1976 BOSTON RED SOX ...

In 1976 baseball was in turmoil. The Basic Agreement governing player contracts had unexpired and the MLB Players' Association was longing for free agency. In response, the owners voted to lock the players out of spring training camps. March began with spring training diamonds empty.

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

The Red Sox 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 and the legendary Carl Yastrzemski was still productive at age 36, with 21 home runs with 102 RBIs in 1976. 35-year-old Luis Tiant was still the ace of the rotation, with 21 wins and a 3.06 ERA. Bill Lee seemed to be the only Red Sox player affected by the World Series loss to Cincinnati. He started 0-3, with an ERA of almost 10.00

It never clicked for Boston. They were contract problems with Lynn and Fisk that overshadowed the team in the early going and it created a lot of uncertainty and bad blood. The Red Sox front office, even in the glory days of the early 21st century, had always known how to pick fights with players unnecessarily and it was even worse in 1976.

Tom Yawkey felt betrayed by the demands of the 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. Yawkey's free-spending over the decades undercut his argument that the game simply couldn't afford the price of free agency. He proved the owners had plenty of extra money to spend. In the past, Yawkey had outspent other owners to such a degree that baseball wanted to change the rules to stop people just like him. Yawkey and the other owners expected blind devotion, even though they were underpaying their players. Young players such as Fisk, Lynn and Burleson wanted to be paid more and Yawkey thought they were ungrateful spoiled brats. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn finally ended the lockout and ordered the season the start.

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 on two Sox errors. 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 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 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 swept the Twins away the next day, 12-3. Dwight Evans drove in four runs with a homer and a double, along with homers from Fisk, 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 away the next four games on the Sox schedule and then from April 29th to May 11th, the Red Sox lost ten straight, the most to the Texas Rangers, who were far from being an American League power. It put the Sox in an 8 1/2 game hole.

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, breaking the losing streak. It took 12 innings for Yaz to drive in the winning run with a sacrifice fly.

The next night Rick Miller drove in three runs and scored two to lead the Sox to a 7-5 victory over the Indians. After taking two-of-three in Cleveland, the Sox returned to Fenway to face the Brewers.

On May 14th, 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 A seventh inning explosion began with a Carlton Fisk double and ended with a Fisk homer. In between, men named Petrocelli, Lynn and 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) shutout 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. Carl Yastrzemski turned back the clock in the series finale 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 four days in New York couldn’t have gone worse. Bill Lee pitched to a raucous crowd in the opening game on May 20th. Although Lee wrapped himself up in the trappings of the counterculture, on the mound he was anything but. He absolutely loved pitching against the Yankees and the boorish  owner George Steinbrenner. To him the Yankees represented everything that was evil, and pitching against them was more like a holy war.

The Sox took the opener 8-2, on May 20th, but an in-game brawl resulted in an injured shoulder for Lee. A collision at home plate between Carlton Fisk and Lou Piniella resulted in an all out brawl. In seconds both dugouts emptied and there were a dozen fights going on all over the field. In the midst of the fray, Mickey Rivers sucker punched Lee, who went down. When he tried to get up, Graig Nettles threw it into the ground. As a result Lee had torn a ligament in his shoulder and would be out for almost two months.

The Sox led the second game, 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 saw the Sox drop a 1-0 gut-wrencher in 11 innings, with Jim Rice hitting into a double play in the 10th inning, when the Sox were in position to get a run.

The fourth game had 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, 6 games behind the Yankees, in third place.

In 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. 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 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 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. The Sox fell seven games behind New York.

Dick O'Connell traded Bernie Carbo to the Milwaukee Brewers for Tom Murphy and Bobby Darwin on June 3rd. Although Murphy eventually helped out of the bullpen, the trade proved to be unpopular.

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 the next game, beating the Angels, 4 to 1. Carl Yastrzemski reached the 4000 total bases mark with two base hits. The Sox took 2-of-3 from the Angels.

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.

In Minnesota on June 11th, during a Sox loss to the Twins in Minnesota, the discontent erupted when Carlton Fisk and Darrell Johnson had an argument in the dugout. In the next game, Dwight Evans hit a homer and a run-scoring triple to help Luis Tiant win his league-leading eighth win, 5 to 2. The next day Fisk contributed a two-run single in a 10-2 win over the Twins. 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 Red Sox front office did make a bold move when they bought the contracts of outfielder Joe Rudi and relief pitcher Rollie Fingers from the Oakland A’s on June 15th. A's owner Charlie Finley felt he no longer able could meet the salary demands of his high-priced stars. For 1 1/2 million dollars he sold Vida Blue to the Yankees. For $2 million and two minor leaguers, Steve Dillard and Andy Merchant, Finley sold Rudi and Fingers to the Red Sox.

