1996 Oakland Athletics season

The Oakland Athletics' 1996 season was the team's 29th in Oakland, California. It was also the 96th season in franchise history. The team finished third in the American League West with a record of 78-84.

1996 Oakland Athletics
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record78–84 (.481)
Other information
Owner(s)Stephen Schott
Ken Hofmann
General manager(s)Sandy Alderson
Manager(s)Art Howe
Local televisionKRON-TV
Sports Channel Pacific
(Ray Fosse, Greg Papa)
Local radioKFRC
(Bill King, Ken Korach, Ray Fosse)
< Previous season     Next season >

The 1996 season was the Athletics' first under manager Art Howe. It was also the team's fourth consecutive losing season. The reasons behind Oakland's mediocrity remained the same; a below-average offense failed to offset an awful pitching staff. The Athletics' starting rotation, once again, was in shambles; none of the Athletics' six primary starters (Don Wengert, Doug Johns, John Wasdin, Ariel Prieto, Steve Wojciechowski, and Dave Telgheder) managed to win more than eight games. Oakland's bullpen also ranked among the league's worst. Reliever Carlos Reyes lead all pitchers in strikeouts with 78. All told, the A's boasted a team ERA of 5.20; this was the 10th best total in the 14-team American League.

The Athletics' offense was only slightly better. As had been the case in prior years, slugger Mark McGwire was the main draw; he crushed a league-high (and Oakland franchise record) 52 home runs in 1996. Designated hitter Gerónimo Berroa and catcher Terry Steinbach belted 36 and 35 home runs, respectively; secondary hitters Scott Brosius, Jason Giambi, and Ernie Young contributed 22, 20, and 19. The Athletics, as a team, hit 243 home runs (the American League's third-most); a low team batting average, however, ensured that they would finish the season with only 861 runs (the American League's 10th best total).

The Athletics hovered around the .500-mark for almost all of the season. They were not expected to contend in 1996, and indeed did not; they ultimately finished 12 games behind the first-time AL West Champion Texas Rangers.

Offseason
  • November 27, 1995: Buddy Groom was signed as a Free Agent with the Oakland Athletics.[1]
  • December 5, 1995: Torey Lovullo was signed as a Free Agent with the Oakland Athletics.[2]
  • January 22, 1996: Danny Tartabull was traded by the Oakland Athletics to the Chicago White Sox for Andrew Lorraine and Charles Poe (minors).[3]
  • January 22, 1996: Rafael Bournigal was signed as a Free Agent with the Oakland Athletics.[4]
  • January 29, 1996: Aaron Small was selected off waivers by the Oakland Athletics from the Seattle Mariners.[5]
  • January 29, 1996: Pedro Munoz was signed as a Free Agent with the Oakland Athletics.[6]
  • February 13, 1996: Dennis Eckersley was traded by the Oakland Athletics to the St. Louis Cardinals for Steve Montgomery.
  • March 10, 1996: Webster Garrison was signed as a Free Agent with the Oakland Athletics.[7]

Regular season

Season standings
AL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Texas Rangers 9072 0.556 — 50–31 40–41
Seattle Mariners 8576 0.528 4½ 43–38 42–38
Oakland Athletics 7884 0.481 12 40–41 38–43
California Angels 7091 0.435 19½ 43–38 27–53

Record vs. opponents
1996 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —7–66–64–85–711–29–39–37–53–109–47–53–10–18–5
Boston 6–7—8–46–61–1112–13–97–56–67–68–57–66–68–5
California 6–64–8—6–64–96–64–87–54–87–66–75–84–97–5
Chicago 8–46–66–6—5–810–37–66–76–76–75–75–78–47–5
Cleveland 7–511–19–48–5—12–07–67–610–33–96–68–44–87–5
Detroit 2–111–126–63–100–12—6–64–86–65–84–86–64–96–7
Kansas City 3–99–38–46–76–76–6—4–96–74–85–77–56–65–8
Milwaukee 3–95–75–77–66–78–49–4—9–46–67–54–96–75–7
Minnesota 5–76–68–47–63–106–67–64–9—5–76–76–67–58–5
New York 10–36–76–77–69–38–58–46–67–5—9–33–95–78–5
Oakland 4–95–87–67–56–68–47–55–77–63–9—8–57–64–8
Seattle 5–76–78–57–54–86–65–79–46–69–35–8—10–35–7
Texas 10–3–16–69–44–88–49–46–67–65–77–56–73–10—10–2
Toronto 5–85–85–75–75–77–68–57–55–85–88–47–52–10—

Game log
1996 Game Log: 78–84 (Home: 40–41; Away: 38–43)
April: 13–12 (Home: 5–7; Away: 8–5)
May: 11–16 (Home: 7–7; Away: 4–9)
June: 14–15 (Home: 4–7; Away: 10–8)
July: 17–10 (Home: 8–5; Away: 9–5)
August: 11–19 (Home: 8–10; Away: 3–9)
September: 12–12 (Home: 8–5; Away: 4–7)
Legend:           = Win           = Loss
Bold = Athletics team member

Detailed records

Transactions
  • June 4, 1996: Eric Chavez was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 1st round (10th overall) of the 1996 amateur draft. Signed August 27, 1996.[8]
  • June 4, 1996: A. J. Hinch was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 3rd round of the 1996 amateur draft. Signed June 22, 1996.[9]

Roster
1996 Oakland Athletics
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
CTerry Steinbach145514140.27235100
1BMark McGwire130423132.31252113
2BBrent Gates6424765.263230
3BScott Brosius114428130.3042271
SSMike Bordick155525126.240554
LFPhil Plantier7323149.212731
CFErnie Young141462112.2421964
RFJose Herrera10832086.269630
DHGerónimo Berroa153586170.29036106

[10]

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
Jason Giambi140536156.2912079
Rafael Bournigal8825261.242018
Tony Batista7423871.298625
Matt Stairs6113738.2771023
George Williams5613220.152310
Allen Battle4713025.19215
Pedro Munoz3412131.256618
Damon Mashore5010528.267312
Brian Lesher268219.232516
Torey Lovullo658218.22039
Scott Spiezio9299.31028
Izzy Molina14255.20001
Kerwin Moore22161.06300
Webster Garrison590.00000

[10]

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
Steve Wojciechowski1679.2555.6530

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

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

Awards and records
  • Mark McGwire, Silver Slugger Award
  • Mark McGwire, Major League record, 1st player to reach 50 Home Runs in one season before reaching 400 at-bats in a season[11]

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Edmonton Trappers Pacific Coast League Gary Jones
AA Huntsville Stars Southern League Dick Scott
A Modesto A's California League Jim Colborn
A West Michigan Whitecaps Midwest League Mike Quade
A-Short Season Southern Oregon Timberjacks Northwest League Tony DeFrancesco
Rookie AZL Athletics Arizona League Juan Navarrette

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Edmonton, West Michigan

References
  1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/g/groombu01.shtml
  2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/l/lovulto01.shtml
  3. Danny Tartabull Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bournra01.shtml
  5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/smallaa01.shtml
  6. Pedro Munoz Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  7. Webster Garrison Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/chaveer01.shtml
  9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hincha.01.shtml
  10. 1996 Oakland Athletics Statistics and Roster Baseball-Reference.com
  11. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.371, David Nemec and Scott latow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  • 1996 Oakland Athletics at Baseball Reference
  • 1996 Oakland Athletics at Baseball Almanac
  • Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.