1976 Cincinnati Reds season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1976 Cincinnati Reds
World Series Champions
National League Champions
National League West Champions
LeagueNational League
DivisionWest
BallparkRiverfront Stadium
CityCincinnati
Record102–60 (.630)
Divisional place1st
OwnersLouis Nippert
General managersBob Howsam
ManagersSparky Anderson
TelevisionWLWT
(Ken Coleman, Bill Brown)
RadioWLW
(Marty Brennaman, Joe Nuxhall)
← 1975 Seasons 1977 →

The 1976 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. The Reds entered the season as the reigning World Series champions. The Reds dominated the league all season and won their second consecutive National League West title with a record of 102–60, finishing ten games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers. With the best record in baseball, they went on to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS in three straight games to reach the World Series. They proceeded to win the title in four straight games over the New York Yankees. They were the third and most recent National League team to achieve this distinction, and the first since the 192122 New York Giants. The Reds drew 2,629,708 fans to their home games at Riverfront Stadium, an all-time franchise attendance record.[1] As mentioned above, the Reds swept through the entire postseason with their sweeps of the Phillies and Yankees, achieving a record of 7-0. As of 2024, the Reds are the only team in baseball history to sweep through an entire postseason in the divisional era.

Offseason[edit]

Regular season[edit]

Season summary[edit]

The "Big Red Machine" was at the height of its power in the 1976 season, with four future Hall-of-Famers (Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Tony Pérez, and manager Sparky Anderson), the future MLB all-time hits leader Pete Rose, and a notable supporting line up including Dave Concepción at shortstop, and Ken Griffey, César Gerónimo, and George Foster in the outfield. This would also turn out to be the final full year for the Big Red Machine, Perez would be traded in the offseason to the Montreal Expos.

The Reds retained their NL pennant by winning the NLCS in three games over the Phillies, and their second consecutive World Series title by defeating the Yankees in four games, becoming only the second team to sweep a World Series from the Yankees (following the 1963 Los Angeles Dodgers). By sweeping both the Phillies and Yankees, the Reds became the first and only team to have a perfect postseason since the League Championship Series was started in 1969. Joe Morgan was the NL's Most Valuable Player for the second straight season and Johnny Bench was the World Series MVP.

To celebrate the National League's 100th anniversary, the Reds and several other teams adopted pillbox-style caps.[citation needed]

Season standings[edit]

NL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cincinnati Reds 102 60 0.630 49–32 53–28
Los Angeles Dodgers 92 70 0.568 10 49–32 43–38
Houston Astros 80 82 0.494 22 46–36 34–46
San Francisco Giants 74 88 0.457 28 40–41 34–47
San Diego Padres 73 89 0.451 29 42–38 31–51
Atlanta Braves 70 92 0.432 32 34–47 36–45

Record vs. opponents[edit]


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 6–6 6–12 7–11 8–10 8–4 4–8 5–7 3–9 10–8 9–9 4–8
Chicago 6–6 3–9 5–7 3–9 11–7 5–13 8–10 8–10 6–6 8–4 12–6
Cincinnati 12–6 9–3 12–6 13–5 9–3 6–6 5–7 8–4 13–5 9–9 6–6
Houston 11–7 7–5 6–12 5–13 10–2 6–6 4–8 2–10 10–8 10–8 9–3
Los Angeles 10–8 9–3 5–13 13–5 10–2 7–5 5–7 9–3 6–12 8–10 10–2
Montreal 4–8 7–11 3–9 2–10 2–10 8–10 3–15 8–10 4–8 7–5 7–11
New York 8–4 13–5 6–6 6–6 5–7 10–8 5–13 10–8 7–5 7–5 9–9
Philadelphia 7-5 10–8 7–5 8–4 7–5 15–3 13–5 8–10 8–4 6–6 12–6
Pittsburgh 9–3 10–8 4–8 10–2 3–9 10–8 8–10 10–8 7–5 9–3 12–6
San Diego 8–10 6–6 5–13 8–10 12–6 8–4 5–7 4–8 5–7 8–10 4–8
San Francisco 9–9 4–8 9–9 8–10 10–8 5–7 5–7 6–6 3–9 10–8 5–7
St. Louis 8–4 6–12 6–6 3–9 2–10 11–7 9–9 6–12 6–12 8–4 7–5


Notable transactions[edit]

Roster[edit]

1976 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Game log[edit]

