1978 San Diego Padres season

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

Regular season

In 1978, the Padres achieved their first winning season in team history, finishing 84–78 (.519), six games over .500. On June 9, the one-third point of the season, the team stood at 23–31 (.426). The last two-thirds of the season, they went 61–47 (.565), which included a ten-game winning streak from July 25 to August 4. The Padres were also extremely impressive at home that season, going 51–30 (.630).

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.

Opening Day lineup

Season standings

v
t
e
NL West
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Los Angeles Dodgers	95	67	.586	—	54‍–‍27	41‍–‍40
Cincinnati Reds	92	69	.571	2½	49‍–‍31	43‍–‍38
San Francisco Giants	89	73	.549	6	50‍–‍31	39‍–‍42
San Diego Padres	84	78	.519	11	50‍–‍31	34‍–‍47
Houston Astros	74	88	.457	21	50‍–‍31	24‍–‍57
Atlanta Braves	69	93	.426	26	39‍–‍42	30‍–‍51

Record vs. opponents

1978 National League record v t e Sources:
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	—

Notable transactions

May 26, 1978: George Hendrick was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Eric Rasmussen.
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.
June 6, 1978: 1978 Major League Baseball Draft
- Andy Hawkins was selected in the first round (fifth overall).
- Doug Gwosdz was selected in the second round.
- Steve Fireovid was selected in the seventh round.
June 14, 1978: Dan Spillner was traded to the Cleveland Indians for Dennis Kinney.

Roster

1978 San Diego Padres
Roster
Pitchers 16 John D'Acquisto 33 Juan Eichelberger 34 Rollie Fingers 14 Dave Freisleben 35 Randy Jones 48 Dennis Kinney 42 Mark Lee 29 Mickey Lolich 59 Steve Mura 44 Bob Owchinko 36 Gaylord Perry 41 Eric Rasmussen 32 Bob Shirley 48 Dan Spillner 24 Dave Wehrmeister 27 Mark Wiley		Catchers 27 Tony Castillo 7 Bob Davis 3 Dave Roberts 2 Rick Sweet Infielders 6 Bill Almon 12 Tucker Ashford 21 Chuck Baker 10 Mike Champion 8 Barry Evans 8,13 Fernando González 15 Broderick Perkins 1 Ozzie Smith 18 Gene Tenace		Outfielders 14 Jim Beswick 17 Oscar Gamble 25 George Hendrick 26 Don Reynolds 19 Gene Richards 30 Derrel Thomas 20 Jerry Turner 25 Jim Wilhelm 31 Dave Winfield		Manager 38 Roger Craig Coaches 23 Chuck Estrada 22 Billy Herman -- Doug Rader 4 Phil Roof 9 Whitey Wietelmann 28 Don Williams

1978 San Diego Padres

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

38 Roger Craig

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	Rick Sweet	88	226	50	.221	1	11
1B	Gene Tenace	142	401	90	.224	16	61
2B	Fernando González	101	320	80	.250	2	29
SS	Ozzie Smith	159	590	152	.258	1	46
3B	Bill Almon	138	405	102	.252	0	21
LF	Gene Richards	154	555	171	.308	4	45
CF	Derrel Thomas	128	352	80	.227	3	26
RF	Dave Winfield	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
Oscar Gamble	126	375	103	.275	7	47
Jerry Turner	106	225	63	.280	8	37
Broderick Perkins	62	217	52	.240	2	33
Tucker Ashford	75	155	38	.245	3	26
George Hendrick	36	111	27	.243	3	8
Dave Roberts	54	97	21	.216	1	7
Barry Evans	24	90	24	.267	0	4
Don Reynolds	57	87	22	.253	0	10
Chuck Baker	44	58	12	.207	0	3
Mike Champion	32	53	12	.226	0	4
Bob Davis	19	40	8	.200	0	2
Jim Beswick	17	20	1	.050	0	0
Jim Wilhelm	10	19	7	.368	0	4
Tony Castillo	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
Gaylord Perry	37	260.2	21	6	2.73	154
Randy Jones	37	253.0	13	14	2.88	71
Bob Owchinko	36	202.1	10	13	3.56	94
Eric Rasmussen	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
Bob Shirley	50	166.0	8	11	3.69	102
Dave Freisleben	12	26.2	0	3	6.08	16
Mark Wiley	4	7.2	1	0	5.87	1
Steve Mura	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
Rollie Fingers	67	6	13	37	2.52	72
John D'Acquisto	45	4	3	10	2.13	104
Mark Lee	56	5	1	2	3.28	31
Mickey Lolich	20	2	1	1	1.56	13
Dan Spillner	17	1	0	0	4.56	16
Dennis Kinney	7	0	1	0	6.43	2
Dave Wehrmeister	4	1	0	0	6.14	2
Juan Eichelberger	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

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Hawaii Islanders	Pacific Coast League	Dick Phillips
AA	Amarillo Gold Sox	Texas League	Glenn Ezell
A	Reno Silver Sox	California League	Eddie Watt
A-Short Season	Walla Walla Padres	Northwest League	Cliff Ditto

References

Oscar Gamble page at Baseball Reference
Mike Martin page at Baseball Reference
Gaylord Perry page at Baseball Reference
Mickey Lolich page at Baseball Reference
Eric Rasmussen page at Baseball Reference
Gary Lance page at Baseball Reference
Andy Hawkins page at Baseball Reference
Doug Gwosdz page at Baseball Reference
Steve Fireovid page at Baseball Reference
Dan Spillner page at Baseball Reference
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

1978 MLB season by team

AL East	Baltimore Boston Cleveland Detroit Milwaukee New York Toronto
AL West	California Chicago Kansas City Minnesota Oakland Seattle Texas

NL East	Chicago Montréal New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis
NL West	Atlanta Cincinnati Houston Los Angeles San Diego San Francisco

San Diego Padres

Established in 1969
Based in San Diego, California

Franchise

Ballparks

Qualcomm Stadium Petco Park
Spring training	Keegan Field Desert Sun Stadium Peoria Sports Complex

Culture

Lore

Rivalries

Los Angeles Dodgers

Key personnel

Chairman: vacant
General Manager: A. J. Preller
Manager: Mike Shildt

League pennants (2)

1984
1998

Division titles (5)

Wild card berths (3)

Minor league affiliates

Broadcasting

Television	MLB-produced
Radio	La Poderosa 860 AM 97.3 FM The Fan

Seasons (57)
1960s	1960 · 1961 · 1962 · 1963 · 1964 · 1965 · 1966 · 1967 · 1968 · 1969
1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s	2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

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