1976 Minnesota Twins season

March 2026 November 2013 Minnesota Twins 1976 American League West Metropolitan Stadium Bloomington, Minnesota Calvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes) Calvin Griffith Gene Mauch WTCN (Harmon Killebrew, Joe Boyle) 830 WCCO AM (Herb Carneal, Frank Quilici) The 1976 Minnesota Twins season was the 16th season for the Minnesota Twins franchise in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, their 16th season at Metropolitan Stadium and the 76th overall in the American League. The Twins finished 85–77, third in the American League West. Only 715,394 fans attended Twins games, the lowest total in the American League. It was the third year in a row that the Twins attracted the fewest fans in the AL. Offseason October 24, 1975: Sergio Ferrer was traded by the Twins to the Philadelphia Phillies for Larry Cox.Sergio Ferrer page at Baseball Reference December 23, 1975: Danny Walton was traded by the Twins to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Bob Randall.Bob Randall page at Baseball Reference January 7, 1976: Pete Redfern was drafted by the Twins in the 1st round (1st pick) of the 1976 Major League Baseball draft (secondary phase).Pete Redfern page at Baseball Reference February 11, 1976: Johnny Briggs was released by the Twins.Johnny Briggs page at Baseball Reference Regular season In June and July, Larry Hisle and Lyman Bostock became the third and fourth Twins to hit for the cycle. Hisle cycled on June 4 in an 8–6 win over Baltimore, going double, triple, single, home run. He is the only Twin that took an extra inning (homering in the tenth) to accomplish the feat, as he'd grounded out in his first at-bat. Six weeks later Bostock became the second Twin to cycle during a season, a first for the club. Two Twins made the All-Star Game: first baseman Rod Carew and catcher Butch Wynegar. On July 24, Lyman Bostock, batting fourth, went four-for-four (3B-HR-2B-1B) to become the fourth Twin to hit for the cycle. He had four RBI and scored four runs in the 17–2 win over Chicago.https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA197607240.shtml Minnesota Twins 17, Chicago White Sox 2 Baseball-Reference.com 2016-01-28 Steve Luebber is the Minnesota pitcher to come closest to a no-hitter without achieving it. On August 7, he was one out away before losing his bid when Texas Ranger Roy Howell singled. Luebber then lost the shutout when Mike Hargrove singled Howell home. The Twins won the game, 3–1.https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TEX/TEX197608070.shtml Minnesota Twins 3, Texas Rangers1 Baseball-Reference.com 2016-01-28 For the first time in four years, Carew did not win the AL batting title, finishing third with a .331 batting average. Carew did have 200 hits and 90 RBI. Larry Hisle hit 14 home runs and collected 96 RBI. Dan Ford added 20 HR and 86 RBI. The Twins set a season-record low with just 81 homers. Reliever Bill Campbell led the Twins pitchers with 17 wins, all in relief. He also led the team in saves (20) and appearances (78). His earned run average of 3.01 was second only to reliever Tom Burgmeier's 2.50; Burgmeier added 8 relief wins and a save. The Twins needed the relief help because the starting pitching was terrible, with only Dave Goltz (14–14) managing double digit wins. Season standings Record vs. opponents MIN Notable transactions May 30, 1976: Jeff Holly was signed as a free agent by the Twins.Jeff Holly page at Baseball Reference June 1, 1976: Bert Blyleven and Danny Thompson were traded by the Twins to the Texas Rangers for Bill Singer, Roy Smalley, Mike Cubbage, Jim Gideon, and $250,000.Bert Blyleven page at Baseball Reference On December 10, Thompson died of complications related to his granulocytic leukemia in Rochester, Minnesota. Roster 1976 Minnesota Twins Roster Pitchers 20 Vic Albury 18 Eddie Bane 28 Bert Blyleven 19 Tom Burgmeier 24 Bill Campbell 21 Joe Decker 30 Dave Goltz 31 Jim Hughes 21 Tom Johnson 23 Steve Luebber 26 Mike Pazik 17 Pete Redfern 48 Bill Singer Catchers 14 Glenn Borgmann  8 Phil Roof 16 Butch Wynegar Infielders 29 Rod Carew 26 Mike Cubbage 25 Luis Gómez 22 Craig Kusick  7 Dave McKay 32 Bob Randall  5 Roy Smalley  1 Jerry Terrell  5 Danny Thompson Outfielders 10 Lyman Bostock  2 Steve Braun 11 Steve Brye 15 Dan Ford  9 Larry Hisle  6 Tony Oliva Manager  4 Gene Mauch Coaches 41 Ed Lyons 42 Don McMahon 40 Joe Nossek  6 Tony Oliva 43 Jerry Zimmerman Player stats = Indicates team leader 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 C Butch Wynegar 149 534 139 .260 10 69 1B Rod Carew 156 605 200 .331 9 90 2B Bob Randall Bob Randall (baseball) 153 475 127 .267 1 34 3B Mike Cubbage 104 342 89 .260 3 49 SS Roy Smalley Roy Smalley III 103 384 104 .271 2 36 LF Larry Hisle 155 581 158 .272 14 96 CF Lyman Bostock 128 474 153 .323 4 60 RF Dan Ford 145 514 137 .267 20 86 DH Craig Kusick 109 266 69 .259 11 36 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 Steve Braun Steve Braun (baseball) 122 417 120 .288 3 61 Steve Brye 87 258 68 .264 2 23 Jerry Terrell 89 171 42 .246 0 8 Dave McKay Dave McKay (baseball) 45 138 28 .203 0 8 Danny Thompson Danny Thompson (baseball) 34 124 29 .234 0 6 Tony Oliva 67 123 26 .211 1 16 Glenn Borgmann 24 65 16 .246 1 6 Luis Gómez Luis Gómez (baseball) 38 57 11 .193 0 3 Phil Roof 18 46 10 .217 0 4 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 Dave Goltz 36 249.1 14 14 3.36 133 Jim Hughes Jim Hughes (1970s pitcher) 37 177.0 9 14 4.98 87 Bill Singer 26 172.0 9 9 3.77 63 Pete Redfern 23 118.0 8 8 3.51 74 Bert Blyleven 12 95.1 4 5 3.12 75 Eddie Bane 17 79.1 4 7 5.11 24 Joe Decker 13 58.0 2 7 5.28 35 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 Steve Luebber 38 119.1 4 5 4.00 45 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 Bill Campbell Bill Campbell (baseball) 78 17 5 20 3.01 115 Tom Burgmeier 57 8 1 1 2.50 45 Vic Albury 23 3 1 0 3.58 23 Tom Johnson Tom Johnson (1970s pitcher) 18 3 1 0 2.61 37 Mike Pazik 5 0 0 0 7.00 6 Farm system Minor League Baseball AAA Tacoma Twins Pacific Coast League Cal Ermer AA Orlando Twins Southern League Dick Phillips A Reno Silver Sox California League Johnny Goryl A Wisconsin Rapids Twins Midwest League Harry Warner Rookie Elizabethton Twins Appalachian League Fred Waters LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Reno Reno affiliation shared with San Diego Padres Notes 2 References Johnson Lloyd Wolff Miles The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball 2nd Durham, North Carolina Baseball America 1997 978-0-9637189-8-3 External links Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com Team info from www.baseball-almanac.com Category:Minnesota Twins seasons Minnesota Twins season Minnesota Twins