Game Log
April (10–7)
# Date Opponent Score Record Win Loss Save Attendance
1 April 8 Houston Astros W 11–5 1–0 Gary Nolan J. R. Richard Pedro Borbón 52,949
2 April 10 Houston Astros W 13–7 2–0 Jack Billingham Larry Dierker Rawly Eastwick 16,728
3 April 11 Houston Astros W 9–3 3–0 Pat Darcy Joe Niekro 53,390
4 April 13 @ Atlanta Braves W 6–1 4–0 Fred Norman Pablo Torrealba 37,973
5 April 15 @ Atlanta Braves L 5–10 4–1 Phil Niekro Jack Billingham 15,716
6 April 16 San Francisco Giants L 7–14 4–2 Jim Barr Pat Darcy 37,147
7 April 17 San Francisco Giants W 11–0 5–2 Fred Norman Ed Halicki 21,219
8 April 18 San Francisco Giants L 1–5 5–3 John Montefusco Gary Nolan Gary Lavelle 23,701
9 April 20 San Diego Padres L 5–7 5–4 Butch Metzger Will McEnaney 18,126
10 April 21 San Diego Padres W 5–4 6–4 Fred Norman Dave Wehrmeister Rawly Eastwick 16,603
11 April 23 @ Montreal Expos L 4–5 6–5 Don Stanhouse Jack Billingham 5,306
12 April 24 @ Montreal Expos W 6–4 (11) 7–5 Rawly Eastwick Don Carrithers 11,190
13 April 25 @ Montreal Expos W 7–0 8–5 Don Gullett Steve Renko Pat Darcy 8,095
14 April 26 @ Philadelphia Phillies L 9–10 8–6 Tug McGraw Rawly Eastwick 16,565
15 April 27 @ Philadelphia Phillies W 7–3 9–6 Jack Billingham Tom Underwood 17,818
16 April 28 @ Philadelphia Phillies L 6–7 9–7 Jim Lonborg Pat Darcy Tug McGraw 20,215
17 April 30 Montreal Expos W 7–2 10–7 Gary Nolan Dan Warthen 20,166
May (18–10)
# Date Opponent Score Record Win Loss Save Attendance
26 May 1 Montreal Expos W 6–1 11–7 Don Gullett Don Carrithers 28,138
27 May 2 Montreal Expos L 4–8 (16) 11–8 Don Stanhouse Pat Darcy 49,285
28 May 4 @ New York Mets L 3–5 11–9 Tom Seaver Fred Norman Skip Lockwood 11,205
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
June (18–12)
# Date Opponent Score Record Win Loss Save Attendance
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63 June 18 @ Philadelphia Phillies L 5–6 39–24 Jim Lonborg Jack Billingham Gene Garber 50,635
64 June 19 @ Philadelphia Phillies W 4–3 40–24 Gary Nolan Ron Reed Rawly Eastwick 36,808
65 June 20 @ Philadelphia Phillies L 1–6 40–25 Jim Kaat Don Gullett 38,669
66
67
68 June 23 Philadelphia Phillies L 2–4 42–26 Ron Reed Pedro Borbón Gene Garber 35,266
69 June 24 Philadelphia Phillies L 4–5 42–27 Jim Kaat Gary Nolan Tug McGraw 34,053
70
71
72
73
74
75
July (20–9)
# Date Opponent Score Record Win Loss Save Attendance
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
August (18–11)
# Date Opponent Score Record Win Loss Save Attendance
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128 August 26 Philadelphia Phillies L 5–4 (13) 80–48 Tug McGraw Rawly Eastwick 38,094
129 August 27 Philadelphia Phillies W 4–1 81–48 Fred Norman Tom Underwood Pedro Borbón 49,821
130 August 28 Philadelphia Phillies W 8–7 82–48 Rawly Eastwick Tug McGraw 51,091
131 August 29 Philadelphia Phillies W 6–5 (15) 83–48 Santo Alcalá Jim Kaat 51,376
132
133
September (16–10)
# Date Opponent Score Record Win Loss Save Attendance
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
October (2–1)
# Date Opponent Score Record Win Loss Save Attendance
160
161
162

Player stats[edit]

=Indicates team leader

Batting[edit]

Starters by position[edit]

Note: Pos=Position; G=Games played; AB=At bats; R=Runs scored; H=Hits; Avg.=Batting average; HR=Home runs; RBI=Runs batted in; SB=Stolen Bases

Pos Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI SB
C Johnny Bench 135 465 62 109 .234 16 74 13
1B Tony Pérez 139 527 77 137 .260 19 91 10
2B Joe Morgan 141 472 113 151 .320 27 111 60
3B Pete Rose 162 665 130 215 .323 10 63 9
SS Dave Concepción 152 576 74 162 .281 9 69 21
LF George Foster 144 562 86 172 .306 29 121 17
CF César Gerónimo 149 486 59 149 .307 2 49 22
RF Ken Griffey 148 562 111 189 .336 6 74 34

