1976 BOSTON RED SOX ...

The Red Sox were a young team with solid veteran leadership. They had five starters age 24 of younger, and four of those had played key roles in the 1975 pennant drive. Fred Lynn won the American League MVP award as a rookie. Jim Rice was in the mix to do the same, before the hand injury ended his season. Rick Burleson was a talented young shortstop, Dwight Evans was a defensive whiz in right field with an emerging bat, and Butch Hobson was a talented rookie who would replace Rico Petrocelli at third. Carlton Fisk had a few years additional experience. Carl Yastrzemski was still productive at age 36 and 35-year-old Luis Tiant was still the ace of the rotation.

By rights, it 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.

Following the end of the World Series in November, General Manager Dick O'Connell traded Juan Beniquez and Steve Barr to the Texas Rangers for future Hall-of-Famer, Ferguson Jenkins.

Then in December, Rogelio Moret was traded to the Braves for Tom House.

Baseball was in turmoil. On December 23rd, an arbitrator ruled that Andy Messersmith of the Dodgers and Dave McNally of the Expos, were free to listen to all offers, after playing a year without a signed contract. Thus the era of free agency began, and the owners cut their own throats in trying to outbid each other for the services of the two players.

Any Red Sox players who were unsigned at the end of 1976 would therefore also be free agents. Carlton Fisk was one who realized how short his career could be, after his devastating knee injury in 1974. That, and the apathy the team showed toward him during the previous winter, when he was left to rehab on his own, was a wake-up call. Fisk, Fred Lynn and Rick Burleson wanted to be paid while in their prime. The three hired an agent named Jerry Kapstein and decided to hold out at the start of spring training.

Tom Yawkey felt betrayed by the demands of the three players and baseball emerging new order. He was one of the people whose history was responsible for the demands being made by the Players Association in the first place. Yawkey had started the raiding of teams when he had bought Lefty Grove and Jimmie Foxx, after the Philadelphia A's were in financial trouble, to start his tenure with the Red Sox in the 1930s. He proved the owners had plenty of extra money to spend by outspending the other owners to such a degree in the past, that baseball wanted to change the rules to stop people just like him.

Fisk, Lynn and Burleson were told to sit tight and not do anything until the new CBA was signed. In early March, all three signed "renewal papers", indicating they would play the season without a contract. It was a risk, because if anyone of them was injured and couldn't play, their hopes of a multi-year deal in the future, would be gone.

The great feelings the fans had after the 1975 season evaporated, knowing their heroes would become free agents and possibly leave Boston. The three took a lot of abuse because of the generous nature that Tom Yawkey had showed his players in the past. Dick O'Connell negotiated a contract with a player like Carl Yastrzemski, over dinner and a handshake.

The owners then decided to put the brakes on and beat the Players Association with talks on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. They wanted the number of years required playing for a team, before a player could be eligible to become a free agent. The players saw the owners climbing over each other pursuing free agents and driving salaries up and therefore were not inclined to give in. The two sides found themselves at an impasse. In response, the owners voted to lock the players out of spring training camps on February 23rd.

Commissioner Bowie Kuhn finally ended the lockout and ordered the season the start 17 days later while negotiations continued. When the players finally showed up there was a cloud of uncertainty that hung over the team and it lasted for more than half the season, until the new CBA was put in place.

But baseball no longer had a team orientation. It now morphed into an individual's business interests that hung over the whole clubhouse. There was very little joking around and no more pranks being played on each other. Without that lighter side, everyone took the game more seriously and losing streaks and batting slumps were bad for a player's worth.

No longer was it teammates travelling together and getting to know each other's families. Now it would be wives bickering over whether their husband was worth more than someone else's spouse.

On March 3rd, Dick Drago was traded to the California Angels for three minor league players.

Even with the negative attention to the off-field issues, there was an air of optimism about the upcoming season and the Red Sox ability to repeat, especially with Ferguson Jenkins on the team.

When the Red Sox broke camp, Rick Jones, a lanky 6-foot-5, 190-pound pitcher from Jacksonville, Florida, who was the Red Sox fifth pick in the June 1973 draft found himself on a major-league roster before he had celebrated his 21st birthday.

The Sox lost on Opening Day in a 1-0, to the Orioles in a pitcher's duel between Jim Palmer and Ferguson Jenkins, who only allowed three hits, and the one run difference came when Rick Burleson made a bad throw on a routine grounder.

