1976 Minnesota Twins season

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.
December 23, 1975: Danny Walton was traded by the Twins to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Bob Randall.
January 7, 1976: Pete Redfern was drafted by the Twins in the 1st round of the 1976 Major League Baseball draft.
February 11, 1976: Johnny Briggs was released by the Twins.

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 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 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.
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.
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 and appearances. 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 managing double digit wins.

Notable transactions

May 30, 1976: Jeff Holly was signed as a free agent by the Twins.
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. On December 10, Thompson died of complications related to his granulocytic leukemia in Rochester, Minnesota.

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
C		149	534	139	.260	10	69
1B		156	605	200	.331	9	90
2B		153	475	127	.267	1	34
3B		104	342	89	.260	3	49
SS		103	384	104	.271	2	36
LF		155	581	158	.272	14	96
CF		128	474	153	.323	4	60
RF		145	514	137	.267	20	86
DH		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
	122	417	120	.288	3	61
	87	258	68	.264	2	23
	89	171	42	.246	0	8
	45	138	28	.203	0	8
	34	124	29	.234	0	6
	67	123	26	.211	1	16
	24	65	16	.246	1	6
	38	57	11	.193	0	3
	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
	36	249.1	14	14	3.36	133
	37	177.0	9	14	4.98	87
	26	172.0	9	9	3.77	63
	23	118.0	8	8	3.51	74
	12	95.1	4	5	3.12	75
	17	79.1	4	7	5.11	24
	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
	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
	78	17	5	20	3.01	115
	57	8	1	1	2.50	45
	23	3	1	0	3.58	23
	18	3	1	0	2.61	37
	5	0	0	0	7.00	6

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Reno
Reno affiliation shared with San Diego Padres