1976 Cincinnati Reds season

1976 Cincinnati Reds
1976 World Series Champions
1976 National League Champions
1976 NL West Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
  • Cincinnati, Ohio (since 1882)
Other information
Owner(s) Louis Nippert
General manager(s) Bob Howsam
Manager(s) Sparky Anderson
Local television WLWT
(Ken Coleman, Bill Brown)
Local radio WLW
(Marty Brennaman, Joe Nuxhall)
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The 1976 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. The Reds won their second consecutive National League West title with a record of 102-60, 10 games ahead of the runner-up Los Angeles Dodgers. They went on to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1976 National League Championship Series in three straight games, and then win their second consecutive World Series 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 1921–22 New York Giants. The Reds drew 2,629,708 fans to their home games at Riverfront Stadium, an all-time franchise attendance record.[1]

Offseason

Regular season

Season summary

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.

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.

Season standings

NL West W L GB Pct.
Cincinnati Reds 102 60 -- .630
Los Angeles Dodgers 92 70 10 .568
Houston Astros 80 82 22 .494
San Francisco Giants 74 88 28 .457
San Diego Padres 73 89 29 .451
Atlanta Braves 70 92 32 .432

Notable transactions

Roster

1976 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Game Log

Game Log

Player stats

=Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

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 Bench, JohnnyJohnny Bench 135 465 62 109 .234 16 74 13
1B Pérez, TonyTony Pérez 139 527 77 137 .260 19 91 10
2B Morgan, JoeJoe Morgan 141 472 113 151 .320 27 111 60
3B Rose, PetePete Rose 162 665 130 215 .323 10 63 9
SS Concepción, DaveDave Concepción 152 576 74 162 .281 9 69 21
LF Foster, GeorgeGeorge Foster 144 562 86 172 .306 29 121 17
CF Gerónimo, CésarCésar Gerónimo 149 486 59 149 .307 2 49 22
RF Griffey, KenKen Griffey 148 562 111 189 .336 6 74 34

[5]

Other batters

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
Driessen, DanDan Driessen 98 219 32 54 .247 7 44 14
Flynn, DougDoug Flynn 93 219 20 62 .283 1 20 2
Bailey, BobBob Bailey 69 124 17 37 .298 6 23 0
Youngblood, JoelJoel Youngblood 55 57 8 11 .193 0 1 1
Werner, DonDon Werner 3 4 0 2 .500 0 1 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
Nolan, GaryGary Nolan 34 239.1 15 9 3.46 113
Zachry, PatPat Zachry 38 204 14 7 2.74 143
Norman, FredFred Norman 33 180.1 12 7 3.10 126
Billingham, JackJack Billingham 34 177 12 10 4.32 76
Alcala, SantoSanto Alcala 30 132 11 4 4.70 67
Gullett, DonDon Gullett 23 126 11 3 3.00 64

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
Darcy, PatPat Darcy 11 39 2 3 6.23 15

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
Eastwick, RawlyRawly Eastwick 71 11 5 26 2.09 70
Borbón, PedroPedro Borbón 69 4 3 8 3.35 53
Hinton, RichRich Hinton 12 1 2 0 7.64 8
Henderson, JoeJoe Henderson 4 2 0 0 0.00 7

Postseason

NLCS

Game 1

October 9, Veterans Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cincinnati 001 002 030 6100
Philadelphia 100 000 002 361
W: Don Gullett (1-0)  L: Steve Carlton (0-1)   SV: None
HRs: CIN – George 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

October 10, Veterans Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cincinnati 000 004 200 660
Philadelphia 010 010 000 2101
W: Pat Zachry (1-0)  L: Jim Lonborg (0-1)   SV: Pedro Borbón (1)
HRs: CIN – None   PHI – Greg Luzinski (1)

Game 3

October 12, Riverfront Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Philadelphia 000 100 221 6110
Cincinnati 000 000 403 792
W: Rawly Eastwick (1-0)  L: Gene Garber (0-1)   SV: None
HRs: CIN – George Foster (2)   Johnny Bench (1)   PHI – None

1976 World Series

Main article: 1976 World Series

Summary

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

1976 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

[6]

Farm system

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
Short-Season A Eugene Emeralds Northwest League Greg Riddoch
Rookie Billings Mustangs Pioneer League Jim Hoff

Notes

  1. ↑ "Cincinnati Reds Attendance Records". Baseball Almanac.
  2. ↑ Joaquin Andujar page at Baseball Reference
  3. ↑ Rich Hinton page at Baseball Reference
  4. ↑ Merv Rettenmund page 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