After losing the first two games of the season in Baltimore, on April 11th, behind Denny Doyle's three-run double and Fred Lynn's first homer of the season, the Sox behind Luis Tiant took the third game, 6 to 2.

In the home opener, on April 13th, Carlton Fisk homered and Dwight Evans hit two doubles to beat the Cleveland Indians, 7 to 4.

 Against the White Sox at Fenway, on April 17th, Luis Tiant won his second game on the season, 7 to 1. Tiant gave up five hits and was backed by home runs from Jim Rice and Rico Petrocelli.

Against the Minnesota Twins on April 19th, Ferguson Jenkins won his first game in a Red Sox uniform with a five hit shutout. He struck out three and walked one.

The Sox beat the Twins again on the next day, April 20th, 12-3. Dwight Evans drove in four runs with a homer and a double, along with homers from Carlton Fisk, Jim Rice and Yaz.

In Chicago on April 23rd, Yaz's three-run homer helped Luis Tiant win his third game, 9 to 2. Rain washed next away the next four games on the Sox schedule.

From April 29th to May 11th, the Red Sox lost ten straight. It put them in an 8 1/2 game hole, sitting in last place. Carlton Fisk was batting .347 at the end of April, before going in 2-for-24 batting slump. Fred Lynn was hitting well but then sat out a number of games with "so-called" injuries, and Rick Burleson was a mess in the field. It's not like they didn't play hard, but they lost that edge that had made them great. The media blamed the skid on the contentious negotiations with the three holdouts. They all got hate mail and were booed back at Fenway, along with the added stress they felt from their teammates. The Sox were a mess.

LAURIE CABOT

On May 12th, the self-avowed witch from Salem, Laurie Cabot, brought her special powers to Cleveland to help the Red Sox beat the Indians, 6 to 4, and breaking the losing streak. It took 12 innings for Yaz to drive in the winning run with a sacrifice fly.

The next night on May 13th, Rick Miller drove in three runs and scored two to lead the Sox to a 7-5 victory over the Indians.

On May 14th back in Boston, Dick Pole, a last minute replacement for Bill Lee, allowed just five hits to notch his first win, 2-1 over the Brewers.

The Sox made it four in-a-row the next night on May 15th. A seventh inning explosion began with a Carlton Fisk double and ended with a Fisk homer. In between, men named Rico Petrocelli, Fred Lynn and Jim Rice marched off the bench and could do no wrong, carrying the Red Sox to their fourth straight win, 9 to 4, over the Brewers.

The Sox moved on to Detroit and Luis Tiant (5-2) shut out the Tigers on five hits, 7 to 0 on May 17th.

Rick Miller's two-out single in the ninth inning delivered a 5 to 3 victory the next day on May 18th. Yaz was honored in a pre-game ceremony for breaking Ted Williams' record for games played in a Red Sox uniform. It was his 2,293rd game for the Sox.

WISE, TIANT, LEE, JENKINS

Yaz turned back the clock on May 19th, by slamming three home runs and going 4-for-4 in a 9-2 drubbing of the Tigers. The Sox pounded out a season high 15 hits, having won their last 7-of-8 games, chipped back to within six games of the front-running New York Yankees, and were poised to make a move upon arriving in the Bronx for a four-game set.

The players on the Red Sox hated the Yankees and vice versa. When the two teams matched up, it was to do battle. And to Bill Lee, the Yankees represented everything that was evil, and pitching against them was more like a holy war. He absolutely loved pitching against the Yankees and their boorish owner George Steinbrenner. Although Lee wrapped himself up in the trappings of the counterculture, on the mound he was anything but.

But for the Red Sox, the four days in New York couldn’t have gone worse. The Sox won the opening game, 8-2, on May 20th, with Bill Lee on the mound, but an in-game brawl helped kill the Sox chances to repeat as champs.

The Sox were leading 1-0, when Otto Velez slammed a liner into right field. Graig Nettles was on first, and Lou Piniella was on second. Dwight Evans came up with the ball and fired a strike to Carlton Fisk, who was waiting at the plate with the ball as Piniella rounded third.

Piniella was out by a good measure, but he wanted to show manager Billy Martin and the big crowd how tough he was. So he decided to plow into Fisk, who stood his ground and flipped Piniella over and tagged him with the ball and his fist. Bill Lee was backing up the play when he saw Velez go after Fisk, so he went in after Velez.

