The 1976 Boston Red Sox: Underachievment & Unfulfilled Potential

The 1976 Boston Red Sox were a young team with solid veteran leadership, coming off a season that saw them come within one run of a World Series title. By rights, 1976 should have been a big year with another run at what was then an elusive championship for the franchise. Instead, the year was marked by drama off the field and underachievement on it

A LOADED LINEUP WITH OFF-FIELD DRAMA

Hitting wasn’t the problem. Even though second-year centerfielder Fred Lynn didn’t replicate his historic MVP rookie season, Lynn still finished with a stat line of .367 on-base percentage/.467 slugging percentage. Jim Rice, another second-year outfielder coming off a breakout rookie campaign, hit 25 home runs, the most on a team that hit more long balls than anyone in the American League.

The great Carl Yastrzemski was at first base, and Yaz hit 21 homers and drove in 102 runs. Shortstop Rick Burleson posted a .365 OBP. Cecil Cooper got a lot of time at DH and slugged .457.

Carlton Fisk was an established player at catcher, and while his numbers were down, he still finished with a .336/.415 stat line. Dwight Evans, the young rightfielder was coming into his own, and Boston had valuable bench pieces with Rick Miller in the outfield and Steve Dillard at utility infield.

The dawn of the new free agency era created problems—the front office had protracted and public battles with Lynn and Fisk over contracts and the controversy certainly didn’t help. But the Red Sox still finished third in the American League for runs scored.

A LACK OF DEPTH EXPOSES THE STAFF

It was pitching that killed this team. The top of the rotation was fine. Luis Tiant was still an ace, going to the post 38 times and finishing 21-12 with a 3.06 ERA. Rick Wise was a solid #2, at 14-11 with a 3.53 ERA in his 34 starts. The Sox also made a big offseason move to get a future Hall of Famer in Fergie Jenkins. While Jenkins didn’t have a vintage year, he still won 12 games with a 3.27 ERA.

But the depth was woefully lacking. Bill Lee started slowly, and a highly publicized May injury effectively ruined his season. Jim Willoughby was a respectable reliever with a 2.82 ERA. Otherwise, manager Darrell Johnson, and later Don Zimmer had to mix and match with a lot of arms. Reggie Cleveland, Dick Pole, and Tom Murphy, and 21-year-old Rick James did a lot of shuttle work between the rotation and the bullpen.

It wasn’t that any of the arms individually were bad, but no one was an ace and there was no real stability. The end result was a staff that finished eighth in a 12-team American League for composite ERA.

THE CRISIS COMES EARLY

It didn’t take long for the problems to bubble up. Boston lost 15 of its first 21 games and fell 8 ½ games off the pace in the AL East by mid-May. Keep in mind, in this era before wild-cards, the only path to the postseason was to finish in first place. The hour of urgency arrived early in the Back Bay this year.

After winning five of six, the Red Sox nudged to within six games of the frontrunning New York Yankees. They went to the Bronx for a four-game set. It was a chance to reset their season.

Lee took the mound for Thursday night’s opener and was pitching well, giving up just one run over six innings. The bottom of the sixth ended with a collision at home plate that turned into an all-out brawl. In the melee, Lee injured his shoulder. Even though Boston broke this game open late, with eight runs in the final three innings and Yaz homering twice, the 8-2 victory had come at a heavy cost.

Heartbreak awaited the next two games. The Red Sox gave up the tying run in the ninth inning on Friday night and ultimately lost 6-5  in 12 innings. On Saturday, they wasted a strong outing by Pole and dropped a 1-0 decision in 11 innings. There was a rebound on Sunday—Rice had three hits and homered, Fisk had two hits and Cleveland got 11 valuable outs in long relief to key a 7-6 win. But the split still had the Sox six games out, and they were down an arm in the pitching staff.

KUHN QUASHES LINGERING HOPES

The early part of summer did not go well. The Red Sox lost two of three when the Yankees made their return trip to Fenway. Boston went 9-7 in games against the AL West, including losing a pair of series to the Oakland A’s. And it was one of those series that their last desperate hope to make something of his season was quashed.

Oakland was the five-time defending AL West champ, but the birth of free agency had them in an all-out fire sale of talent. Boston was buying. While out west to play the A’s on June 15, the Red Sox purchased the contracts of All-Star outfielder Joe Rudi and Hall of Fame closer Rollie Fingers. It was a game-changing move that at least gave them a chance to rally this season and certainly set them up for 1977.

Instead, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, voided the deal (along with another Oakland sale, ace pitcher Vida Blue to the Yankees) in “the best interests of baseball.”

The Red Sox had to go back to the drawing board. And their record sunk as low as 31-35, and they fell 11 ½ games out by the time they hosted the Baltimore Orioles on June 28.

SWEEPING THE BIRDS

Baltimore was another traditional contender hoping to find its footing. In Monday night’s opener, everyone in the Red Sox lineup feasted, as they pounded out 16 hits. For that matter, the Oriole lineup hit pretty well themselves, but Boston pulled Jenkins into relief work and got four quality innings. It was enough to preserve a 12-8 win.

Wise took the ball on Tuesday night and was brilliant. He had a no-hitter going through five innings. In a scoreless tie in the eighth, Dillard delivered an RBI double and Lynn followed by driving him in with a single. Wise closed out a one-hitter and a 2-0 win.

On Wednesday’s getaway afternoon game, Boston trailed 4-3 in the sixth. A three-run rally was keyed by Rice’s two-run blast. Lynn had four hits. The Red Sox won 6-4 and finished a sweep. They played their way back to .500 by the All-Star break and were 9 ½ games out.

CRUSHED IN KANSAS CITY

It was a deep hole, but not insurmountable. Out of the break, the Red Sox had an intense four-day weekend in Kansas City. With a couple of doubleheaders on tap, they were set to play the Royals six times. A good K.C. team was bound for the postseason, and they handed Boston five defeats. The second half was effectively over before it began, and this was the beginning of a 4-13 stretch. On July 19, Johnson was fired and the managerial reins handed to third-base coach Zimmer. By Labor Day, the Red Sox were 65-70 and 17 games out.

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE

With their record of 68-75 in the middle of September, Boston showed some life. They played well over the final three weeks, winning 15 of 19, including five of six from an Oriole team that was also playing well in September. It didn’t matter for the pennant race for either team as the Yankees ran away with the division. But it got the Red Sox over .500, at 83-79. It was good for third in the AL East, sixth-best in the American League and 12^th-best in the Majors overall.

The nice finish signaled that Boston was ready to contend again in 1977, and they did. But the bigger takeaway is that 1976 overall signaled that the feel-good vibes of the 1975 surprise were now over.