1976 Houston Astros season

1976 Houston Astros
LeagueNational League
DivisionWest
BallparkAstrodome
CityHouston, Texas
Record80–82 (.494)
Divisional place3rd
OwnersRoy Hofheinz
General managersTal Smith
ManagersBill Virdon
TelevisionKPRC-TV
RadioKPRC (AM)
(Gene Elston, Loel Passe, Bob Prince)
Seasons

The 1976 Houston Astros season was the 15th season for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Houston, Texas, their 12th as the Astros, 15th in the National League (NL), eighth in the NL West division, and 12th at The Astrodome. They entered the season as having tied for the most losses in franchise history, at the time, with a 65–97 record, and the most games behind first place, 43+1⁄2 behind the division-champion and World Series-winning Cincinnati Reds.

On April 5, J. R. Richard made his first of five consecutive Opening Day starts for Houston, at Riverfront Stadium to face Cincinnati, but were defeated, 11–5. The Astros' first round selection in the amateur draft was pitcher Floyd Bannister at first overall. Bannister became the Astros' first-ever number one overall draft pick. On July 9, Larry Dierker tossed the fourth no-hitter in franchise history, a 4–0 win over the Montreal Expos.

Center fielder César Cedeño was selected to the MLB All-Star Game for the fourth time in his career. Pitcher Robin Roberts, who briefly played for Houston in 1965 and 1966, became the first former Astro to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

On August 9, Cedeño hit for the cycle at Busch Memorial Stadium, the second of two he hit for the Astros, highlighting a 13–4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Cedeño at the time had been the only Houston Astro to hit for the cycle.

The Astros concluded the regular season third in the NL West with a record of 80–82, 22 games behind Cincinnati, who repeated as World Series champions.

Cedeño also won his fourth career Gold Glove Award following the season.

Offseason

Regular season

Summary

With flooding in Greater Houston, the Astros were forced to cancel their game on June 15, 1976, against the Pittsburgh Pirates. This became the first and remained the only rainout that ever occurred in the 35 seasons that the team played at the Astrodome.[3] To pick up their rain checks, some fans resorted to riding in canoes in 7 inches (18 cm) of rain to travel to the stadium.[4]

On August 9, César Cedeño hit for the cycle at Busch Memorial Stadium, highlighting a 13–4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. His drew the first three hits—triple, home run, and then double—against starter and future Astro Bob Forsch, also brother of teammate Ken. The second of two cycles that Cedeño hit for the Astros, at the time he had been the only Astros player to have hit for the cycle.[5]

Season standings

NL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cincinnati Reds 102 60 .630 — 49‍–‍32 53‍–‍28
Los Angeles Dodgers 92 70 .568 10 49‍–‍32 43‍–‍38
80 82 .494 22 46‍–‍36 34‍–‍46
San Francisco Giants 74 88 .457 28 40‍–‍41 34‍–‍47
San Diego Padres 73 89 .451 29 42‍–‍38 31‍–‍51
Atlanta Braves 70 92 .432 32 34‍–‍47 36‍–‍45

Record vs. opponents

1976 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MTL NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta — 6–6 6–12 7–11 8–10 8–4 4–8 5–7 3–9 10–8 9–9 4–8
Chicago 6–6 — 3–9 5–7 3–9 11–7 5–13 8–10 8–10 6–6 8–4 12–6
Cincinnati 12–6 9–3 — 12–6 13–5 9–3 6–6 5–7 8–4 13–5 9–9 6–6
11–7 7–5 6–12 — 5–13 10–2 6–6 4–8 2–10 10–8 10–8 9–3
Los Angeles 10–8 9–3 5–13 13–5 — 10–2 7–5 5–7 9–3 6–12 8–10 10–2
Montreal 4–8 7–11 3–9 2–10 2–10 — 8–10 3–15 8–10 4–8 7–5 7–11
New York 8–4 13–5 6–6 6–6 5–7 10–8 — 5–13 10–8 7–5 7–5 9–9
Philadelphia 7-5 10–8 7–5 8–4 7–5 15–3 13–5 — 8–10 8–4 6–6 12–6
Pittsburgh 9–3 10–8 4–8 10–2 3–9 10–8 8–10 10–8 — 7–5 9–3 12–6
San Diego 8–10 6–6 5–13 8–10 12–6 8–4 5–7 4–8 5–7 — 8–10 4–8
San Francisco 9–9 4–8 9–9 8–10 10–8 5–7 5–7 6–6 3–9 10–8 — 5–7
St. Louis 8–4 6–12 6–6 3–9 2–10 11–7 9–9 6–12 6–12 8–4 7–5 —


Notable transactions

Roster

1976 Houston Astros
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

= Indicates team 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

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Ed Herrmann 79 265 54 .204 3 25
1B Bob Watson 157 585 183 .313 16 102
2B Rob Andrews 109 410 105 .256 0 23
SS Roger Metzger 152 481 101 .210 0 29
3B Enos Cabell 144 586 160 .273 2 43
LF José Cruz 133 439 133 .303 4 61
CF César Cedeño 150 575 171 .297 18 83
RF Greg Gross 128 426 122 .286 0 27

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
Cliff Johnson 108 318 72 .226 10 49
Leon Roberts 87 235 68 .289 7 33
Wilbur Howard 94 191 42 .220 1 18
Larry Milbourne 59 145 36 .248 0 7
Ken Boswell 91 126 33 .262 0 18
Jerry DaVanon 61 107 31 .290 1 20
Skip Jutze 42 92 14 .152 0 6
Alex Taveras 14 46 10 .217 0 2
Art Howe 21 29 4 .138 0 0
Al Javier 8 24 5 .208 0 0
Rich Chiles 5 4 2 .500 0 0

Pitching

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
J.R. Richard 39 291.0 20 15 2.75 214
Larry Dierker 28 187.1 13 14 3.69 112
Joaquín Andújar 28 172.1 9 10 3.60 59
Dan Larson 13 92.1 5 8 3.02 42
Mike Cosgrove 22 89.2 3 4 5.52 34
Mark Lemongello 4 29.0 3 1 2.79 9

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
Joe Niekro 36 118.0 4 8 3.36 77
Bo McLaughlin 17 79.0 4 5 2.85 32
Gilberto Rondón 19 53.2 2 2 5.70 21
Joe Sambito 20 53.1 3 2 3.54 26

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
Ken Forsch 52 4 3 19 2.15 49
Gene Pentz 40 3 3 5 2.97 36
Tom Griffin 20 5 3 0 6.05 33
Paul Siebert 19 0 2 0 3.16 10
Mike Barlow 16 2 2 0 4.50 11
Larry Hardy 15 0 0 3 7.06 10
José Sosa 9 0 0 0 6.94 5

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Memphis Blues International League Jim Beauchamp
AA Columbus Astros Southern League Leo Posada
A Dubuque Packers Midwest League Bob Cluck
Rookie Covington Astros Appalachian League Julio Linares

References

  1. ^ Joaquín Andújar page on Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Jim Crawford page on Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Schwartzburg, Seth (June 15, 2025). "Today in Astros history - June 15". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved June 15, 2025.
  4. ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (June 6, 2025). "Today in Astros history - June 6". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
  5. ^ Young, Matt (July 22, 2024). "Details behind each player who has hit for the cycle in Astros franchise history". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved July 6, 2025.
  6. ^ Terry Humphrey at Baseball-Reference
  7. ^ Floyd Bannister at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ Gary Rajsich at Baseball Reference
  9. ^ Bert Roberge at Baseball Reference
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.