In seconds, both dugouts emptied and there were a dozen fights going on all over the field. Mickey Rivers came in a slugged Lee in the back of the head. Then Nettles came over, picked Lee up and body slammed him to the ground, on his left shoulder. As a result, Lee had torn a ligament in his shoulder and would be out for almost two months. “We won the battle, but lost the war of 1976,” Lee later said.

The Sox led the second game, on May 21st, 5-4, before giving up the lead in the ninth inning. They lost in the 12th after a two-out error by Denny Doyle, a single and a game-winning hit by no-name Yankee bench player named Kerry Dineen.

The third game on May 22nd, saw the Sox drop a 1-0 gut-wrencher in 11 innings, with Jim Rice hitting into a double play in the 10th inning, just when the Sox were in position to get a run. Dick Pole started the game and pitched 8 1/3 shutout innings, holding the Yankees to just four hits.

The fourth game on May 23rd, saw two comebacks by the Sox, one culminating in Rice's two-run homer in the seventh inning. The other three runs came courtesy of a wild pitch, a bases-loaded walk, and a muffed pop-up, the gave the Sox a 7-6 win.

Even though the Sox won the finale, got a split, and were still theoretically in the race, they had blown a chance to win at least three and lost one of their best pitchers. The Sox left New York no better than they started, six games behind the Yankees, in third place.

Back at Fenway on May 24th, Rick Wise shutout the Tigers on two hits, 3 to 0. He walked only one and struck out three.

Luis Tiant threw another shutout the next night, beating the Tigers again, 2 to 0 on May 25th. Yaz provided all the support Luis needed with a two-run homer. The Sox had won 11-of-14 games.

After losing the first game in Milwaukee, Ferguson Jenkins fired a four-hitter for his third straight win, in a 2-1 Sox victory on May 27th.

The Sox moved back to Boston and lost the first two games of a series with the Orioles at Fenway. But in the third game on May 30th, Rick Wise pitched his second gem, beating Baltimore 3 to 1. He tossed a six-hitter, but lost his shutout in the ninth inning, when Bobby Grich homered. The Sox finished the month sitting in fourth place, seven games out.

The Yankees moved into Fenway for another showdown with the Sox on Memorial Day and took two of the three games. The offense slumped with only Luis Tiant being able to hold the Yankees offense in check, winning on June 3rd, 8 to 2.

After a 0-for-4 night against the Yankees, Bernie Carbo and his .236 average, was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for Tom Murphy and Bobby Darwin on June 4th. Although Murphy eventually helped out of the bullpen, the trade proved to be unpopular. To make room on the roster, Deron Johnson was released and retired. Carbo was so upset, that he refused to report. After about three weeks of driving his wife crazy, Carbo finally went.

On June 5th, Rick Burleson's two-out ninth inning single, drove home Doug Griffin with the winning run and gave the Red Sox a 4 to 3 win over the California Angels behind the five hit pitching of Ferguson Jenkins.

The Sox knocked off Nolan Ryan in the next game on June 6th, beating the Angels, 4 to 1. Yaz reached the 4000 total bases mark with two base hits.

After losing the first game against the Oakland A's, the Sox bounced back on June 9th to win 6-4. Cecil Cooper's two-run homer in the seventh inning was the game winner. Then on June 10th, the Sox blew a 5-2 lead in the eighth inning, losing 8 to 5.

In Minnesota on June 11th, during a Sox loss to the Twins in Minnesota, team discontent boiled over, when Carlton Fisk and Darrell Johnson had an argument in the dugout over Fisk's pitch calling. With the team was losing and Fisk in a public contract battle, as well as slumping at the plate, what might have been a minor disagreement erupted into a near brawl.

In the next game, on June 12th, when Fisk was late for the team bus, he was fined and benched. Dwight Evans hit a homer and a run-scoring triple to help Luis Tiant win his league-leading eighth win, 5 to 2, over the Twins.

The next day on June 13th, Carlton Fisk was back in the lineup and contributed a two-run single in a 10-2 win against the Twins. Rick Jones got his first major-league start, and he responded with a complete-game performance. The Sox staked him to an early lead with a seven-run third. Jones surrendered two runs in a three-hit fourth inning.

