1977 Boston Red Sox season

Last updated

1977  Boston Red Sox
League American League
Division East
Ballpark Fenway Park
City Boston, Massachusetts
Record97–64 (.602)
Divisional place2nd
Owner Jean Yawkey
President Jean Yawkey
General manager Dick O'Connell
Manager Don Zimmer
Television WSBK-TV, Ch. 38
(Dick Stockton, Ken Harrelson)
Radio WMEX-AM 1510
(Ned Martin, Jim Woods)
Stats ESPN.com
Baseball Reference
←  1976 Seasons 1978  →

The 1977 Boston Red Sox season was the 77th season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished tied for second in the American League East with a record of 97 wins and 64 losses, 2+1⁄2 games behind the New York Yankees.

Contents

Offseason

Regular season

Record by month [3]
MonthRecordCumulative AL East Ref.
WonLostWonLostPosition GB
April99994th2+1⁄2 [4]
May151224213rd2+1⁄2 [5]
June171041311st+1⁄2 [6]
July171258431st— [7]
August171275552nd (tie)4 [8]
September22897632nd2 [9]
October0197642nd (tie)2+1⁄2 [10]

Boston's final game of the season, scheduled for October 2 at home against the Baltimore Orioles, was rained out and not rescheduled. [11]

Highlights

Lack of pitching depth might have been a hindrance, but the team was helped by a league-leading offense, [12] which during one ten-game span hit 33 home runs. [12] With that kind of scoring, Boston managed to compete with the Yankees and Orioles—leading the division as late as August 22 [13] —but at season's end, not even 97 wins would be enough.

On June 18, during a nationally televised game against the New York Yankees at Fenway Park in Boston, Jim Rice, a powerful hitter but a slow runner, hit a ball into right field. Yankees outfielder Reggie Jackson seemed to approach the ball indifferently, and Rice reached second base. Furious, Yankees manager Billy Martin removed Jackson from the game without even waiting for the end of the inning, sending Paul Blair out to replace him. When Jackson arrived at the dugout, Martin yelled that Jackson had shown him up. They argued, and Jackson said that Martin's heavy drinking had impaired his judgment. Despite Jackson being 18 years younger, about 4 inches (10 cm) taller and maybe 40 pounds (18 kg) heavier, Martin lunged at him, and had to be restrained by coaches Yogi Berra and Elston Howard. Red Sox fans could see this in the dugout and began cheering wildly, and the NBC television cameras showed the confrontation to the entire country. The Red Sox went on to win the game, 10–4. [14]

Season standings

AL East
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 10062.617—55‍–‍2645‍–‍36
Baltimore Orioles 9764.6022½54‍–‍2743‍–‍37
Boston Red Sox 9764.6022½51‍–‍2946‍–‍35
Detroit Tigers 7488.4572639‍–‍4235‍–‍46
Cleveland Indians 7190.44128½37‍–‍4434‍–‍46
Milwaukee Brewers 6795.4143337‍–‍4430‍–‍51
Toronto Blue Jays 54107.33545½25‍–‍5529‍–‍52

Record vs. opponents

1977 American League record

Sources:
TeamBALBOSCALCWSCLEDETKCMILMINNYYOAKSEATEXTOR
Baltimore —6–85–65–511–412–34–711–46–48–78–27–34–610–5
Boston 8–6—7–33–78–79–65–59–64–68–78–310–16–412–3
California 6–53–7—8–76–44–66–95–57–84–75–109–65–106–4
Chicago 5–57–37–8—6–44–68–76–510–53–710–510–56–98–3
Cleveland 4–117–84–64–6—8–73–711–42–93–127–37–32–99–5
Detroit 3–126–96–46–47–8—3–810–55–56–95–55–62–810–5
Kansas City 7–45–59–67–87–38–3—8–210–55–59–611–48–78–2
Milwaukee 4–116–95–55–64–115–102–8—3–88–75–57–35–58–7
Minnesota 4–66–48–75–109–25–55–108–3—2–88–67–88–79–1
New York 7–87–87–47–312–39–65–57–88–2—9–26–47–39–6
Oakland 2–83–810–55–103–75–56–95–56–82–9—7–82–137–3
Seattle 3–71–106–95–103–76–54–113–78–74–68–7—9–64–6
Texas 6–44–610–59–69–28–27–85–57–83–713–26–9—7–4
Toronto 5–103–124–63–85–95–102–87–81–96–93–76–44–7—

