1976 Houston Astros season

1976 Houston Astros
1976 Houston Astros
League	National League
Division	West
Ballpark	Astrodome
City	Houston, Texas
Record	80–82 (.494)
Divisional place	3rd
Owners	Roy Hofheinz
General managers	Tal Smith
Managers	Bill Virdon
Television	KPRC-TV
Radio	KPRC (AM) ; (Gene Elston, Loel Passe, Bob Prince)

Last updated October 18, 2025

The 1976 Houston Astros season was the 15th season for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Houston, Texas, their 12th as the Astros, 15th in the National League (NL), eighth in the NL West division, and 12th at The Astrodome. They entered the season as having tied for the most losses in franchise history, at the time, with a 65–97 record, and the most games behind first place, 43+1⁄2 behind the division-champion and World Series-winning Cincinnati Reds.

On April 8, J. R. Richard made his first of five consecutive Opening Day starts for Houston, at Riverfront Stadium to face Cincinnati, but were defeated, 11–5. The Astros' first round selection in the amateur draft was pitcher Floyd Bannister at first overall. Bannister became the Astros' first-ever number one overall draft pick. On July 9, Larry Dierker tossed the fourth no-hitter in franchise history, a 6–0 win over the Montreal Expos.

Center fielder César Cedeño was selected to the MLB All-Star Game for the fourth time in his career. Pitcher Robin Roberts, who briefly played for Houston in 1965 and 1966, became the first former Astro to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

On August 9, Cedeño hit for the cycle at Busch Memorial Stadium, the second of two he hit for the Astros, highlighting a 13–4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Cedeño at the time had been the only Houston Astro to hit for the cycle.

The Astros concluded the regular season third in the NL West with a record of 80–82, 22 games behind Cincinnati, who repeated as World Series champions.

Cedeño also won his fourth career Gold Glove Award following the season.

Offseason

October 24, 1975: The Astros traded players to be named later to the Cincinnati Reds for Joaquín Andújar. The Astros completed the trade by sending Luis Sánchez and Carlos Alfonso (minors) to the Reds on December 12.^[1]
December 6, 1975: The Astros sent Milt May, Dave Roberts and Jim Crawford to the Detroit Tigers for Leon Roberts, Terry Humphrey, Gene Pentz and Mark Lemongello.^[2]

Regular season

Summary

April—May

Opening Day starting lineup^[3]^[4]

26	Wilbur Howard	LF
23	Enos Cabell	3B
28	César Cedeño	CF
27	Bob Watson	1B
6	Cliff Johnson	C
21	Greg Gross	RF
10	Larry Milbourne	2B
14	Roger Metzger	SS
50	J. R. Richard	P
Venue:	Riverfront Stadium • CIN 11,	HOU 5

From April 17 to May 14, César Cedeño authored a career-high 19-game hitting streak, batting .378.^[5]

The only home run hit by starter Joe Niekro during his 21-year major league career occurred on May 29, when he connected off his brother, Phil. The drive took place in the seventh inning off a knuckleball offering during an Astros' 4–3 win over the Atlanta Braves.^[6] During the second game of a May 30 doubleheader, Houston set a club record with 25 hits for a 16–5 defeat of Atlanta. Twenty-three of the hits were singles, and Jerry DaVanon led the Astros with three hits and five runs batted in (RBI).^[7]

June—July

With flooding in Greater Houston, the Astros were forced to cancel their game on June 15, 1976, against the Pittsburgh Pirates. This became the first and remained the only rainout that ever occurred in the 35 seasons that the team played at the Astrodome.^[8] To pick up their rain checks, some fans resorted to riding in canoes in 7 inches (18 cm) of rain to travel to the stadium.^[9]

Larry Dierker tossed a no-hitter on July 9, a 6–0 win over the Montreal Expos. He struck out eight and walked four.^[10]

August—October

On August 9, César Cedeño hit for the cycle at Busch Memorial Stadium, highlighting a 13–4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. His drew the first three hits—triple, home run, and then double—against starter and future Astro Bob Forsch, also brother of teammate Ken. The second of two cycles that Cedeño hit for the Astros, at the time he had been the only Astros player to have hit for the cycle. The next Astros cycle was by teammate Bob Watson on June 24 of the following year.^[11]

Infielder Alex Taveras his major league debut on September 9 as a pinch runner in a 4–3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. His first official plate appearance was in the first game of a doubleheader on September 11, where collected his first major league hit in 3 at bats versus the San Diego Padres. He went 43 plate appearances and 41 at bats until a contest against the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 29, before being retired via strikeout for the first time, which set a franchise record.^[12]^[13]

J. R. Richard became Houston's second 20-game winner, succeeding Dierker in 1969.^[14] Richard also led the NL in hits per nine innings surrendered (6.835 H/9) for the first of three times that he would do so in his career. He became the second Astros to lead the league in this category, following Don Wilson in 1971 (6.549).^[15] Meanwhile, Cedeño won his fifth straight Gold Glove Award, and swiped a club-record 58 stolen bases,^[14] incrementally upping his total by one for the fourth time in five seasons.^[16]

Season standings

v
t
e
NL West
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cincinnati Reds	102	60	.630	—	49‍–‍32	53‍–‍28
Los Angeles Dodgers	92	70	.568	10	49‍–‍32	43‍–‍38
Houston Astros	80	82	.494	22	46‍–‍36	34‍–‍46
San Francisco Giants	74	88	.457	28	40‍–‍41	34‍–‍47
San Diego Padres	73	89	.451	29	42‍–‍38	31‍–‍51
Atlanta Braves	70	92	.432	32	34‍–‍47	36‍–‍45

Record vs. opponents

1976 National League record v t e Sources:
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MTL	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

June 6, 1976: Terry Humphrey and Mike Barlow were traded by the Astros to the California Angels for Ed Herrmann.^[17]
June 8, 1976: 1976 Major League Baseball draft
- Floyd Bannister was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 1st round (1st pick).^[18]
- Gary Rajsich was drafted by the Astros in the 11th round.^[19]
- Bert Roberge was drafted by the Astros in the 17th round.^[20]

Roster

1976 Houston Astros

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

7 Bill Virdon

Coaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

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	Ed Herrmann	79	265	54	.204	3	25
1B	Bob Watson	157	585	183	.313	16	102
2B	Rob Andrews	109	410	105	.256	0	23
SS	Roger Metzger	152	481	101	.210	0	29
3B	Enos Cabell	144	586	160	.273	2	43
LF	José Cruz	133	439	133	.303	4	61
CF	César Cedeño	150	575	171	.297	18	83
RF	Greg Gross	128	426	122	.286	0	27

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
Cliff Johnson	108	318	72	.226	10	49
Leon Roberts	87	235	68	.289	7	33
Wilbur Howard	94	191	42	.220	1	18
Larry Milbourne	59	145	36	.248	0	7
Ken Boswell	91	126	33	.262	0	18
Jerry DaVanon	61	107	31	.290	1	20
Skip Jutze	42	92	14	.152	0	6
Alex Taveras	14	46	10	.217	0	2
Art Howe	21	29	4	.138	0	0
Al Javier	8	24	5	.208	0	0
Rich Chiles	5	4	2	.500	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
J.R. Richard	39	291.0	20	15	2.75	214
Larry Dierker	28	187.1	13	14	3.69	112
Joaquín Andújar	28	172.1	9	10	3.60	59
Dan Larson	13	92.1	5	8	3.02	42
Mike Cosgrove	22	89.2	3	4	5.52	34
Mark Lemongello	4	29.0	3	1	2.79	9

Other pitchers