The Sox made it three-of-four in Minnesota when Rick Wise pitched a one-hit shutout, 5 to 0 in the series finale on June 14th. The sweep kept the Sox in third place, five games out.

ROLLIE FINGERS

June 15th was the trading deadline and Tom Yawkey was so disgusted with everything that was going on, that he threatened to sell both Fred Lynn and Rick Burleson, adding to the stress already felt by the unsigned players.

The Red Sox front office did make a bold move, however, when they bought the contracts of outfielder Joe Rudi and relief pitcher Rollie Fingers from the Oakland A’s for $1 million apiece. Fingers and Rudi were both vital parts of the Oakland teams that won three straight World Series from 1972-74, and were very happy to come to Boston.

But the sale for straight cash was voided by commissioner Bowie Kuhn as being contrary to the best interests of baseball. Now bedridden and in very poor health, Yawkey decided not to fight the commissioner's decision.

On the field, the Sox lost 2-of-3 in Oakland, winning the last game on June 17th, 8 to 3. Home runs by Dwight Evans, Jim Rice and Carlton Fisk highlighted the offensive outburst. Dick Pole got his one and only major-league at-bat. After seven full innings, the Red Sox had an 8-2 lead. Yaz was taken out of the game to give him a little rest, and Cecil Cooper took over at first base. Cooper had been the DH, and with the move, the Sox lost the DH. Pole was put in Yaz’s spot in the lineup. His one time in the batting order and he was batting cleanup in place of Carl Yastrzemski.  Come the top of the ninth, and Pole led off and put wood on the ball, grounding back to pitcher, who threw him out at first. He was thus 0-for-1 lifetime.

Down to Anaheim, the next day on June 18th, Jim Rice's two-out double drove in the go-ahead run and he scored an insurance run on Rico Petrocelli's single, in a two-run ninth that gave the Sox a 3-1 win.

On June 20th, Rick Burleson's two-out single off the glove of shortstop, Dave Chalk, scored Bobby Darwin from second in the top of the 11th, to give the Sox a 4-3 win over the Angels.

The Sox then lost 2-of-3 in Baltimore. In the game they won, on June 22nd, Fred Lynn scored from third base, on a fielder's choice in the 15th inning, to give the Sox a 6 to 5 victory. In the first inning, Bobby Darwin hit a grand slam off Rudy May.

They had won 7-of-13 on the road trip and came home basically no better than when they left, eight games behind the Yankees.

Four games with the Tigers at Fenway resulted in three losses, pushing them behind by 11 1/2 games. The one win on June 26th, was a 2 to 1 walk-off win. Rico Petrocelli drove in both runs, with the game winner coming in the ninth inning, on a sacrifice fly.

On June 28th, as Darrell Johnson continued to fiddle with his lineup, Butch Hobson was called up from Pawtucket and put in at third base while Rico was moved over to second. Hobson led the Sox to a 12-8 win over the Orioles. He went 2-for-5, doubling off Jim Palmer and hitting his first major-league homer in the sixth off Rudy May. Center fielder Paul Blair missed catching Hobson’s drive to center, allowing Hobson to get a two-run inside-the-park homer. As he rounded third and headed for home, he upended Orioles catcher Rick Dempsey, who got knocked cold.

Then in the next game, on June 29th, Rick Wise threw his second one-hitter of the season with a 2-0 shutout.

In the finale on June 30th, Fred Lynn knocked out four straight hits and Jim Rice belted a tie-breaking two-run homer in the sixth inning for a 6-4 Sox sweep over Baltimore, but they were now nine games out.

The Sox traveled to Milwaukee and Bobby Darwin homered against his former team in his first at bat, providing the Sox with the winning run in a 2-0 shutout of the Brewers on July 2nd.

On July 4th, Wise pitched another great game, allowing just four hits. Cecil Cooper, batting .520 against the Brewers, slugged a two-run homer in a 3-1 victory, that gave the Sox a series split.

The Sox (37-37) made it back to the .500 mark with Luis Tiant earning his 10th win of the season on July 5th. Butch Hobson and Cooper drove in three runs each, in the 11-2 victory over Chicago.

Fergie Jenkins tossed a four-hit shutout, beating the White Sox, 4-0 on July 6th, the next day.

The Twins then came to Fenway on July 8th and lost to the Sox, 8 to 4. Carlton Fisk, without an RBI for nearly a month, doubled in two runs.

