1976 Cleveland Indians season

The 1976 Cleveland Indians season, seen the team finish with an 81–78 win–loss record. The team scored 615 runs and allowed 615 runs for a run differential of zero.^[1]

1976 Cleveland Indians
League	American League
Division	East
Ballpark	Cleveland Municipal Stadium
City	Cleveland, Ohio
Owners	Nick Mileti
General managers	Phil Seghi
Managers	Frank Robinson
Television	WJW-TV
Radio	WWWE
← 1975 Seasons 1977 →

Offseason

• November 22, 1975: Oscar Gamble was traded by the Indians to the New York Yankees for Pat Dobson.^[2]
• December 9, 1975: John Ellis was traded by the Indians to the Texas Rangers for Stan Thomas and Ron Pruitt.^[3]
• December 9, 1975: Ray Fosse was purchased by the Indians from the Oakland Athletics.^[4]
• December 12, 1975: Jack Brohamer was traded by the Indians to the Chicago White Sox for Larvell Blanks.^[5]

Regular season

Season standings

v t e AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	97	62	0.610	—	45–35	52–27
Baltimore Orioles	88	74	0.543	10½	42–39	46–35
Boston Red Sox	83	79	0.512	15½	46–35	37–44
Cleveland Indians	81	78	0.509	16	44–35	37–43
Detroit Tigers	74	87	0.460	24	36–44	38–43
Milwaukee Brewers	66	95	0.410	32	36–45	30–50

Record vs. opponents

1976 American League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	TEX
Baltimore	—	7–11	8–4	8–4	7–11	12–6	6–6	11–7	4–8	13–5	4–8	8–4
Boston	11–7	—	7–5	6–6	9–9	14–4	3–9	12–6	7–5	7–11	4–8	3–9
California	4–8	5–7	—	11–7	7–5	6–6	8–10	4–8	8–10	5–7	6–12	12–6
Chicago	4–8	6–6	7–11	—	3–9	6–6	8–10	7–5	7–11	1–11	8–9	7–11
Cleveland	11–7	9–9	5–7	9–3	—	6–12	6–6	11–6	9–3	4–12	4–8	7–5
Detroit	6–12	4–14	6–6	6–6	12–6	—	4–8	12–6	4–8	9–8	6–6	5–7
Kansas City	6–6	9–3	10–8	10–8	6–6	8–4	—	8–4	10–8	7–5	9–9	7–11
Milwaukee	7–11	6–12	8–4	5–7	6–11	6–12	4–8	—	4–8	5–13	5–7	10–2
Minnesota	8–4	5–7	10–8	11–7	3–9	8–4	8–10	8–4	—	2–10	11–7	11–7
New York	5–13	11–7	7–5	11–1	12–4	8–9	5–7	13–5	10–2	—	6–6	9–3
Oakland	8–4	8–4	12–6	9–8	8–4	6–6	9–9	7–5	7–11	6–6	—	7–11
Texas	4–8	9–3	6–12	11–7	5–7	7–5	11–7	2–10	7–11	3–9	11–7	—

Notable transactions

• May 28, 1976: Fritz Peterson was traded by the Indians to the Texas Rangers for Stan Perzanowski and cash.^[6]
• June 8, 1976: 1976 Major League Baseball draft
  • Joe Beckwith was drafted by the Indians in the 12th round, but did not sign.^[7]
  • Ron Hassey was drafted by the Indians in the 18th round.^[8]
• October 1, 1976: Ramón Romero was signed as an amateur free agent by the Indians.^[9]

Opening Day Lineup

Opening Day Starters
#	Name	Position
28	Rick Manning	CF
18	Duane Kuiper	2B
25	Buddy Bell	3B
26	Boog Powell	1B
21	George Hendrick	RF
9	Rico Carty	DH
24	Charlie Spikes	LF
8	Alan Ashby	C
15	Frank Duffy	SS
37	Dennis Eckersley	P

^[10]

