1976 Cincinnati Reds season

The 1976 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. The Reds entered the season as the reigning world 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 1976 National League Championship Series 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 2023, the Reds are the only team in baseball history to sweep through an entire postseason in the divisional era.

1976 Cincinnati Reds
1976 World Series Champion
1976 National League Champion
1976 National League West Division Champion
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record102–60 (.630)
Divisional place1st
Other information
OwnersLouis Nippert
General managersBob Howsam
ManagersSparky Anderson
Local televisionWLWT
(Ken Coleman, Bill Brown)
Local radioWLW
(Marty Brennaman, Joe Nuxhall)
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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 Pct. GB Home Road
Cincinnati Reds 10260 0.630 — 49–32 53–28
Los Angeles Dodgers 9270 0.568 10 49–32 43–38
Houston Astros 8082 0.494 22 46–36 34–46
San Francisco Giants 7488 0.457 28 40–41 34–47
San Diego Padres 7389 0.451 29 42–38 31–51
Atlanta Braves 7092 0.432 32 34–47 36–45

Record vs. opponents
1976 National League record

Sources:
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
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
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Game log
Game Log
April (10–7)
#DateOpponentScoreRecordWinLossSaveAttendance
1April 8Houston AstrosW 11–51–0Gary NolanJ. R. RichardPedro Borbón52,949
2April 10Houston AstrosW 13–72–0Jack BillinghamLarry DierkerRawly Eastwick16,728
3April 11Houston AstrosW 9–33–0Pat DarcyJoe Niekro53,390
4April 13@ Atlanta BravesW 6–14–0Fred NormanPablo Torrealba37,973
5April 15@ Atlanta BravesL 5–104–1Phil NiekroJack Billingham15,716
6April 16San Francisco GiantsL 7–144–2Jim BarrPat Darcy37,147
7April 17San Francisco GiantsW 11–05–2Fred NormanEd Halicki21,219
8April 18San Francisco GiantsL 1–55–3John MontefuscoGary NolanGary Lavelle23,701
9April 20San Diego PadresL 5–75–4Butch MetzgerWill McEnaney18,126
10April 21San Diego PadresW 5–46–4Fred NormanDave WehrmeisterRawly Eastwick16,603
11April 23@ Montreal ExposL 4–56–5Don StanhouseJack Billingham5,306
12April 24@ Montreal ExposW 6–4 (11)7–5Rawly EastwickDon Carrithers11,190
13April 25@ Montreal ExposW 7–08–5Don GullettSteve RenkoPat Darcy8,095
14April 26@ Philadelphia PhilliesL 9–108–6Tug McGrawRawly Eastwick16,565
15April 27@ Philadelphia PhilliesW 7–39–6Jack BillinghamTom Underwood17,818
16April 28@ Philadelphia PhilliesL 6–79–7Jim LonborgPat DarcyTug McGraw20,215
17April 30Montreal ExposW 7–210–7Gary NolanDan Warthen20,166
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 PhilliesL 5–639–24Jim LonborgJack BillinghamGene Garber50,635
64June 19@ Philadelphia PhilliesW 4–340–24Gary NolanRon ReedRawly Eastwick36,808
65June 20@ Philadelphia PhilliesL 1–640–25Jim KaatDon Gullett38,669
66
67
68June 23Philadelphia PhilliesL 2–442–26Ron ReedPedro BorbónGene Garber35,266
69June 24Philadelphia PhilliesL 4–542–27Jim KaatGary NolanTug McGraw34,053
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 26Philadelphia PhilliesL 5–4 (13)80–48Tug McGrawRawly Eastwick38,094
129August 27Philadelphia PhilliesW 4–181–48Fred NormanTom UnderwoodPedro Borbón49,821
130August 28Philadelphia PhilliesW 8–782–48Rawly EastwickTug McGraw51,091
131August 29Philadelphia PhilliesW 6–5 (15)83–48Santo AlcaláJim Kaat51,376
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

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
CJohnny Bench13546562109.234167413
1BTony Pérez13952777137.260199110
2BJoe Morgan141472113151.3202711160
3BPete Rose162665130215.32310639
SSDave Concepción15257674162.28196921
LFGeorge Foster14456286172.3062912117
CFCésar Gerónimo14948659149.30724922
RFKen Griffey148562111189.33667434

[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
Dan Driessen982193254.24774414
Doug Flynn932192062.2831202
Bill Plummer561531638.2484190
Mike Lum841361531.2283200
Bob Bailey691241737.2986230
Joel Youngblood5557811.193011
Don Werner3402.500010

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
Gary Nolan34239.11593.46113
Pat Zachry38204.01472.74143
Fred Norman33180.11273.10126
Jack Billingham34177.012104.3276
Santo Alcalá30132.01144.7067
Don Gullett23126.01133.0064

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
Pat Darcy1139.0236.2315

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
Rawly Eastwick71115262.0970
Pedro Borbón694383.3553
Will McEnaney552674.8528
Manny Sarmiento225102.0620
Rich Hinton121207.648
Joe Henderson42000.007

Postseason

NLCS
Main article: 1976 National League Championship Series

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
1YankeesReds5–1Sat. Oct 16 (D)Riverfront Stadium54,8262:10
2YankeesReds4–3Sun. Oct 17 (N)Riverfront Stadium54,8162:33
3RedsYankees6–2Tue. Oct 19 (N)Yankee Stadium56,6672:40
4RedsYankees7–2Thu. Oct 21 (N)Yankee Stadium56,7002:36

Awards and honors

1976 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

[6]

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
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
A-Short Season Eugene Emeralds Northwest League Greg Riddoch
Rookie Billings Mustangs Pioneer League Jim Hoff

Notes
  1. "Cincinnati Reds Attendance Records". Baseball Almanac.
  2. Joaquín Andújar at Baseball Reference
  3. Rich Hinton at Baseball Reference
  4. Merv Rettenmund 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
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