The next night on July 9th, the Sox mourned the loss of their owner. Tom Yawkey died of leukemia at New England Baptist Hospital. He had been sick for several years, but since the end of the World Series his condition had deteriorated. It was suggested that Yawkey died more of a broken heart and simply had given up his will to live.

Members of the team, especially Carl Yastrzemski were visibly shaken. Players mourned him as they would a member of their family or as a surrogate father, and not their boss. When the team took the field, there was an eerie silence. The flag in center field hung at half-mast.

Then the Twins beat the Red Sox that day, 8 to 6, in spite of three-run home runs by Yaz and Bobby Darwin.

Fred Lynn belted his sixth homer against the Twins on July 11th, to help win 6 to 4, for a series split at the All Star break.

They were not in a position to take advantage in the second half and were showing signs of falling apart. Their record was 40-40, but were only 21-22 at Fenway, where they usually feasted on their opponents. They were 53-37 at this time last season and scored 120 runs less than they did at the break in 1975. Lynn had gone from 16 homers and 71 RBIs in 1975, to 6 homers and 34 RBIs this year. Jim Rice dropped from 62 RBIs to 43, and Rick Burleson from 37 RBIs to 20.

Fred Lynn, Carlton Fisk, Yaz and Luis Tiant were all named American League All Stars, in a game the National League won, 7 to 1. Lynn provided the only offense for the AL All Stars with a home run off Tom Seaver.

At the All Star Game, MLB and the Players' Union agreed to a new Basic Agreement. Dick O'Connell quickly signed all of his holdouts to five year contracts. Fred Lynn received $1.65M over five years. Carlton Fisk received $900K and Rick Burleson got $600K. Under the new CBA, players would be eligible for free agency when their current contract expired, with an option year. Players in the future would reap huge benefits because of what the players went through. The average player's salary was at $34K in 1976, and in forty years (2016) the average player's salary would be $4.4M

Coming out of the break, the Red Sox played six games in Kansas City, the eventual AL West champ, over a four-day period. The Sox lost five of them, with their only win coming on July 15th, when Rick Jones was on the winning end of a 2-1 pitcher's duel with Doug Bird.

Darrell Johnson agreed to leave on July 18th, because Dick O'Connell thought that he had lost control of the team. At various times, Johnson had benched Burleson, Fisk, Doug Griffin and Doyle while moving Petrocelli over to second base and giving Steve Dillard a shot at shortstop and Butch Hobson at third. None of the players knew their role and hardly anyone was happy.

Don Zimmer took over the managerial reins on July 19th. He left the players alone and just let them play the game. He got on players only for not hustling on the field.

One bright spot for the Red Sox, was rookie Rick Jones (4-0), who was undefeated, winning his fourth game on July 20th in Texas, 4-2.

The Sox lost two in Minnesota and then had the nails pounded into their coffin by the Yankees, after being swept in a three game series at Yankee Stadium.

Bill Lee's first game back was on July 24th. Lee's dad wanted his son to knock Graig Nettles on his ass, but he didn't and both Nettles and Mickey Rivers kicked Lee's butt again, with a homer apiece. Lee lasted just four innings and lost 9 to 1.

The Sox  had gone 2-11 after the All Star break road trip, to plummet into 5th place, 18 games behind the Yankees.

On July 27th Ferguson Jenkins won his 200th career victory against the Brewers, beating them 8-7 at Fenway Park.

The Sox went on to win eight of their next nine games, moving from 15 1/2 game out to 12 1/2 games behind. Jenkins beat the Yankees on July 31st in the the first game of a day-night doubleheader, 4 to 2. Bob Montgomery's tiebreaking solo homer in the 5th inning provided the winning margin.

In the second game Jim Rice knocked out three hits with three RBIs against Catfish Hunter, to lead the Sox to a 6 to 4 comeback win and a sweep of the day. The Sox were 12-19 for the month of July.

The next day, August 1st, Rick Burleson doubled in two runs in the ninth inning and scored on a sacrifice fly by Yaz as the Red Sox edged the Yankees, 5 to 4. Rick Jones picked up the win. In his last ten starts, he was 4-1 with a 2.34 earned-run average.

Rick Jones’ association with Bill Lee, Jim Willoughby and their group, wasn’t popular with Don Zimmer. When Jones missed a flight to California on August 9th, he was demoted to the Triple-A Rhode Island Red Sox, in Pawtucket. With his steady performance up to this point, the move came as a surprise.

