1976 New York Mets season

The 1976 New York Mets season was the 15th regular season for the Mets, who played home games at Shea Stadium. Led by manager Joe Frazier, the team had an 86–76 record and finished in third place in the National League East, fifteen games behind the first place Philadelphia Phillies.

Offseason

On December 6, Mrs. Lorinda de Roulet, daughter of the late Joan Payson, was named president of the Mets. The critical decisions, however, were still made by board chairman M. Donald Grant and General Manager Joe McDonald.

Notable transactions

December 3, 1975: Kelvin Chapman was signed as an amateur free agent by the Mets.
December 12, 1975: Rusty Staub and Bill Laxton were traded by the Mets to the Detroit Tigers for Mickey Lolich and Billy Baldwin.
January 7, 1976: 1976 Major League Baseball draft
*Greg Harris was drafted by the Mets in the 7th round, but did not sign.
*Kim Seaman was drafted by the Mets in the 4th round of the Secondary Phase.
March 5, 1976: Mario Ramírez was signed as an amateur free agent by the Mets.
March 30, 1976: Jesús Alou was released by the Mets.

Regular season

Season summary

On September 16, before a small crowd of 5,472 at Shea Stadium, Jerry Koosman overcame a home run by future Mets player Keith Hernandez to pitch a complete game and win his 20th game of the season for the first time in his career in a 4–1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. He became the second pitcher in Mets history to win 20 games.

Notable transactions

June 8, 1976: Dave Von Ohlen was drafted by the Mets in the 17th round of the 1976 Major League Baseball draft.
July 21, 1976: Del Unser and Wayne Garrett were traded by the Mets to the Montreal Expos for Jim Dwyer and Pepe Mangual.
September 17, 1976: Greg Harris was signed as an amateur free agent by the Mets.

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		101	323	88	.272	4	28
1B		123	415	121	.292	10	49
2B		139	531	150	.282	1	35
SS		118	359	84	.234	1	26
3B		95	304	67	.220	2	26
LF		127	443	120	.271	15	78
CF		77	276	63	.228	5	25
RF		123	474	113	.238	37	86

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
	114	310	95	.306	5	31
	110	286	82	.287	2	13
	87	262	67	.256	4	29
	80	251	56	.223	4	26
	56	155	35	.226	4	24
	53	143	31	.217	0	9
	32	103	27	.262	2	10
	41	102	19	.186	1	9
	24	77	15	.195	2	7
	64	70	15	.214	0	2
	24	59	12	.203	1	15
	22	26	3	.115	1	2
	9	22	6	.273	1	5
	11	13	2	.154	0	0
	5	12	1	.083	0	0
	2	5	1	.200	0	2

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
	35	271.0	14	11	2.59	235
	35	262.0	17	10	2.95	153
	34	247.1	21	10	2.69	200
	31	192.2	8	13	3.22	120
	23	132.1	6	9	3.54	89

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
	12	41.2	4	4	3.67	30

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
	56	94.1	10	7	19	2.67	108
	43	89.2	3	7	5	2.81	45
	31	47.0	1	2	1	2.87	16
	21	27.2	1	1	0	3.25	11
	11	22.2	0	0	0	2.38	9
	8	16.0	0	1	0	4.50	7
	5	4.2	1	1	0	5.79	2