1976 San Francisco Giants season explained

San Francisco Giants
Season:	1976
League:	National League
Division:	West
Ballpark:	Candlestick Park
City:	San Francisco, California
Owners:	Horace Stoneham and Bob Lurie
General Managers:	Spec Richardson
Managers:	Bill Rigney
Television:	KTVU (Al Michaels, Gary Park)
Radio:	KSFO (Al Michaels, Lon Simmons)

The 1976 San Francisco Giants season was the Giants' 94th season in Major League Baseball, their 19th season in San Francisco since their move from New York following the 1957 season, and their 17th at Candlestick Park. The team finished in fourth place in the National League West with a 74–88 record, 28 games behind the Cincinnati Reds.

Offseason

During the first half of the 1970s, attendance at cold and windy Candlestick Park plummeted, and Giants owner Horace Stoneham had faced financial hardship. Finally, in 1976, he put the team up for sale. In January 1976, Stoneham agreed to sell the team for $13.25 million to a Toronto group consisting of Labatt's Breweries of Canada, Ltd., Vulcan Assets Ltd., and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The team would begin play with the 1976 season at Toronto's Exhibition Stadium and be called the Giants.^[1] In addition, it was briefly rumored they considered a return to the New York metropolitan area, perhaps to a new baseball stadium in the New Jersey Meadowlands. Instead, Bob Lurie led a group to buy the Giants from Horace Stoneham for $8 million.^[2]

January 7, 1976: Dennis Littlejohn was drafted by the Giants in the 1st round (2nd pick) of the 1976 Major League Baseball draft (secondary phase).^[3]

June 2, 1976: Von Joshua was purchased from the Giants by the Milwaukee Brewers.^[4]
June 13, 1976: Willie Montañez, Craig Robinson, Mike Eden, and Jake Brown were traded by the Giants to the Atlanta Braves for Darrell Evans and Marty Perez.^[5]
June 14, 1976: Joe Strain was signed as an amateur free agent by the Giants.^[6]
June 21, 1976: Casey Parsons was signed as an amateur free agent by the Giants.^[7]
September 3, 1976: Randy Elliott was signed as a free agent by the Giants.^[8]

June 8, 1976: Jeff Stember was drafted by the Giants in the 26th round of the 1976 Major League Baseball draft.^[9]

1976 San Francisco Giants
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		ManagerCoaches

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	88	255	67	.263	1	22
1B	92	257	57	.222	10	36
2B	93	332	86	.259	2	26
3B	155	577	154	.267	5	66
SS	145	495	112	.226	3	40
LF	156	587	164	.279	20	84
CF	115	337	97	.288	2	23
RF	147	533	138	.259	23	90

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
103	328	85	.259	8	38
81	272	63	.232	2	19
60	230	71	.309	2	20
42	156	41	.263	0	2
54	131	24	.183	3	15
26	102	23	.225	2	10
33	100	21	.210	0	9
55	93	19	.204	0	7
69	74	18	.243	0	3
59	74	13	.176	0	5
23	73	13	.178	2	7
60	69	15	.217	0	5
12	25	4	.160	0	2
15	13	4	.308	0	2

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

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
37	253.1	16	14	2.84	172
37	252.1	15	12	2.89	75
32	186.1	12	14	3.62	130
25	107.2	3	10	4.43	33
28	106.0	3	8	5.35	53
4	25.0	1	2	3.24	11
4	16.0	1	1	5.63	11

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	50	107.1	1	7	4.86	55
	10	25.2	0	3	4.91	7

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

G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
58	6	6	14	2.27	50
65	10	6	12	2.69	71
61	4	4	1	4.44	40
48	2	0	1	2.96	34
7	0	1	1	6.23	4

News: Giants Moving: Toronto . St. Petersburg Times . January 9, 1976.
News: Giants will stay in San Francisco . Gordon Sakamoto . Bryan Times. February 11, 1976. 14 .
https://www.baseball-reference.com/l/littlde01.shtml Dennis Littlejohn page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/joshuvo01.shtml Von Joshua page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/e/evansda01.shtml Darrell Evans page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/straijo01.shtml Joe Strain page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/p/parsoca01.shtml Casey Parsons page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/e/elliora01.shtml Randy Elliott page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/stembje01.shtml Jeff Stember page at Baseball Reference
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, N.C.: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007