According to Jones, he had car problems driving to the ballpark, to catch the bus that took the team to the airport. Dwight Evans also missed his flight. Jones called Zimmer’s room, no answer, and left a message. The next morning, Zimmer told him that he was being taken out of the starting rotation and sent to the bullpen. When Jones found out that Evans was still going to start that night, he was ticked off and told Zimmer that he didn’t know if he would be going to the game. Jones showed up late, and after the game was demoted to Pawtucket.

On August 2nd, Rick Wise was dominant in beating the Indians, in Cleveland, 3 to 1. Denny Doyle helped the cause, with three hits.

The Sox next won four straight in Detroit and Milwaukee. Fergie Jenkins was business-like in taking down the Tigers, 4-1, on August 4th. Butch Hobson's homer broke a 2-2 tie the next night, August 5th, for a 5 to 4 victory.

Back at Fenway on August 6th, Yaz's eighth inning double scored Denny Doyle to wrap up a 2-1 win over the Brewers. Then Luis Tiant shut the "Brew Crew" out, 2-0 the next night, August 7th.

In Tiant's next start in Anaheim, he tied up the Angels and Fred Lynn provided a go-ahead RBI base hit in the 10th inning, that gave him a 2 to 1 win on August 12th.

The Sox lost three in Oakland, before pummeling the White Sox 12-5, in Chicago on August 16th. The Red Sox pounded out seven consecutive singles in the third inning alone. They then scored five runs in the seventh inning. Cecil Cooper had three hits, as he and Dwight Evans brought home five of the runs.  The next day, in a doubleheader that the Red Sox split in Chicago on August 17th, Rick Burleson knocked out seven hits in ten times at bat.

The Sox had lost eight of the eleven games they played on the road trip however, pushing their deficit 17 1/2 games, in 5th place.

Back home at Fenway, Butch Hobson hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the ninth inning, driving in the winning run, that beat the Oakland Athletics, 2 to 1 on August 20th. Reggie Cleveland walked one batter and gave up just four hits to beat the A's in the next game on August 21st, 5 to 1.

Carlton Fisk then went on an 18 game hitting streak from August 22nd thru September 9th, over which he batted .378

On August 22nd, Carl Yastrzemski turned 37 and the fans sang "Happy Birthday to You" to him. Yaz responded with four hits, but it was his fifth time up that caused a stir. With the score tied in the ninth inning and Fred Lynn, on first, Yaz laid down a bunt. It was only the second time he had bunted in sixteen seasons. The Sox lost in 11 innings, 7 to 6, but even so, Rick Wise and Reggie Cleveland presented him with the ball after the game.

Against the Angels and Nolan Ryan, Bill Lee won his first game as a starter since coming off the disabled list, on August 23rd.

Luis Tiant (15-10) scattered four hits and held the Angels scoreless until the eighth inning, winning his fifth straight game, on August 25th. He beat the California 8-2 at Fenway, with Denny Doyle helping him, by getting three hits.

Butch Hobson tripled and homered to lead the Sox in a 9 to 4 blitz of the Royals on August 27th. They banged out 14 hits with Rick Miller knocked out three of them.

The Red Sox exploded for seven runs in the first inning and five runs in the second inning, ending in a 15-6 slugfest against the Royals on August 29th. Their 18 hits included two doubles, a triple and two home runs. Carlton Fisk had four hits and scored four times.

The next day on August 30th, the Sox bombed the Texas Rangers, 11 to 3, in another 18 hit game. Jim Rice had four hits, including two home runs and five RBIs.

The Sox (62-68) had scored 55 runs in the final week of August, but were still a distant 18 games out, in fourth place.

Ferguson Jenkins was lost for the rest of the season on September 1st. He was 4 1/3 innings into a 3-0 shutout of the Texas Rangers at Fenway, when while covering first on a grounder to Cecil Cooper, Jenkins tore is Achilles tendon. Rick Jones was brought back up to take his place.

On September 3rd, Luis Tiant won his seventh straight game inb Cleveland by a 5 to 3 score. Carlton Fisk had two hits and brought in two runs.

Rick Wise pitched eight outstanding innings, allowing two runs on four hits to take the first game of a doubleheader, 7-6, in the next game on September 4th. But the Sox lost the nitecap and then the next three games.

