1976 San Francisco Giants season

The 1976 San Francisco Giants season was the Giants' 94th season in Major League Baseball, their 19th season in San Francisco since their move from New York following the 1957 season, and their 17th at Candlestick Park. The team finished in fourth place in the National League West with a 74–88 record, 28 games behind the Cincinnati Reds.

1976 San Francisco Giants
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Horace Stoneham and Bob Lurie
General manager(s)Spec Richardson
Manager(s)Bill Rigney
Local televisionKTVU
(Al Michaels, Gary Park)
Local radioKSFO
(Al Michaels, Lon Simmons)
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Offseason

Team movement discussion

During the first half of the 1970s, attendance at cold and windy Candlestick Park plummeted, and Giants owner Horace Stoneham had faced financial hardship. Finally, in 1976, he put the team up for sale. In January 1976, Stoneham agreed to sell the team for $13.25 million to a Toronto group consisting of Labatt's Breweries of Canada, Ltd., Vulcan Assets Ltd., and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The team would begin play with the 1976 season at Exhibition Stadium and be called the Giants.[1] In addition, it was briefly rumored they considered a return to the New York metropolitan area, perhaps to a new baseball stadium in the New Jersey Meadowlands. Instead, Bob Lurie led a group to buy the Giants from Horace Stoneham for $8 million, thereby saving the team from potentially being sold to a Canadian brewery and moved to Toronto.[2]

Notable transactions
  • January 7, 1976: Dennis Littlejohn was drafted by the Giants in the 1st round (2nd pick) of the 1976 Major League Baseball Draft (Secondary Phase).[3]

Regular season

Opening Day starters

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 Records

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

Draft picks
  • June 8, 1976: Jeff Stember was drafted by the Giants in the 26th round of the 1976 Major League Baseball Draft.[9]

Roster
1976 San Francisco Giants
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

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
CDave Rader8825567.263122
3BKen Reitz155577154.267566
SSChris Speier145495112.226340
LFGary Matthews156587164.2792084
RFBobby Murcer147533138.2592390

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
Derrel Thomas8127263.232219
Willie Montañez6023071.309220
Von Joshua4215641.26302
Mike Sadek559319.20407
Steve Ontiveros597413.17605
Chris Robinson15134.30802

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
John Montefusco37253.116142.84172
Jim Barr37252.115122.8975
Rob Dressler25107.23104.4333
John D'Acquisto28106385.3553
Frank Riccelli416115.6311

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
Mike Caldwell50107.1174.8655

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
Charlie Williams482012.9634

Award winners

All-Star Game

Farm system
Level Team League Manager
AAA Phoenix Giants Pacific Coast League Rocky Bridges
AA Lafayette Drillers Texas League John VanOrnum
A Fresno Giants California League Andy Gilbert
A Cedar Rapids Giants Midwest League Salty Parker
Rookie Great Falls Giants Pioneer League Ernie Rodriguez

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Great Falls[10]

References
  1. "Giants Moving: Toronto". St. Petersburg Times. January 9, 1976.
  2. Gordon Sakamoto (February 11, 1976). "Giants will stay in San Francisco". Bryan Times. p. 14.
  3. Dennis Littlejohn page at Baseball Reference
  4. Von Joshua page at Baseball Reference
  5. Darrell Evans page at Baseball Reference
  6. Joe Strain page at Baseball Reference
  7. Casey Parsons page at Baseball Reference
  8. Randy Elliott page at Baseball Reference
  9. Jeff Stember page at Baseball Reference
  10. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, N.C.: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007
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