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1996 Toronto Blue Jays season

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1996 Toronto Blue Jays
DivisionEastern Division
BallparkSkyDome
CityToronto
Record74–88 (.457)
OwnersInterbrew,
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
ManagersCito Gaston
TelevisionCBC Television
(Brian Williams, Tommy Hutton)
Baton
(Don Chevrier, Tommy Hutton, Fergie Olver)
The Sports Network
(Dan Shulman, Buck Martinez)
RadioCJCL (AM)
(Jerry Howarth, Tom Cheek)
← 1995 Seasons 1997 →

The 1996 Toronto Blue Jays season was the 20th season in franchise history. The season involved the Blue Jays finishing fourth in the American League East with a record of 74 wins and 88 losses. The Blue Jays had a losing record for the third consecutive season.

Offseason

Regular season

A new tradition would start in 1996 as the Blue Jays donned red uniforms for the first time. These uniforms would be worn only on Canada Day and would feature "Canada" on the back of their jerseys rather than a player's name. Eventual Cy Young Award winner Pat Hentgen would start the Canada Day match against the Baltimore Orioles.

The final series of the season would be embroiled in controversy. Against the American League East champion Baltimore Orioles, two events would define the Orioles season. The game on Friday, September 27, 1996, would go down as one of the most infamous events in baseball history, as former Blue Jay Roberto Alomar would spit at umpire John Hirschbeck. The Sunday game would be a coming-out party for Brady Anderson, as he would hit his 50th home run of the regular season off Pat Hentgen. The total would break Frank Robinson's team record for most home runs in a season.

1996 also marked the end of an era for the Blue Jays, as they would redesign their logo and uniforms in the following year and also radically shake up their roster.

Season standings

AL East
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 92 70 .568 49‍–‍31 43‍–‍39
Baltimore Orioles 88 74 .543 4 43‍–‍38 45‍–‍36
Boston Red Sox 85 77 .525 7 47‍–‍34 38‍–‍43
Toronto Blue Jays 74 88 .457 18 35‍–‍46 39‍–‍42
Detroit Tigers 53 109 .327 39 27‍–‍54 26‍–‍55

Record vs. opponents


Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore 7–6 6–6 4–8 5–7 11–2 9–3 9–3 7–5 3–10 9–4 7–5 3–10–1 8–5
Boston 6–7 8–4 6–6 1–11 12–1 3–9 7–5 6–6 7–6 8–5 7–6 6–6 8–5
California 6–6 4–8 6–6 4–9 6–6 4–8 7–5 4–8 7–6 6–7 5–8 4–9 7–5
Chicago 8–4 6–6 6–6 5–8 10–3 7–6 6–7 6–7 6–7 5–7 5–7 8–4 7–5
Cleveland 7–5 11–1 9–4 8–5 12–0 7–6 7–6 10–3 3–9 6–6 8–4 4–8 7–5
Detroit 2–11 1–12 6–6 3–10 0–12 6–6 4–8 6–6 5–8 4–8 6–6 4–9 6–7
Kansas City 3–9 9–3 8–4 6–7 6–7 6–6 4–9 6–7 4–8 5–7 7–5 6–6 5–8
Milwaukee 3–9 5–7 5–7 7–6 6–7 8–4 9–4 9–4 6–6 7–5 4–9 6–7 5–7
Minnesota 5–7 6–6 8–4 7–6 3–10 6–6 7–6 4–9 5–7 6–7 6–6 7–5 8–5
New York 10–3 6–7 6–7 7–6 9–3 8–5 8–4 6–6 7–5 9–3 3–9 5–7 8–5
Oakland 4–9 5–8 7–6 7–5 6–6 8–4 7–5 5–7 7–6 3–9 8–5 7–6 4–8
Seattle 5–7 6–7 8–5 7–5 4–8 6–6 5–7 9–4 6–6 9–3 5–8 10–3 5–7
Texas 10–3–1 6–6 9–4 4–8 8–4 9–4 6–6 7–6 5–7 7–5 6–7 3–10 10–2
Toronto 5–8 5–8 5–7 5–7 5–7 7–6 8–5 7–5 5–8 5–8 8–4 7–5 2–10