Yaz drove in two runs with his 20th homer and Butch Hobson had three hits in a 4 to 3 win over the Tigers at Fenway on September 8th. Rick Wise flirted with a perfect game into the seventh inning, settling for a two-hitter, while shutting out the Tigers, 5 to 0, in the next game on September 9th.

Carlton Fisk hit a homer and a triple, good for three RBIs in helping Tiant win his 18th game on September 12th vs the Indians at Fenway.

Two more losses pushed the Sox 20 1/2 games out of first place on September 14th, but then they went on a tear, winning 15 of their final 18 games.

Butch Hobson's two run homer led them to a 2 to 1 win in Milwaukee on September 15th. In the next game, he belted a ninth inning two-run homer that beat the Brewers, 4 to 3, on September 16th.

Don Zimmer fell ill when the team next traveled to Detroit, and was hospitalized. Eddie Popowski took over in Zimmer's absence. Carl Yastrzemski was having some injuries with a bad thigh and a pulled groin, but was sitting at 91 RBIs and wanted to play so he could at least get to 100, a personal goal.

Yaz, Butch Hobson and Rick Burleson each drove in two runs in the 8-3 Sox win, over the Tigers on September 17th. Detroit native, rookie catcher Ernie Whitt had a homecoming. In the game, Whitt replaced Carlton Fisk behind the plate in the ninth inning. Fisk approached him after the game. “You’re from this area, right? Go home and tell your family and friends that you are going to start tomorrow.”

So the kid from Detroit was starry-eyed as he made his first at bat in the next game on September 18th. “When I came up to hit, Bill Freehan was behind the plate for the Tigers and said ‘Welcome to the big leagues." He went 0-for-2, in a Red Sox 5-4 win. Eddie Popowski inserted Yaz as the DH the next game, and his home run and single, were good for four more RBIs (97).

In the third game on September 19th, Rick Wise won, 6 to 1, scattering six hits. Yaz was put in to pinch hit for Bobby Darwin in the eighth inning with runners on second and third. The Tigers knew why the injured Yaz was being put in, so pitcher Dave Roberts threw four pitches at him and wild-pitched in a run.

The Sox swept the four games in Detroit with two home runs from Jim Rice in the series finale, winning 12 to 6 on September 20th. Yaz started this game and with the bases loaded in the fourth inning, drew a walk to bring in a run and his 98th RBI.

On September 21st, the Sox returned to Fenway and Luis Tiant won his 20th game of the season, beating the Brewers, 7 to 1 in the first game of a doubleheader. He had a no-hitter going into the seventh inning, finishing with three hits against him.

In the second game, rookie pitcher, Rick Kreuger also had a no-hitter going into the seventh inning, but lost 3-1, despite finishing with a complete-game three-hitter. Kreuger remembered: “The crowd there gave me a standing ovation. I tipped my cap, absorbed it all in, and kept on going into the dugout. I wondered at the time, how many people actually get a standing ovation at Fenway Park? It doesn’t get much better than that.” In that game, Ernie Whitt collected his first major-league hit, a solo home run that clanged off the right-field "Pesky" pole

Jim Rice's four hits, including a pair of doubles, led the Sox to a 6-3 win over the Brewers on September 22nd. Bill Lee pushed the Sox back to the .500 mark, posted his first complete game of the season, in beating the Brewers, 10 to 3 in their final game on September 23rd.

Luis Tiant won his 21st game on September 25th. He recorded a two-hitter, beating the Orioles, 1-0, in Baltimore. Only one Baltimore runner advanced as far as second base. Reggie Cleveland took a shutout into the ninth inning and faced only 15 batters after the third, beating the Orioles in Baltimore 8 to 3 on September 26th.

On September 28th, the Sox launched a 15-hit attack against the Yankees, winning 7 to 5 at Fenway. Rick Burleson led the Sox with three hits.

The Sox finished their season by beating the Orioles three straight. On October 1st, Yaz had three RBIs with two hits in a 7-4 victory to get his 103 RBI. In the next game, on October 2nd, Reggie Cleveland, Jim Willoughby and Tom House combined in a four-hit shutout of the O's, 1-0. The season's last game on October 3rd against Baltimore, went 15 innings. Rick Burleson drove in Butch Hobson for a 3 to 2 walk-off.