Fingers and Rudi were both vital parts of the teams that won three straight World Series from 1972-74, but the sale for straight cash was voided by commissioner Bowie Kuhn as being contrary to the best interests of baseball on June 18th. Even though Tom Yawkey had bought key players from the Athletics like Lefty Grove and Jimmie Foxx, when they were in Philadelphia, to start his tenure with the Red Sox in the 1930s, now in the 1970s, bedridden and in very poor health, he 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 Evans, Rice and Fisk highlighted the offensive outburst.

Then in Anaheim, the next day, 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, winning 2-of-3.

The Sox then lost 2-of-3 in Baltimore. In the game they won, Fred Lynn scored from third base, on a fielder's choice in the 15th inning, to give the Sox a 6 to 5 victory. They 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, the game winner in the ninth inning, on a sacrifice fly.

They then took three straight from the Orioles. On June 28th, Butch Hobson was called up from Pawtucket and led the Sox to a 12-8 win by smacking a two-run inside-the-park homer. Then in the next game, Rick Wise threw his second one-hitter of the season with a 2-0 shutout. In the finale 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.

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 however fell ten games behind.

The Sox (37-37) made it back to the .500 mark with Luis Tiant earning his 10th win of the season. Hobson and Cooper drove in three runs each in the 11-2 victory over Chicago, on July 5th. Fergie Jenkins tossed a four-hit shutout, 4-0 the next day.

The Twins 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 the Sox mourned the loss of their owner. On July 9th, 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. Members of the team, especially Carl Yastrzemski were visibly shaken. Players mourned him as a member of the family or 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 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, were they usually feast 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. Rice dropped from 62 RBIs to 43, and Burleson from 37 RBIs to 20.

Lynn, Fisk, Yaz and Tiant were 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.

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 and then lost their next game in Texas to fall back by 14 games.

Three days after Yawkey's death, MLB and the Players' Union agreed to a new Basic Agreement and O'Connell quickly signed Fisk, Burleson and Lynn. He also fired Darrell Johnson and Don Zimmer took over the managerial reins on July 19th. O'Connell thought that Darrell Johnson 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. None of the players knew their role and hardly anyone was happy. One bright spot 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 in Yankee Stadium. They went 2-11 on the post All Star break road trip, to plummet into 5th place, 18 games behind the Yanks.

On July 27th Ferguson Jenkins won his 200th career victory against the Brewers, beating them 8-7 at Fenway Park. Jenkins beat the Yankees on July 31st in the the first game of a day-night doubleheader, 4 to 2. Bob Montgomery's tie-breaking 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 next day, August 1st, Rick Burleson doubled in two runs in the ninth inning and scored on a sacrifice fly by Carl Yastrzemski as the Red Sox edged the Yankees, 5 to 4. The Sox went on to win eight of their next nine games, moving from 17 1/2 game out to 11 1/2 games behind the Yanks.

In a doubleheader that the Red Sox split in Chicago on August 17th, Burleson knocked out seven hits in ten times at bat. But the Sox lost eight of the eleven games they played on the road trip, pushing their deficit back down to 17 1/2 games, in 5th place.

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.

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

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. Fisk had four hits and scored four times. The next day the Sox bombed the Texas Rangers, 11 to 3, in another 18 hit game. Rice had four hits, including two home runs and five RBIs.

On September 3rd, Yaz drove in two runs with his 20th homer and 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. Fisk hit a homer and a triple, good for three RBIs in helping Luis Tiant win his 18th game on September 12th.

A loss to the Brewers 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. The next night he belted a ninth inning two-run homer that beat the Brewers, 4 to 3.

Hobson, Burleson and Yaz each drove in two runs to beat Detroit, 8 to 3, on September 17th. Yaz's home run and single, were good for four RBIs, in beating the Tigers, 5 to 4 the next game. In the third game, Rick Wise won, 6 to 1, scattering six hits. 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 21st, the Sox returned to Fenway and Luis Tiant won his 20th game of the season, beating the Brewers, 7 to 1. He had a no-hitter going into the seventh inning, finishing with three hits against him. Jim Rice's four hits, including a pair of doubles, led the Sox to a 6-3 win over the Brewers the next day. 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.

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.

On September 28th, the Sox launched a 15-hit attack against the Yankees, winning 7 to 5 at Fenway. 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. The next game, Reggie Cleveland, Jim Willoughby and Tom House combined in a four-hit shutout of the O's, 1-0. The season's last game went 15 innings, and Burleson drove in Hobson for a 3 to 2 walk-off. The Sox were over .500 at 83-79, good for third place in the AL East. But they were 15 1/2 games behind the Yankees.