Roster

1976 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers 22 Jim Bibby 31 Jackie Brown 35 Tom Buskey 41 Pat Dobson 37 Dennis Eckersley 32 Don Hood 34 Jim Kern 17 Dave LaRoche 40 Harry Parker 16 Fritz Peterson 33 Eric Raich 23 Stan Thomas 36 Rick Waits		Catchers  8 Alan Ashby  4 Rick Cerone 10 Ray Fosse Infielders 25 Buddy Bell 14 Larvell Blanks  9 Rico Carty 12 Ed Crosby 15 Frank Duffy 12 Orlando González 16 Alfredo Griffin 27 Doug Howard 18 Duane Kuiper 30 Joe Lis 26 Boog Powell 20 Frank Robinson		Outfielders 21 George Hendrick 29 John Lowenstein 28 Rick Manning 13 Ron Pruitt 11 Tommy Smith 24 Charlie Spikes		Manager 20 Frank Robinson Coaches  6 Rocky Colavito (Hitting/First Base)  1 Dave Garcia (Third Base)  2 Harvey Haddix (Pitching)  7 Jeff Torborg (Bullpen)

Player stats

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; AVG = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases

Batting

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	SB
Alan Ashby	89	247	26	59	5	1	4	32	.239	0
Buddy Bell	159	604	75	170	26	2	7	60	.281	3
Larvell Blanks	104	328	45	92	8	7	5	41	.280	1
Rico Carty	152	552	67	171	34	0	13	83	.310	1
Rick Cerone	7	16	1	2	0	0	0	1	.125	0
Ed Crosby	2	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	.500	0
Frank Duffy	133	392	38	83	11	2	2	30	.212	10
Ray Fosse	90	276	26	83	9	1	2	30	.301	1
Orlando Gonzalez	28	68	5	17	2	0	0	4	.250	1
Alfredo Griffin	12	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	.250	0
George Hendrick	149	551	72	146	20	3	25	81	.265	4
Doug Howard	39	90	7	19	4	0	0	13	.211	1
Duane Kuiper	135	506	47	133	13	6	0	37	.263	10
Joe Lis	20	51	4	16	1	0	2	7	.314	0
John Lowenstein	93	229	33	47	8	2	2	14	.205	11
Rick Manning	138	552	73	161	24	7	6	43	.292	16
Boog Powell	95	293	29	63	9	0	9	33	.215	1
Ron Pruitt	47	86	7	23	1	1	0	5	.267	2
Frank Robinson	36	67	5	15	0	0	3	10	.224	0
Tommy Smith	55	164	17	42	3	1	2	12	.256	8
Charlie Spikes	101	334	34	79	11	5	3	31	.237	5
Team Totals	159	5412	615	1423	189	38	85	567	.263	75

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	R	ER	BB	K
Jim Bibby	13	7	3.20	34	21	1	163.1	61	58	56	84
Jackie Brown	9	11	4.25	32	27	0	180.0	94	85	55	104
Tom Buskey	5	4	3.63	39	0	1	94.1	42	38	34	32
Pat Dobson	16	12	3.48	35	35	0	217.1	98	84	65	117
Dennis Eckersley	13	12	3.43	36	30	1	199.1	82	76	78	200
Don Hood	3	5	4.87	33	6	1	77.2	46	42	41	32
Jim Kern	10	7	2.37	50	2	15	117.2	38	31	50	111
Dave LaRoche	1	4	2.24	61	0	21	96.1	25	24	49	104
Harry Parker	0	0	0.00	3	0	0	7.0	0	0	0	5
Fritz Peterson	0	3	5.55	9	9	0	47.0	31	29	10	19
Eric Raich	0	0	16.88	1	0	0	2.2	5	5	0	1
Stan Thomas	4	4	2.30	37	7	6	105.2	33	27	41	54
Rick Waits	7	9	4.00	26	22	0	123.2	60	55	54	65
Team Totals	81	78	3.47	159	159	46	1432.0	615	552	533	928

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Toledo Mud Hens	International League	Joe Sparks
AA	Williamsport Tomahawks	Eastern League	Red Davis
A	San Jose Bees	California League	Gomer Hodge
Rookie	GCL Indians	Gulf Coast League	Jack Cassini

^[11]

Notes

1. "1976 Baseball Standings". MLB.com. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
2. Oscar Gamble page at Baseball Reference
3. Stan Thomas page at Baseball Reference
4. Ray Fosse page at Baseball Reference
5. Larvell Blanks page at Baseball-Reference
6. Fritz Peterson page at Baseball Reference
7. Joe Beckwith page at Baseball Reference
8. Ron Hassey page at Baseball Reference
9. Ramón Romero page at Baseball Reference
10. 1976 Opening Day Lineup at Baseball-Reference
11. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References

• 1976 Cleveland Indians team page at Baseball Reference
• 1976 Cleveland Indians team page at www.baseball-almanac.com