The Sox finished over .500 at 83-79, good for third place in the AL East. But they were 15 1/2 games behind the Yankees.

Butch Hobson made some great plays when he was called up. His arm was not weak and not accurate. And he was tough, as he went after pop flies with reckless abandon. He was like a roller-derby player in baseball cleats. He played 76 games at third base as the successor at the hot corner to Rico Petrocelli. Hobson hit .234, contributing eight homers and 34 RBIs.

Rico Petrocelli was winding down a 13-year career with the Red Sox, hitting only .213 in 85 games in this, his final season. While his play in the field continued to be above reproach, his lack of productivity at the plate became an issue. He began suffering reactions to the medication he was taking to correct his inner-ear problems and he was forced to discontinue its use. The problems with his balance returned and severely hampered his ability at the plate.

Fred Lynn made the All-Star team and hit .314 with 32 doubles in 132 games, but the season was not fun for him, dealing with injuries and being in a contract dispute.

Because of injuries to Lynn, Rick Miller played in 105 games and hit .283, his best batting average with the Red Sox. He played all three outfield positions, and was 5-for-17 as a pinch-hitter.

Recovering from his injury, Jim Rice regressed a bit, hitting .282 with 25 home runs.

Dwight Evans hit .242 with 17 home runs in 146 games, and won his first Gold Glove award for his defensive play.

Playing in 123 games in 1976 while again splitting time between first base and designated hitter, Cecil Cooper hit .282 with 15 homers and 78 RBIs.

Steve Dillard got into 57 games. By year’s end, he’d hit a very good .275. For a period of time in August he was sent down to try to learn second base. After his couple of surgeries, Dillard wasn’t able to throw as well as before, and the Red Sox thought they might be able to convert him from a utility player to a second baseman.

Ferguson Jenkins (12-11, 3.27 ERA) summed up his season by having high hopes when he came over. But it was not the team he played against in 1975. Neither the hitting nor the defense was as good as he thought it would be, and he was surprised at the poor fundamentals. He added that he was shocked at how many players had developed bad attitudes.

Luis Tiant was 21-12 for the struggling Red Sox, with a 3.06 ERA. His parents never returned to Havana. They stayed with Luis for 15 months, until his father died of a long illness in December 1976. Two days later, while resting for the next day’s memorial service, Luis’ mother, Isabel, died in her chair, although she had not been ill. The two were buried together near Tiant’s home in Milton, Massachusetts.

Bill Lee was pitching poorly at the time of the brawl at Yankee Stadium. He was 0-3 with a 7.31 ERA, and never really fully got back on track. He finished 5-7, with a disappointing 5.63 ERA. Lee decided to run for president in this election year, for the "Rhinocerous Party". When asked his position on mandatory drug testing, Lee replied that he favored it. He added that he had tested mescaline and tested them all. But he added that he thought it should not be mandatory.

After the Red Sox sent Dick Drago to California, Jim Willoughby was the main short man out of the Sox bullpen for the whole season. While his record was an unfortunate 3-12, Willoughby pitched well. He recorded 10 saves and his ERA dropped to 2.82.

Don Zimmer conflicted with some of his players – a group of unconventional types known as the "Buffalo Heads", whose number included Bill Lee, Jim Willoughby, Ferguson Jenkins, Rick Wise, and Bernie Carbo. These young players came of age in the turbulent and countercultural 1960s and held a distinctly different worldview than that of Zimmer, a product of the Depression era. Zimmer rarely, if ever, drank and liked to spend his free time at the racetrack. The "Buffalo Heads" were more educated, were fans of rock music, drank, and experimented with drugs.

Jim Willoughby himself smoked pot and drank heavily, although he never took the mound drunk or stoned. At the end of the season, assistant general manager John Claiborne acknowledged that the Red Sox had private detectives tailing Willoughby and some of the other players that season.

Dick Pole got more regular work, appearing in 31 games, starting 15 of them, and threw one complete game.

Reggie Cleveland, used mostly as a reliever, finished 10-9 but with an ERA of 3.07, nearly a half-run better than the league average. He pitched 170 innings and gave up only three home runs all year.

Tom House was used in 36 games. His ERA had been 4.33 in just 43 2/3 innings of work, including a 21-day stint on the disabled list. He’d had tendinitis in his left knee since June, and found himself in Don Zimmer’s doghouse.