1976 Houston Astros season

Last updated

1976  Houston Astros
League National League
Division West
Ballpark Astrodome
City Houston, Texas
Record80–82 (.494)
Divisional place3rd
Owners Roy Hofheinz
General managers Tal Smith
Managers Bill Virdon
Television KPRC-TV
Radio KPRC (AM)
(Gene Elston, Loel Passe, Bob Prince)
  1975 Seasons 1977  

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+12 behind the division-champion and World Series-winning Cincinnati Reds.

Contents

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

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

NL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cincinnati Reds 10260.63049325328
Los Angeles Dodgers 9270.5681049324338
Houston Astros 8082.4942246363446
San Francisco Giants 7488.4572840413447
San Diego Padres 7389.4512942383151
Atlanta Braves 7092.4323234473645

Record vs. opponents


Sources:
TeamATLCHCCINHOULADMTLNYMPHIPITSDSFSTL
Atlanta 6–66–127–118–108–44–85–73–910–89–94–8
Chicago 6–63–95–73–911–75–138–108–106–68–412–6
Cincinnati 12–69–312–613–59–36–65–78–413–59–96–6
Houston 11–77–56–125–1310–26–64–82–1010–810–89–3
Los Angeles 10–89–35–1313–510–27–55–79–36–128–1010–2
Montreal 4–87–113–92–102–108–103–158–104–87–57–11
New York 8–413–56–66–65–710–85–1310–87–57–59–9
Philadelphia 7-510–87–58–47–515–313–58–108–46–612–6
Pittsburgh 9–310–84–810–23–910–88–1010–87–59–312–6
San Diego 8–106–65–138–1012–68–45–74–85–78–104–8
San Francisco 9–94–89–98–1010–85–75–76–63–910–85–7
St. Louis 8–46–126–63–92–1011–79–96–126–128–47–5

Notable transactions

Roster

1976 Houston Astros
Roster
PitchersCatchers

Infielders

OutfieldersManager

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

PosPlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
C Ed Herrmann 7926554.204325
1B Bob Watson 157585183.31316102
2B Rob Andrews 109410105.256023
SS Roger Metzger 152481101.210029
3B Enos Cabell 144586160.273243
LF José Cruz 133439133.303461
CF César Cedeño 150575171.2971883
RF Greg Gross 128426122.286027

Other batters

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

PlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
Cliff Johnson 10831872.2261049
Leon Roberts 8723568.289733
Wilbur Howard 9419142.220118
Larry Milbourne 5914536.24807
Ken Boswell 9112633.262018
Jerry DaVanon 6110731.290120
Skip Jutze 429214.15206
Alex Taveras 144610.21702
Art Howe 21294.13800
Al Javier 8245.20800
Rich Chiles 542.50000

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
J.R. Richard 39291.020152.75214
Larry Dierker 28187.113143.69112
Joaquín Andújar 28172.19103.6059
Dan Larson 1392.1583.0242
Mike Cosgrove 2289.2345.5234
Mark Lemongello 429.0312.799

Other pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Joe Niekro 36118.0483.3677
Bo McLaughlin 1779.0452.8532
Gilberto Rondón 1953.2225.7021
Joe Sambito 2053.1323.5426

Relief pitchers

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

PlayerGWLSVERASO
Ken Forsch 5243192.1549
Gene Pentz 403352.9736
Tom Griffin 205306.0533
Paul Siebert 190203.1610
Mike Barlow 162204.5011
Larry Hardy 150037.0610
José Sosa 90006.945

Awards and achievements

Career honors
Astros elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
IndividualPos.Colt .45s / Astros careerInduction
No.Yr.Gm.St.Fin.
Robin Roberts SP 38223 1965 1966 1976 Plaque
See also: Members of the Baseball Hall of FameRef: [21]
Annual awards
NL pitching leaders

Minor league system

LevelTeamLeagueManager
AAA Memphis Blues International League Jim Beauchamp
AA Columbus Astros Southern League Leo Posada
A Dubuque Packers Midwest League Bob Cluck
Rookie Covington Astros Appalachian League Julio Linares

See also

References

  1. "Joaquín Andújar stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved September 6, 2025.
  2. "Jim Crawford stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 16, 2025.
  3. "Houston Astros (5) vs Cincinnati Reds (11) box score". Baseball Almanac . April 8, 1976. Retrieved October 4, 2025.
  4. "1976 Houston Astros uniform numbers". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 4, 2025.
  5. Smith, David. "Houston Astros hitting streaks". Astros Daily. Retrieved October 3, 2025 via Retrosheet.
  6. Schwartzberg, Seth (May 29, 2025). "Today in Astros history - May 29". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation . Retrieved July 25, 2025.
  7. Schwartzberg, Seth (May 30, 2025). "Today in Astros history - May 30". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  8. Schwartzburg, Seth (June 15, 2025). "Today in Astros history - June 15". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved June 15, 2025.
  9. Schwartzberg, Seth (June 6, 2025). "Today in Astros history - June 6". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
  10. de Luna, Marcy (April 9, 2020). "Iconic Astrodome made its grand debut 55 years ago, became 'Eighth Wonder of the World'". Houston Chronicle . Retrieved August 18, 2025.
  11. Young, Matt (July 22, 2024). "Details behind each player who has hit for the cycle in Astros franchise history". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved July 6, 2025.
  12. "Álex Taveras 1976 batting game logs". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
  13. Adkins, Hunter (August 9, 2019). "Catching up with J.R. Towles, the Astros' first 8-RBI man". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
  14. 1 2 "Astros history – Timeline". MLB.com . Retrieved August 31, 2025.
  15. "Yearly league leaders and records for hits per 9 IP". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  16. 1 2 "César Cedeño stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2025.
  17. Terry Humphrey at Baseball-Reference
  18. Floyd Bannister at Baseball Reference
  19. Gary Rajsich at Baseball Reference
  20. Bert Roberge at Baseball Reference
  21. "Houston Astros Hall of Fame register". Baseball-Reference.com . Retrieved August 31, 2025.
  22. "Gold Glove outfielders in the National League". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved October 14, 2025.
  23. McTaggart, Brian (December 21, 2009). "Bourn highlights Astros' awards season". MLB.com. Archived from the original on December 8, 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2025.
  24. "MLB Players of the Week Awards". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 10, 2025.