1976 Philadelphia Phillies season

1976 Philadelphia Phillies
1976 National League East Championship
Division	Eastern Division
Ballpark	Veterans Stadium
City	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Owners	Robert "Ruly" Carpenter III
Managers	Danny Ozark
Television	WPHL-TV
Radio	WIBG (Harry Kalas, Richie Ashburn, Andy Musser)
Seasons

The 1976 Philadelphia Phillies season was the 94th season in the history of the franchise. The Phillies won their first National League East title, as they compiled a record of 101-61, nine games over the second-place Pittsburgh Pirates. The 9-game lead masks how competitive the season actually was. In a scary echo of 1964, the Phillies saw a 15.5 game August lead dwindle to just 3 games as their offense dried up on two late-year road trips.

The Phillies lost the NLCS, 3-0 to the Cincinnati Reds. Danny Ozark managed the Phillies, as they played their home games at Veterans Stadium, where the All-Star Game was played that season.

Offseason

• October 24, 1975: Larry Cox was traded by the Phillies to the Minnesota Twins for Sergio Ferrer.
• December 10, 1975: Dick Ruthven, Roy Thomas, and Alan Bannister were traded by the Phillies to the Chicago White Sox for Jim Kaat and Mike Buskey.
• January 7, 1976: Derek Botelho was drafted by the Phillies in the 2nd round of the 1976 Major League Baseball Draft. Player signed May 5, 1976.

Regular season

Mike Schmidt hit 12 home runs in Philadelphia's first 15 games, including 4 in one game on April 17. No one had hit this many home runs so quickly. In that game, the Phillies and Chicago Cubs combined for thirty-four runs in a game which featured nine home runs. Schmidt's home run feat was later tied by Alex Rodriguez in 2007.

Schmidt also won his first of 10 Gold Gloves that year, and carried the Phillies to the 1976 NLCS where he hit .308.

File:Phils 1970.PNG

Phillies team logo starting in 1976, with "Philadelphia Phil and Phillis" as the team mascots.

Season standings

NL East

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Philadelphia Phillies	101	61	.623	—	53‍–‍28	48‍–‍33
Pittsburgh Pirates	92	70	.568	9	47‍–‍34	45‍–‍36
New York Mets	86	76	.531	15	45‍–‍37	41‍–‍39
Chicago Cubs	75	87	.463	26	42‍–‍39	33‍–‍48
St. Louis Cardinals	72	90	.444	29	37‍–‍44	35‍–‍46
Montreal Expos	55	107	.340	46	27‍–‍53	28‍–‍54

Notable transactions

• April 9, 1976: Wayne Nordhagen was purchased by the Phillies from the St. Louis Cardinals.
• May 14, 1976: Bobby Brown was signed as a free agent by the Phillies.
• July 14, 1976: Wayne Nordhagen was traded by the Phillies to the Chicago White Sox for Rich Coggins.

Draft Picks

• June 8, 1976: Joe Charboneau was drafted by the Phillies in the 2nd round of the 1976 Major League Baseball Draft (Secondary Phase). Player signed June 10, 1976.

Roster

1976 Philadelphia Phillies roster
Roster
Pitchers 32 Steve Carlton 38 Larry Christenson 26 Gene Garber 39 Jim Kaat 47 Randy Lerch 41 Jim Lonborg 45 Tug McGraw 42 Ron Reed 37 Ron Schueler 33 Wayne Twitchell 34 Tom Underwood		Catchers  5 Tim Blackwell  8 Bob Boone 11 Tim McCarver  9 Bill Nahorodny  6 Johnny Oates Infielders 15 Dick Allen 16,5 Fred Andrews 10 Larry Bowa 30 Dave Cash 17 Terry Harmon 14 Tommy Hutton 20 Mike Schmidt 12 Tony Taylor 28 Bobby Tolan 22 John Vukovich		Outfielders 29,28 Rick Bosetti 23 Ollie Brown 21 Jay Johnstone 19 Greg Luzinski 31 Garry Maddox 25 Jerry Martin		Manager  3 Danny Ozark Coaches  1 Carroll Beringer  2 Billy DeMars  4 Ray Rippelmeyer  7 Bobby Wine

Player stats

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
3B	Mike Schmidt	160	584	153	.262	38	107
LF	Greg Luzinski	149	533	162	.304	21	95

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
Tommy Hutton	95	124	25	.202	1	13
Fred Andrews	4	6	4	.667	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Steve Carlton	35	252.2	20	7	3.13	195
Jim Kaat	38	227.2	12	14	3.48	83
Jim Lonborg	33	222	18	10	3.08	118
Larry Christenson	32	168.2	13	8	3.68	54

Other pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Relief pitchers

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Gene Garber	59	9	3	11	2.82	92
Randy Lerch	1	0	0	0	3.00	0

1976 National League Championship Series

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	0	0	1	0	0	2	0	3	0	6	10	0
Philadelphia	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	3	6	1
W: Don Gullett (1-0)  L: Steve Carlton (0-1)   SV: None
HRs: CIN – George Foster (1)   PHI – None

Game 2

October 10, Veterans Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Cincinnati	0	0	0	0	0	4	2	0	0	6	6	0
Philadelphia	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	10	1
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	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	2	1	6	11	0
Cincinnati	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	3	7	9	2
W: Rawly Eastwick (1-0)  L: Gene Garber (0-1)   SV: None
HRs: CIN – George Foster (2)   Johnny Bench (1)   PHI – None

Farm system

See also: Minor league baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Oklahoma City 89ers	American Association	Jim Bunning
AA	Reading Phillies	Eastern League	Bob Wellman and Granny Hamner
A	Peninsula Pilots	Carolina League	Cal Emery
A	Spartanburg Phillies	Western Carolinas League	Lee Elia
Short-Season A	Auburn Phillies	New York-Penn League	Mike Compton

References

• Baseball Reference: 1976 Philadelphia Phillies

External links

• Fitzpatrick, Frank (2009-10-06). "Almost enough: The '76-78 Phils". Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2009-10-08. Retrieved 2009-10-06. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)