# 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.

### Season standings

vteNL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 101 | 61 | .623 | — | 53‍–‍28 | 48‍–‍33 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 92 | 70 | .568 | 9 | 47‍–‍34 | 45‍–‍36 |
| New York Mets | 86 | 76 | .531 | 15 | 45‍–‍37 | 41‍–‍39 |
| Chicago Cubs | 75 | 87 | .463 | 26 | 42‍–‍39 | 33‍–‍48 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 72 | 90 | .444 | 29 | 37‍–‍44 | 35‍–‍46 |
| Montreal Expos | 55 | 107 | .340 | 46 | 27‍–‍53 | 28‍–‍54 |

### Record vs. opponents

1976 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 6–6 | 6–12 | 7–11 | 8–10 | 8–4 | 4–8 | 5–7 | 3–9 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 4–8 |
| Chicago | 6–6 | — | 3–9 | 5–7 | 3–9 | 11–7 | 5–13 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 12–6 |
| Cincinnati | 12–6 | 9–3 | — | 12–6 | 13–5 | 9–3 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 8–4 | 13–5 | 9–9 | 6–6 |
| Houston | 11–7 | 7–5 | 6–12 | — | 5–13 | 10–2 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 2–10 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 9–3 |
| Los Angeles | 10–8 | 9–3 | 5–13 | 13–5 | — | 10–2 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 9–3 | 6–12 | 8–10 | 10–2 |
| Montreal | 4–8 | 7–11 | 3–9 | 2–10 | 2–10 | — | 8–10 | 3–15 | 8–10 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 7–11 |
| New York | 8–4 | 13–5 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 10–8 | — | 5–13 | 10–8 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 9–9 |
| Philadelphia | 7-5 | 10–8 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 15–3 | 13–5 | — | 8–10 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 12–6 |
| Pittsburgh | 9–3 | 10–8 | 4–8 | 10–2 | 3–9 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 10–8 | — | 7–5 | 9–3 | 12–6 |
| San Diego | 8–10 | 6–6 | 5–13 | 8–10 | 12–6 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 5–7 | — | 8–10 | 4–8 |
| San Francisco | 9–9 | 4–8 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 3–9 | 10–8 | — | 5–7 |
| St. Louis | 8–4 | 6–12 | 6–6 | 3–9 | 2–10 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 6–12 | 8–4 | 7–5 | — |

### 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.

### Roster
## 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 | Jerry Grote | 101 | 323 | 88 | .272 | 4 | 28 |
| 1B | Ed Kranepool | 123 | 415 | 121 | .292 | 10 | 49 |
| 2B | Félix Millán | 139 | 531 | 150 | .282 | 1 | 35 |
| SS | Bud Harrelson | 118 | 359 | 84 | .234 | 1 | 26 |
| 3B | Roy Staiger | 95 | 304 | 67 | .220 | 2 | 26 |
| LF | John Milner | 127 | 443 | 120 | .271 | 15 | 78 |
| CF | Del Unser | 77 | 276 | 63 | .228 | 5 | 25 |
| RF | Dave Kingman | 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 |
| Joe Torre | 114 | 310 | 95 | .306 | 5 | 31 |
| Bruce Boisclair | 110 | 286 | 82 | .287 | 2 | 13 |
| Mike Phillips | 87 | 262 | 67 | .256 | 4 | 29 |
| Wayne Garrett | 80 | 251 | 56 | .223 | 4 | 26 |
| Ron Hodges | 56 | 155 | 35 | .226 | 4 | 24 |
| Mike Vail | 53 | 143 | 31 | .217 | 0 | 9 |
| John Stearns | 32 | 103 | 27 | .262 | 2 | 10 |
| Pepe Mangual | 41 | 102 | 19 | .186 | 1 | 9 |
| Lee Mazzilli | 24 | 77 | 15 | .195 | 2 | 7 |
| Leon Brown | 64 | 70 | 15 | .214 | 0 | 2 |
| Leo Foster | 24 | 59 | 12 | .203 | 1 | 15 |
| Benny Ayala | 22 | 26 | 3 | .115 | 1 | 2 |
| Billy Baldwin | 9 | 22 | 6 | .273 | 1 | 5 |
| Jim Dwyer | 11 | 13 | 2 | .154 | 0 | 0 |
| Jack Heidemann | 5 | 12 | 1 | .083 | 0 | 0 |
| Jay Kleven | 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 |
| Tom Seaver | 35 | 271.0 | 14 | 11 | 2.59 | 235 |
| Jon Matlack | 35 | 262.0 | 17 | 10 | 2.95 | 153 |
| Jerry Koosman | 34 | 247.1 | 21 | 10 | 2.69 | 200 |
| Mickey Lolich | 31 | 192.2 | 8 | 13 | 3.22 | 120 |
| Craig Swan | 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 |
| Nino Espinosa | 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 |
| Skip Lockwood | 56 | 94.1 | 10 | 7 | 19 | 2.67 | 108 |
| Bob Apodaca | 43 | 89.2 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 2.81 | 45 |
| Ken Sanders | 31 | 47.0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2.87 | 16 |
| Bob Myrick | 21 | 27.2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3.25 | 11 |
| Rick Baldwin | 11 | 22.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.38 | 9 |
| Hank Webb | 8 | 16.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.50 | 7 |
| Tom Hall | 5 | 4.2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5.79 | 2 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Tidewater Tides | International League | Tom Burgess |
| AA | Jackson Mets | Texas League | John Antonelli |
| A | Lynchburg Mets | Carolina League | Jack Aker |
| A | Wausau Mets | Midwest League | Bill Monbouquette |
| Rookie | Marion Mets | Appalachian League | Al Jackson |