Notable transactions

Opening Day lineup

  7 Rick Burleson SS
  5 Denny Doyle 2B
14 Jim Rice LF
  8 Carl Yastrzemski   RF
15 George Scott 1B
  1 Bernie Carbo DH
24 Dwight Evans CF
27 Carlton Fisk C
  4 Butch Hobson 3B
31 Ferguson Jenkins P

Source: [17]

Roster

1977 Boston Red Sox
Roster
PitchersCatchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader
= Indicates league 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 Carlton Fisk 152536169.31526102
1B George Scott 157584157.2693395
2B Denny Doyle 137455109.240249
SS Rick Burleson 154663194.293352
3B Butch Hobson 159593157.26530112
LF Carl Yastrzemski 150558165.29628102
CF Fred Lynn 129497129.2601876
RF Bernie Carbo 8622866.2891534
DH Jim Rice 160644206.32039114

Other batters

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

PlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
Dwight Evans 7323066.2871436
Rick Miller 8618948.254024
Steve Dillard 6614134.241113
Tommy Helms 215916.27115
Ted Cox 135821.36216
Bob Montgomery 174012.30027
Dave Coleman 11120.00000
Bobby Darwin 492.22201
Doug Griffin 560.00000
Jack Baker 230.00000
Bob Bailey 220.00000
Sam Bowen 320.00000
Bo Diaz 210.00000
Ramón Avilés 100----00

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Ferguson Jenkins 28193.010103.68105
Reggie Cleveland 36190.11184.2685
Luis Tiant 32188.21284.53124
Rick Wise 26128.11154.7785
Bill Lee 27128.0954.4331
Don Aase 1392.1623.1249

Other pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Bob Stanley 41151.0873.9944
Mike Paxton 29108.01053.8358

Relief pitchers

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

PlayerGWLSVERASO
Bill Campbell 69139312.96114
Jim Willoughby 316224.9433
Tom Murphy 160106.7513
Ramón Hernández 120115.688
Tom House 810012.916
Jim Burton 10000.003
Rick Kreuger 1010inf0

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Farm system

LevelTeamLeagueManager
AAA Pawtucket Red Sox International League Joe Morgan
AA Bristol Red Sox Eastern League John Kennedy
A Winston-Salem Red Sox Carolina League Tony Torchia
A Winter Haven Red Sox Florida State League Rac Slider
A-Short Season Elmira Pioneer-Red Sox New York–Penn League Dick Berardino

Source: [18] [19]

References

  1. 1 2 Darryl Cias page at Baseball Reference
  2. ↑ "Cecil Cooper Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More".
  3. ↑ "The 1977 Boston Red Sox". Retrosheet . Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  4. ↑ "Events of Saturday, April 30, 1977".
  5. ↑ "Events of Tuesday, May 31, 1977".
  6. ↑ "Events of Thursday, June 30, 1977".
  7. ↑ "Events of Sunday, July 31, 1977".
  8. ↑ "Events of Wednesday, August 31, 1977".
  9. ↑ "Events of Friday, September 30, 1977".
  10. ↑ "Events of Sunday, October 2, 1977".
  11. ↑ Peters, Gil (October 3, 1977). "Sox, Orioles end in tie". Bennington Banner . Bennington, Vermont. UPI. p. 13. Retrieved October 10, 2020– via newspapers.com.
  12. 1 2 Aron, Eric (September 11, 2013). "Looking back: 1977 Boston Red Sox and the eight-homer game". Through The Fence Baseball. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Events of Monday, August 22, 1977". Retrosheet. August 22, 1977.
  14. ↑ "Boston Red Sox 10, New York Yankees 4". Retrosheet . June 18, 1977. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  15. 1 2 Ramón Hernández page at Baseball Reference
  16. ↑ Pete Ladd page at Baseball Reference
  17. ↑ "Cleveland Indians 5, Boston Red Sox 4". Retrosheet . April 7, 1977. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  18. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
  19. ↑ Boston Red Sox Press TV Radio Guide. 1977. p. 24. Retrieved March 14, 2021– via Wayback Machine.

Further reading

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