1976 Cincinnati Reds season

Last updated

1976  Cincinnati Reds
World Series Champions
National League Champions
National League West Champions
League National League
Division West
Ballpark Riverfront Stadium
City Cincinnati
Record102–60 (.630)
Divisional place1st
Owners Louis Nippert
General managers Bob Howsam
Managers Sparky Anderson
Television WLWT
(Ken Coleman, Bill Brown)
Radio WLW
(Marty Brennaman, Joe Nuxhall)
←  1975 Seasons 1977  →

The 1976 Cincinnati Reds season was the 107th season for the franchise in Major League Baseball, and their 7th and 6th full season at Riverfront Stadium. 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 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] 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.

Contents

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. 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. [4]

Season standings

NL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cincinnati Reds 10260.630—49‍–‍3253‍–‍28
Los Angeles Dodgers 9270.5681049‍–‍3243‍–‍38
Houston Astros 8082.4942246‍–‍3634‍–‍46
San Francisco Giants 7488.4572840‍–‍4134‍–‍47
San Diego Padres 7389.4512942‍–‍3831‍–‍51
Atlanta Braves 7092.4323234‍–‍4736‍–‍45

Record vs. opponents

1976 National League record

Sources:
TeamATLCHCCINHOULADMONNYMPHIPITSDSFSTL
Atlanta —6–66–127–118–108–44–85–73–910–89–94–8
Chicago 6–6—3–95–73–911–75–138–108–106–68–412–6
Cincinnati 12–69–3—12–613–59–36–65–78–413–59–96–6
Houston 11–77–56–12—5–1310–26–64–82–1010–810–89–3
Los Angeles 10–89–35–1313–5—10–27–55–79–36–128–1010–2
Montreal 4–87–113–92–102–10—8–103–158–104–87–57–11
New York 8–413–56–66–65–710–8—5–1310–87–57–59–9
Philadelphia 7-510–87–58–47–515–313–5—8–108–46–612–6
Pittsburgh 9–310–84–810–23–910–88–1010–8—7–59–312–6
San Diego 8–106–65–138–1012–68–45–74–85–7—8–104–8
San Francisco 9–94–89–98–1010–85–75–76–63–910–8—5–7
St. Louis 8–46–126–63–92–1011–79–96–126–128–47–5—

Notable transactions

Roster

1976 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
PitchersCatchers

Infielders

OutfieldersManager

Coaches

Game log

Game Log
April (10–7)
#DateOpponentScoreRecordWinLossSaveAttendance
1April 8 Houston Astros W 11–51–0 Gary Nolan J. R. Richard Pedro Borbón 52,949
2April 10 Houston Astros W 13–72–0 Jack Billingham Larry Dierker Rawly Eastwick 16,728
3April 11 Houston Astros W 9–33–0 Pat Darcy Joe Niekro 53,390
4April 13@ Atlanta Braves W 6–14–0 Fred Norman Pablo Torrealba 37,973
5April 15@ Atlanta Braves L 5–104–1 Phil Niekro Jack Billingham 15,716
6April 16 San Francisco Giants L 7–144–2 Jim Barr Pat Darcy 37,147
7April 17 San Francisco Giants W 11–05–2 Fred Norman Ed Halicki 21,219
8April 18 San Francisco Giants L 1–55–3 John Montefusco Gary Nolan Gary Lavelle 23,701
9April 20 San Diego Padres L 5–75–4 Butch Metzger Will McEnaney 18,126
10April 21 San Diego Padres W 5–46–4 Fred Norman Dave Wehrmeister Rawly Eastwick 16,603
11April 23@ Montreal Expos L 4–56–5 Don Stanhouse Jack Billingham 5,306
12April 24@ Montreal Expos W 6–4 (11)7–5 Rawly Eastwick Don Carrithers 11,190
13April 25@ Montreal Expos W 7–08–5 Don Gullett Steve Renko Pat Darcy 8,095
14April 26@ Philadelphia Phillies L 9–108–6 Tug McGraw Rawly Eastwick 16,565
15April 27@ Philadelphia Phillies W 7–39–6 Jack Billingham Tom Underwood 17,818
16April 28@ Philadelphia Phillies L 6–79–7 Jim Lonborg Pat Darcy Tug McGraw 20,215
17April 30 Montreal Expos W 7–210–7Gary Nolan Dan Warthen 20,166
May (18–10)
#DateOpponentScoreRecordWinLossSaveAttendance
26May 1Montreal ExposW 6–111–7Don GullettDon Carrithers28,138
27May 2Montreal ExposL 4–8 (16)11–8Don StanhousePat Darcy49,285
28May 4@ New York MetsL 3–511–9Tom SeaverFred NormanSkip Lockwood11,205
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
June (18–12)
#DateOpponentScoreRecordWinLossSaveAttendance
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63June 18@ Philadelphia Phillies L 5–639–24 Jim Lonborg Jack Billingham Gene Garber 50,635
64June 19@ Philadelphia Phillies W 4–340–24 Gary Nolan Ron Reed Rawly Eastwick 36,808
65June 20@ Philadelphia Phillies L 1–640–25 Jim Kaat Don Gullett 38,669
66
67
68June 23 Philadelphia Phillies L 2–442–26 Ron Reed Pedro Borbón Gene Garber 35,266
69June 24 Philadelphia Phillies L 4–542–27 Jim Kaat Gary Nolan Tug McGraw 34,053
70
71
72
73
74
75
July (20–9)
#DateOpponentScoreRecordWinLossSaveAttendance
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)
#DateOpponentScoreRecordWinLossSaveAttendance
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128August 26 Philadelphia Phillies L 5–4 (13)80–48 Tug McGraw Rawly Eastwick 38,094
129August 27 Philadelphia Phillies W 4–181–48 Fred Norman Tom Underwood Pedro Borbón 49,821
130August 28 Philadelphia Phillies W 8–782–48 Rawly Eastwick Tug McGraw 51,091
131August 29 Philadelphia Phillies W 6–5 (15)83–48 Santo Alcalá Jim Kaat 51,376
132
133
September (16–10)
#DateOpponentScoreRecordWinLossSaveAttendance
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)
#DateOpponentScoreRecordWinLossSaveAttendance
160
161
162