[5]

Other batters[edit]

Note: G=Games played; AB=At bats; R=Runs scored; H=Hits; Avg.=Batting average; HR=Home runs; RBI=Runs batted in; SB=Stolen Bases

Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI SB
Dan Driessen 98 219 32 54 .247 7 44 14
Doug Flynn 93 219 20 62 .283 1 20 2
Bill Plummer 56 153 16 38 .248 4 19 0
Mike Lum 84 136 15 31 .228 3 20 0
Bob Bailey 69 124 17 37 .298 6 23 0
Joel Youngblood 55 57 8 11 .193 0 1 1
Don Werner 3 4 0 2 .500 0 1 0

Pitching[edit]

Starting pitchers[edit]

Note: G=Games pitched; IP=Innings pitched; W=Wins; L=Losses; ERA=Earned run average; SO=Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Gary Nolan 34 239.1 15 9 3.46 113
Pat Zachry 38 204.0 14 7 2.74 143
Fred Norman 33 180.1 12 7 3.10 126
Jack Billingham 34 177.0 12 10 4.32 76
Santo Alcalá 30 132.0 11 4 4.70 67
Don Gullett 23 126.0 11 3 3.00 64

Other pitchers[edit]

Note: G=Games pitched; IP=Innings pitched; W=Wins; L=Losses; ERA=Earned run average; SO=Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Pat Darcy 11 39.0 2 3 6.23 15

Relief pitchers[edit]

Note: G=Games pitched; W=Wins; L=Losses; SV=Saves; ERA=Earned run average; SO=Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Rawly Eastwick 71 11 5 26 2.09 70
Pedro Borbón 69 4 3 8 3.35 53
Will McEnaney 55 2 6 7 4.85 28
Manny Sarmiento 22 5 1 0 2.06 20
Rich Hinton 12 1 2 0 7.64 8
Joe Henderson 4 2 0 0 0.00 7

Postseason[edit]

NLCS[edit]

Game 1[edit]

October 9, Veterans Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cincinnati 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 3 0 6 10 0
Philadelphia 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 6 1
W: Don Gullett (1–0)  L: Steve Carlton (0–1)   SV: None
HRs: CINGeorge Foster (1)   PHI – None

Reds starter Don Gullett held the Phils to two hits in eight strong innings and helped his own cause with an RBI single in the sixth and a two-run double in the eighth. George Foster added a solo homer.

Game 2[edit]

October 10, Veterans Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cincinnati 0 0 0 0 0 4 2 0 0 6 6 0
Philadelphia 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 10 1
W: Pat Zachry (1–0)  L: Jim Lonborg (0–1)   SV: Pedro Borbón (1)
HRs: CIN – None   PHIGreg Luzinski (1)

Game 3[edit]

October 12, Riverfront Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Philadelphia 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 2 1 6 11 0
Cincinnati 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 3 7 9 2
W: Rawly Eastwick (1–0)  L: Gene Garber (0–1)   SV: None
HRs: CINGeorge Foster (2)   Johnny Bench (1)   PHI – None

1976 World Series[edit]

Summary[edit]

NL Cincinnati Reds (4) vs. AL New York Yankees (0)
Game Road Home Score Date Location Attendance Time of Game
1 Yankees Reds 5–1 Sat. Oct 16 (D) Riverfront Stadium 54,826 2:10
2 Yankees Reds 4–3 Sun. Oct 17 (N) Riverfront Stadium 54,816 2:33
3 Reds Yankees 6–2 Tue. Oct 19 (N) Yankee Stadium 56,667 2:40
4 Reds Yankees 7–2 Thu. Oct 21 (N) Yankee Stadium 56,700 2:36

Awards and honors[edit]

1976 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

[6]

Farm system[edit]

Level Team League Manager
AAA Indianapolis Indians American Association Jim Snyder
AA Trois-Rivières Aigles Eastern League Roy Majtyka
A Tampa Tarpons Florida State League Ron Brand
A-Short Season Eugene Emeralds Northwest League Greg Riddoch
Rookie Billings Mustangs Pioneer League Jim Hoff

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ "Cincinnati Reds Attendance Records". Baseball Almanac.
  2. ^ Joaquín Andújar at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Rich Hinton[permanent dead link] at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Merv Rettenmund at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ "1976 Cincinnati Reds Batting, Pitching, & Fielding Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
  6. ^ "1976 All-Star Game". Baseball-almanac.com. July 13, 1976. Retrieved June 8, 2012.

References[edit]