Game log

1996 Game Log: 74–88 (Home: 35–46; Away: 39–42)
Legend:        = Win        = Loss
Bold = Blue Jays team member

Detailed records

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

Roster

1996 Toronto Blue Jays
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

Coaches

Game log

1996 Game Log

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

= Indicates team leader
Pos Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI SB
C Charlie O'Brien 109 324 33 77 .238 13 44 0
1B John Olerud 125 398 59 109 .274 18 61 1
2B Tomás Pérez 91 295 24 74 .251 1 19 1
3B Ed Sprague 159 591 88 146 .247 36 101 0
SS Alex Gonzalez 147 527 64 124 .235 14 64 16
LF Joe Carter 157 625 84 158 .253 30 107 7
CF Otis Nixon 125 496 87 142 .286 1 29 54
RF Shawn Green 132 422 52 118 .280 11 45 5
DH Carlos Delgado 138 488 68 132 .270 25 92 0

[14]

Other batters

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Jacob Brumfield 90 308 79 .256 12 52
Domingo Cedeño 77 282 79 .280 2 17
Sandy Martínez 76 229 52 .227 3 18
Robert Pérez 86 202 66 .327 2 21
Juan Samuel 69 188 48 .255 8 26
Tilson Brito 26 80 19 .238 1 7
Mike Huff 11 29 5 .172 0 0
Shannon Stewart 7 17 3 .176 0 2

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Pat Hentgen 35 265⅔ 20 10 3.22 177
Erik Hanson 35 214⅔ 13 17 5.41 156
Juan Guzmán 27 187⅔ 11 8 2.93 165
Frank Viola 6 30⅓ 1 3 7.71 18

Other pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Paul Quantrill 38 134⅓ 5 14 5.43 86
Jeff Ware 13 32⅔ 1 5 9.09 11
Luis Andújar 3 14⅓ 1 1 5.02 5

Relief pitchers

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Mike Timlin 59 1 6 31 3.65 52
Paul Spoljaric 28 2 2 1 3.08 38
Scott Brow 18 1 0 0 5.59 23
Dane Johnson 10 0 0 0 3.00 7
José Silva 2 0 0 0 13.50 0

Award winners

All-Star Game

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Syracuse Chiefs International League Richie Hebner
AA Knoxville Smokies Southern League Omar Malavé
A Dunedin Blue Jays Florida State League Dennis Holmberg
A Hagerstown Suns South Atlantic League J. J. Cannon
A-Short Season St. Catharines Stompers New York–Penn League Rocket Wheeler
Rookie Medicine Hat Blue Jays Pioneer League Marty Pevey

[19]

References

  1. ^ Howard Battle at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Otis Nixon at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Charlie O'Brien at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Mike Huff at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Juan Samuel at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Dane Johnson at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ a b Frank Viola[permanent dead link] at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1996&t=TOR
  9. ^ Jacob Brumfield at Baseball Reference
  10. ^ Billy Koch at Baseball Reference
  11. ^ Joe Lawrence at Baseball Reference
  12. ^ Orlando Hudson at Baseball Reference
  13. ^ Luis Lopez at Baseball Reference
  14. ^ https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/TOR/1996.shtml
  15. ^ Blue Jays All-Stars | bluejays.com: History
  16. ^ Carchidi, Sam (July 9, 1996). "Carter Likes Even the Boos at the Vet". Philadelphia Inquirer. p. D6.
  17. ^ a b Bodley, Hal (July 10, 1996). "To Phillie fans, Carter still Public Enemy No. 1". USA Today. p. 3C. Joe Carter...walked out onto the sizzling Veterans Stadium turf...held his head high...and heard the boos even before he was introduced. Hard-core Philly baseball fans...(will) never forgive Carter for the dramatic ninth-inning home run that won the 1993 World Series.
  18. ^ Griffin, Richard (July 9, 1996). "This time, Phillies pitcher shuts down Carter". Toronto Star. p. C3. As Carter took his first swing and the on-field introduction was made, the boos rained down.
  19. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007