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

PosPlayerGABRHAvg.HRRBISB
C Johnny Bench 13546562109.234167413
1B Tony Pérez 13952777137.260199110
2B Joe Morgan 141472113151.3202711160
3B Pete Rose 162665130215.32310639
SS Dave Concepción 15257674162.28196921
LF George Foster 14456286172.3062912117
CF César Gerónimo 14948659149.30724922
RF Ken Griffey 148562111189.33667434

[6]

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

PlayerGABRHAvg.HRRBISB
Dan Driessen 982193254.24774414
Doug Flynn 932192062.2831202
Bill Plummer 561531638.2484190
Mike Lum 841361531.2283200
Bob Bailey 691241737.2986230
Joel Youngblood 5557811.193011
Don Werner 3402.500010

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Gary Nolan 34239.11593.46113
Pat Zachry 38204.01472.74143
Fred Norman 33180.11273.10126
Jack Billingham 34177.012104.3276
Santo Alcalá 30132.01144.7067
Don Gullett 23126.01133.0064

Other pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Pat Darcy 1139.0236.2315

Relief pitchers

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

PlayerGWLSVERASO
Rawly Eastwick 71115262.0970
Pedro Borbón 694383.3553
Will McEnaney 552674.8528
Manny Sarmiento 225102.0620
Rich Hinton 121207.648
Joe Henderson 42000.007

Postseason

NLCS

Game 1

October 9, Veterans Stadium

Team123456789RHE
Cincinnati0010020306100
Philadelphia100000002361
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

Team123456789RHE
Cincinnati000004200660
Philadelphia0100100002101
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

Team123456789RHE
Philadelphia0001002216110
Cincinnati000000403792
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

Summary

NL Cincinnati Reds (4) vs. AL New York Yankees (0)
GameRoadHomeScoreDateLocationAttendanceTime of Game
1YankeesReds5–1Sat. Oct 16 (D) Riverfront Stadium 54,8262:10
2YankeesReds4–3Sun. Oct 17 (N) Riverfront Stadium 54,8162:33
3RedsYankees6–2Tue. Oct 19 (N) Yankee Stadium 56,6672:40
4RedsYankees7–2Thu. Oct 21 (N) Yankee Stadium 56,7002:36

Awards and honors

1976 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

[7]

Farm system

LevelTeamLeagueManager
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

  1. ↑ "Cincinnati Reds Attendance Records". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved September 12, 2024.
  2. ↑ "Joaquín Andújar". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 12, 2024.
  3. ↑ "Rich Hinton". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 12, 2024.
  4. ↑ "National Baseball Hall of Fame - Dressed to the Nines - Parts of the Uniform". exhibits.baseballhalloffame.org. Retrieved September 12, 2024. The striped "pillbox" cap also made a comeback in 1976 when five National League clubs celebrated the "Senior Circuit's" 100th anniversary by adopting the nostalgic style. While the Reds, Mets, Phillies and Cardinals...
  5. ↑ "Merv Rettenmund". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 12, 2024.
  6. ↑ "1976 Cincinnati Reds Batting, Pitching, & Fielding Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
  7. ↑ "1976 All-Star Game". Baseball-almanac.com. July 13, 1976. Retrieved June 8, 2012.

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References

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