackson and Steinbrenner, respectively) 'one's a born liar, and the other's convicted.' The Steinbrenner reference was alluding to a past incident where the Yankee owner made illegal U.S. presidential campaign contributions. Later, Martin appeared on live television and tearfully announced his resignation as Yankees manager, but most sources believed he was actually fired by Steinbrenner for the "convicted" comment. Howser was acting manager for the next few games until Bob Lemon was named as manager for the rest of the season.


However, on August 5 at Yankee Stadium, during the Old-Timer's Day ceremony, Yankee public address announcer Bob Sheppard introduced Martin to the crowd and announced that Martin would return as manager for the 1980 season.


Nevertheless, under Lemon, the Yankees went on a tear for the rest of the season and won the division after having been 14 games out of first at one point. They would go on to repeat as World Series champions.


On September 30, 1978, Pitcher Ed Figueroa won his 20th game of the season.[11] As of 2018, Figueroa is the only native of Puerto Rico to win 20 games in a season in the major leagues.[12]



Player stats






= Indicates team leader


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 Thurman Munson 154 617 183 .297 6 71
1B Chris Chambliss 162 625 171 .274 12 90
2B Willie Randolph 134 499 139 .279 3 42
3B Graig Nettles 159 587 162 .276 27 93
SS Bucky Dent 123 379 92 .243 5 40
LF Lou Piniella 130 472 148 .314 6 69
CF Mickey Rivers 141 559 148 .265 11 48
RF Reggie Jackson 139 511 140 .274 27 97
DH Cliff Johnson 76 174 32 .184 6 19


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
Roy White 103 346 93 .269 8 43
Fred Stanley 81 160 35 .219 1 9
Paul Blair 75 125 22 .176 2 13
Jim Spencer 71 150 34 .227 7 24
Gary Thomasson 54 116 32 .276 3 20
Mike Heath 33 92 21 .228 0 8
Jay Johnstone 36 65 17 .262 1 6
Brian Doyle 39 52 10 .192 0 0
Dámaso García 18 41 8 .195 0 1
George Zeber 3 6 0 .000 0 0
Dell Alston 3 3 0 .000 0 0
Mickey Klutts 1 2 2 1.000 0 0
Dennis Sherrill 2 1 0 .000 0 0
Fran Healy 1 1 0 .000 0 0
Domingo Ramos 1 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
Ron Guidry 35 273.2 25 3 1.74 248
Ed Figueroa 35 253 20 9 2.99 92
Dick Tidrow 31 185 7 11 3.84 73
Jim Beattie 25 128 6 9 3.73 65
Catfish Hunter 21 118 12 6 3.58 56
Don Gullett 8 44.2 4 2 3.63 28
Andy Messersmith 6 22.1 0 3 5.64 16


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
Ken Clay 28 75.2 3 4 4.28 32
Paul Lindblad 7 18.1 0 0 4.42 9
Ken Holtzman 5 17.2 1 0 4.08 3
Larry McCall 5 16 1 1 5.63 7
Dave Rajsich 4 13.1 0 0 4.05 9


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
Goose Gossage 63 10 11 27 2.01 122
Sparky Lyle 59 9 3 9 3.47 33
Rawly Eastwick 8 2 1 0 3.28 13
Bob Kammeyer 7 0 0 0 5.82 11
Ron Davis 4 0 0 0 11.57 0


Postseason



ALCS




Game 1


October 3: Royals Stadium


















































Team
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E

New York
0 1 1
0 2 0
0 3 0
7 16
0
Kansas City
0 0 0
0 0 1
0 0 0
1 2
2

W: Jim Beattie (1-0)  L: Dennis Leonard (0-1)  S: Ken Clay (1)

HRs: NYY – Reggie Jackson (1)


Game 2


October 4: Royals Stadium


















































Team
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
New York
0 0 0
0 0 0
2 2 0
4 12
1

Kansas City
1 4 0
0 0 0
3 2 X
10 16
1

W: Larry Gura (1-0)  L: Ed Figueroa (0-1)

HRs: KCR – Freddie Patek (1)


Game 3


October 6: Yankee Stadium


















































Team
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Kansas City
1 0 1
0 1 0
0 2 0
5 10
1

New York
0 1 0
2 0 1
0 2 X
6 10
0

W: Goose Gossage (1-0)  L: Doug Bird (0-1)

HRs: KCR – George Brett 3 (3)   NYY – Reggie Jackson (2) Thurman Munson (1)


Game 4


October 7: Yankee Stadium


















































Team
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Kansas City
1 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
1 7
0

New York
0 1 0
0 0 1
0 0 X
2 4
0

W: Ron Guidry (1-0)  L: Dennis Leonard (0-2)  S: Goose Gossage (1)

HRs: NYY – Graig Nettles (1) Roy White (1)


World Series



AL New York Yankees (4) vs. NL Los Angeles Dodgers (2)
























































Game
Score
Date
Location
Attendance
Time of Game
1 Yankees – 5, Dodgers – 11
October 10 Dodger Stadium 55,997 2:48
2 Yankees – 3, Dodgers – 4
October 11 Dodger Stadium 55,982 2:37
3 Dodgers – 1, Yankees – 5
October 13 Yankee Stadium 56,447 2:27
4 Dodgers – 3, Yankees – 4 (10 inns) October 14 Yankee Stadium 56,445 3:17
5 Dodgers – 2, Yankees – 12
October 15 Yankee Stadium 56,448 2:56
6
Yankees – 7, Dodgers – 2
October 17 Dodger Stadium 55,985 2:34


Awards and honors




  • Gold Glove Awards


    • Chris Chambliss, first baseman


    • Graig Nettles, third baseman




  • Bucky Dent, Babe Ruth Award


  • Bucky Dent, World Series MVP


  • Goose Gossage, Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award


  • Ron Guidry, AL Cy Young



Franchise records


  • Ron Guidry, Yankees single season record, most strikeouts in a season (248)


All-Stars


All-Star Game


  • Guidry, Gossage, Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson and Graig Nettles all represented the Yankees.


Other team leaders



  • Stolen Bases – Willie Randolph, 36

  • Walks – Willie Randolph, 82



Farm system


































Level
Team
League
Manager

AAA

Tacoma Yankees

Pacific Coast League

Mike Ferraro

AA

West Haven Yankees

Eastern League

Stump Merrill

A

Fort Lauderdale Yankees

Florida State League

Doug Holmquist

A-Short Season

Oneonta Yankees

New York–Penn League

Art Mazmanian

LEAGUE CO-CHAMPION: Tacoma[13]



Notes





  1. ^ Goose Gossage at Baseball Reference


  2. ^ Jesús Figueroa at Baseball Reference


  3. ^ Sergio Ferrer at Baseball Reference


  4. ^ Stan Thomas at Baseball Reference


  5. ^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 99, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, .mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
    ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0



  6. ^ Ken Holtzman at Baseball Reference


  7. ^ Bobby Brown at Baseball Reference


  8. ^ Mickey Klutts at Baseball Reference


  9. ^ Rex Hudler at Baseball Reference


  10. ^ Steve Balboni at Baseball Reference


  11. ^ HernÌÁndez, Lou (June 27, 2016). "Chronology of Latin Americans in Baseball, 1871-2015". McFarland – via Google Books.


  12. ^ "Ed Figueroa - Society for American Baseball Research". sabr.org.


  13. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007




References



  • 1978 New York Yankees

  • 1978 World Series


  • 1978 New York Yankees at Baseball Almanac














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