1978 San Diego Padres season explained

The 1978 San Diego Padres season was the tenth in franchise history. They finished in fourth place in the National League West with a record of 84–78, eleven games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers. This was the Padres' first-ever winning season.

Offseason

• November 29, 1977: Oscar Gamble was signed as a free agent by the Padres.^[1]
• January 10, 1978: Mike Martin was selected in the 1st round (6th pick) of the 1978 Draft secondary phase.^[2]
• January 25, 1978: Dave Tomlin was traded along with $125,000 by the Padres to the Texas Rangers for Gaylord Perry.^[3]
• February 2, 1978: Mickey Lolich was signed as a free agent by the Padres.^[4]

Regular season

In 1978, the Padres achieved their first winning season in team history, finishing, six games over .500. On June 9, the one-third point of the season, the team stood at . The last two-thirds of the season, they went, which included a ten-game winning streak from July 25 to August 4. The Padres were also extremely impressive at home that season, going .

Notable contributing players:

Gaylord Perry became the second Padre in three seasons to win the National League Cy Young Award, leading the league in wins (21) and winning percentage (.778). Rollie Fingers won the league's Rolaids Relief Award, leading the league in saves (37). As for position players, OF Dave Winfield lead the team with his best offensive season to date (.308, 24 HR, 97 RBI, 21 SB, 151 OPS+). SS Ozzie Smith finished 2nd in the National League Rookie of the Year voting (40 SB). Along with their notable contributions, all 4 players have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Along with the 1979 season, this is the only time in franchise history that the Padres had 4 future Hall-of-Famers on their roster.

Notable transactions

• May 26, 1978: George Hendrick was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Eric Rasmussen.^[5]
• June 5, 1978: Steve Hamrick (minors) was traded to the Kansas City Royals for a player to be named later. The Royals completed the deal by sending Gary Lance to the Padres on September 29.^[6]
• June 6, 1978: 1978 Major League Baseball Draft
  • Andy Hawkins was selected in the first round (fifth overall).^[7]
  • Doug Gwosdz was selected in the second round.^[8]
  • Steve Fireovid was selected in the seventh round.^[9]
• June 14, 1978: Dan Spillner was traded to the Cleveland Indians for Dennis Kinney.^[10]

Roster

1978 San Diego Padres
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		ManagerCoaches

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		88	226	50	.221	1	11
1B		142	401	90	.224	16	61
2B		101	320	80	.250	2	29
SS		159	590	152	.258	1	46
3B		138	405	102	.252	0	21
LF		154	555	171	.308	4	45
CF		128	352	80	.227	3	26
RF		158	587	181	.308	24	97

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
	126	375	103	.275	7	47
	106	225	63	.280	8	37
	62	217	52	.240	2	33
	75	155	38	.245	3	26
	36	111	27	.243	3	8
	54	97	21	.216	1	7
	24	90	24	.267	0	4
	57	87	22	.253	0	10
	44	58	12	.207	0	3
	32	53	12	.226	0	4
	19	40	8	.200	0	2
	17	20	1	.050	0	0
	10	19	7	.368	0	4
	5	8	1	.125	0	1

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
	37	260.2	21	6	2.73	154
	37	253.0	13	14	2.88	71
	36	202.1	10	13	3.56	94
	27	146.1	12	10	4.06	59

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
	50	166.0	8	11	3.69	102
	12	26.2	0	3	6.08	16
	4	7.2	1	0	5.87	1
	5	7.2	0	2	11.74	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
	67	6	13	37	2.52	72
	45	4	3	10	2.13	104
	56	5	1	2	3.28	31
	20	2	1	1	1.56	13
	17	1	0	0	4.56	16
	7	0	1	0	6.43	2
	4	1	0	0	6.14	2
	3	0	0	0	10.80	2

Awards and honors

• Gaylord Perry, Cy Young Award Winner

All-Stars

1978 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

• Rollie Fingers
• Dave Winfield

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

^[11]

External links

• 1978 San Diego Padres team page at Baseball Reference
• 1978 San Diego Padres team page at Baseball Almanac

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/g/gamblos01.shtml Oscar Gamble page at Baseball Reference
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/martimi01.shtml Mike Martin page at Baseball Reference
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/p/perryga01.shtml Gaylord Perry page at Baseball Reference
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/l/lolicmi01.shtml Mickey Lolich page at Baseball Reference
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/rasmuer01.shtml Eric Rasmussen page at Baseball Reference
6. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lancega01.shtml Gary Lance page at Baseball Reference
7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hawkian01.shtml Andy Hawkins page at Baseball Reference
8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/g/gwosddo01.shtml Doug Gwosdz page at Baseball Reference
9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/f/fireost01.shtml Steve Fireovid page at Baseball Reference
10. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/spillda01.shtml Dan Spillner page at Baseball Reference
11. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007