1978 Chicago Cubs season

1978 Chicago Cubs
League	National League
Division	East
Ballpark	Wrigley Field
City	Chicago
Owners	William Wrigley III
General managers	Bob Kennedy
Managers	Herman Franks
Television	WGN-TV (Jack Brickhouse, Lou Boudreau)
Radio	WGN (Vince Lloyd, Lou Boudreau)
Stats	ESPN.com BB-reference
← 1977 Seasons 1979 →

The 1978 Chicago Cubs season was the 107th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 103rd in the National League and the 63rd at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished third in the National League East with a record of 79–83.

Offseason

• October 13, 1977: Keith Drumright was traded by the Cubs to the Houston Astros for Al Javier.^[1]
• October 31, 1977: Bill Bonham was traded by the Cubs to the Cincinnati Reds to the Chicago Cubs for Woodie Fryman and Bill Caudill.^[2]
• December 5, 1977: Dave Rosello was traded by the Cubs to the Cleveland Indians for Bruce Compton (minors) and Norm Churchill (minors).^[3]
• December 5, 1977: Jesús Figueroa was drafted by the Cubs from the New York Yankees in the 1977 rule 5 draft.^[4]

Regular season

On June 14, in Cincinnati, Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds singled in the first inning off Cubs pitcher Dave Roberts; Rose would proceed to get a hit in every game he played until August 1.

Season standings

v t e NL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Philadelphia Phillies	90	72	0.556	—	54–28	36–44
Pittsburgh Pirates	88	73	0.547	1½	55–26	33–47
Chicago Cubs	79	83	0.488	11	44–38	35–45
Montreal Expos	76	86	0.469	14	41–39	35–47
St. Louis Cardinals	69	93	0.426	21	37–44	32–49
New York Mets	66	96	0.407	24	33–47	33–49

Record vs. opponents

1978 National League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
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

• June 6, 1978: Mike Diaz was drafted by the Cubs in the 30th round of the 1978 Major League Baseball draft.^[5]
• June 9, 1978: Woodie Fryman was traded by the Cubs to the Montreal Expos for a player to be named later. The Expos completed the deal by sending Jerry White to the Cubs on June 23.^[2]
• June 10, 1978: The Cubs traded a player to be named later to the New York Yankees for Ken Holtzman. The Cubs completed the trade by sending Ron Davis to the Yankees on June 12.^[6]
• June 15, 1978: Joe Wallis was traded by the Cubs to the Cleveland Indians for Mike Vail.^[7]
• June 26, 1978: Paul Reuschel was traded by the Cubs to the Cleveland Indians for Dennis DeBarr.^[8]

Roster

1978 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers 34 Ray Burris 35 Woodie Fryman 46 Dave Geisel 38 Willie Hernández 30 Ken Holtzman 39 Mike Krukow 47 Dennis Lamp 40 Lynn McGlothen 49 Donnie Moore 43 Paul Reuschel 48 Rick Reuschel 41 Dave Roberts 37 Manny Seoane 42 Bruce Sutter		Catchers  9 Tim Blackwell  6 Larry Cox 23 Mike Gordon  8 Dave Rader Infielders 26 Larry Biittner 22 Bill Buckner 11 Iván DeJesús 31 Davey Johnson 20 Mick Kelleher 12 Rudy Meoli 16 Steve Ontiveros 17 Ed Putman 24,32 Rodney Scott 29 Mike Sember 19 Manny Trillo		Outfielders 18 Gene Clines 24 Héctor Cruz 21 Greg Gross 10 Dave Kingman  7 Bobby Murcer 25 Scot Thompson 27 Mike Vail  9 Joe Wallis 24,32 Jerry White Other batters 45 Karl Pagel		Manager  3 Herman Franks Coaches  5 Joey Amalfitano 45 Jack Bloomfield  2 Peanuts Lowrey  4 Mike Roarke  1 Cookie Rojas

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	Dave Rader	116	305	62	.203	3	36
1B	Bill Buckner	117	446	144	.323	5	74
2B	Manny Trillo	152	552	144	.261	4	55
3B	Steve Ontiveros	82	276	67	.243	1	22
SS	Iván DeJesús	160	619	172	.278	3	35
LF	Dave Kingman	119	395	105	.266	28	79
CF	Greg Gross	124	347	92	.265	1	39
RF	Bobby Murcer	146	499	140	.281	9	64

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
Larry Biittner	120	343	88	.257	4	50
Gene Clines	109	229	59	.258	0	17
Rodney Scott	78	227	64	.282	0	15
Mike Vail	74	180	60	.333	4	33
Jerry White	59	136	37	.272	1	10
Larry Cox	59	121	34	.281	2	18
Tim Blackwell	49	103	23	.223	0	7
Mick Kelleher	68	95	24	.253	0	6
Héctor Cruz	30	76	18	.237	2	9
Joe Wallis	28	55	17	.309	1	6
Davey Johnson	24	49	15	.306	2	6
Scot Thompson	19	36	15	.417	0	2
Rudy Meoli	47	29	3	.103	0	2
Ed Putman	17	25	5	.200	0	3
Mike Gordon	4	5	1	.200	0	0
Mike Sember	9	3	1	.333	0	0
Karl Pagel	2	2	0	.000	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
Rick Reuschel	35	242.2	14	15	3.41	115
Dennis Lamp	37	223.2	7	15	3.30	73
Ray Burris	40	198.2	7	13	4.76	94
Mike Krukow	27	138.0	9	3	3.91	81

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
Dave Roberts	35	142.1	6	8	5.25	54
Woodie Fryman	13	55.2	2	4	5.17	28
Ken Holtzman	23	53.0	0	3	6.11	36

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
Bruce Sutter	64	8	10	27	3.19	106
Donnie Moore	71	9	7	4	4.11	50
Willie Hernández	54	8	2	3	3.77	38
Lynn McGlothen	49	5	3	0	3.04	60
Dave Geisel	18	1	0	0	4.24	15
Paul Reuschel	16	2	0	0	5.14	13
Manny Seoane	7	1	0	0	5.40	5

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Wichita Aeros	American Association	Harry Dunlop
AA	Midland Cubs	Texas League	Jim Saul
A	Pompano Beach Cubs	Florida State League	Jack Hiatt
A-Short Season	Geneva Cubs	New York–Penn League	Bob Hartsfield
Rookie	GCL Cubs	Gulf Coast League	Randy Hundley

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Geneva

Notes

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
• 1978 Chicago Cubs season at Baseball Reference