1977 Boston Red Sox season

The 1977 Boston Red Sox season was the 77th season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished tied for second in the American League East with a record of 97 wins and 64 losses, 2 12 games behind the New York Yankees.

1977 Boston Red Sox
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record97–64 (.602)
Divisional place2nd (tied; 2 12 GB)
Other information
Owner(s)Jean Yawkey
General manager(s)Dick O'Connell
Manager(s)Don Zimmer
Local televisionWSBK-TV, Ch. 38
(Dick Stockton, Ken Harrelson)
Local radioWMEX-AM 1510
(Ned Martin, Jim Woods)
StatsESPN.com
BB-reference
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Offseason

  • November 22, 1976: Darryl Cias was signed as a free agent by the Red Sox.[1]

Regular season

Record by month[2]
MonthRecordCumulativeAL EastRef.
WonLostWonLostPositionGB
April99994th2 12[3]
May151224213rd2 12[4]
June171041311st+12[5]
July171258431st[6]
August171275552nd (tie)4[7]
September22897632nd2[8]
October0197642nd (tie)2 12[9]

Boston's final game of the season, scheduled for October 2 at home against the Baltimore Orioles, was rained out and not rescheduled.[10]

Highlights

Lack of pitching depth might have been a hindrance, but the team was helped by a league-leading offense,[11] which during one ten-game span hit 33 home runs.[11] With that kind of scoring, Boston managed to compete with the Yankees and Orioles—leading the division as late as August 22[12]—but at season's end, not even 97 wins would be enough.

On June 18, during a nationally-televised game against the New York Yankees at Fenway Park in Boston, Jim Rice, a powerful hitter but a slow runner, hit a ball into right field. Yankees outfielder Reggie Jackson seemed to approach the ball indifferently, and Rice reached second base. Furious, Yankees manager Billy Martin removed Jackson from the game without even waiting for the end of the inning, sending Paul Blair out to replace him. When Jackson arrived at the dugout, Martin yelled that Jackson had shown him up. They argued, and Jackson said that Martin's heavy drinking had impaired his judgment. Despite Jackson being 18 years younger, about 4 inches (10 cm) taller and maybe 40 pounds (18 kg) heavier, Martin lunged at him, and had to be restrained by coaches Yogi Berra and Elston Howard. Red Sox fans could see this in the dugout and began cheering wildly, and the NBC television cameras showed the confrontation to the entire country. The Red Sox went on to win the game, 10–4.[13]

Season standings

AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 10062 0.617 55–26 45–36
Baltimore Orioles 9764 0.602 54–27 43–37
Boston Red Sox 9764 0.602 51–29 46–35
Detroit Tigers 7488 0.457 26 39–42 35–46
Cleveland Indians 7190 0.441 28½ 37–44 34–46
Milwaukee Brewers 6795 0.414 33 37–44 30–51
Toronto Blue Jays 54107 0.335 45½ 25–55 29–52

Record vs. opponents

1977 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore 6–85–65–511–412–34–711–46–48–78–27–34–610–5
Boston 8–67–33–78–79–65–59–64–68–78–310–16–412–3
California 6–53–78–76–44–66–95–57–84–75–109–65–106–4
Chicago 5–57–37–86–44–68–76–510–53–710–510–56–98–3
Cleveland 4–117–84–64–68–73–711–42–93–127–37–32–99–5
Detroit 3–126–96–46–47–83–810–55–56–95–55–62–810–5
Kansas City 7–45–59–67–87–38–38–210–55–59–611–48–78–2
Milwaukee 4–116–95–55–64–115–102–83–88–75–57–35–58–7
Minnesota 4–66–48–75–109–25–55–108–32–88–67–88–79–1
New York 7–87–87–47–312–39–65–57–88–29–26–47–39–6
Oakland 2–83–810–55–103–75–56–95–56–82–97–82–137–3
Seattle 3–71–106–95–103–76–54–113–78–74–68–79–64–6
Texas 6–44–610–59–69–28–27–85–57–83–713–26–97–4
Toronto 5–103–124–63–85–95–102–87–81–96–93–76–44–7

Notable transactions

Opening Day lineup

  7Rick BurlesonSS
  5Denny Doyle2B
14Jim RiceLF
  8Carl Yastrzemski    RF
15George Scott1B
  1Bernie CarboDH
24Dwight EvansCF
27Carlton FiskC
  4Butch Hobson3B
31Ferguson JenkinsP

Source:[16]

Roster

1977 Boston Red Sox
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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
CCarlton Fisk152536169.31526102
1BGeorge Scott157584157.2693395
2BDenny Doyle137455109.240249
SSRick Burleson154663194.293352
3BButch Hobson159593157.26530112
LFCarl Yastrzemski150558165.29628102
CFFred Lynn129497129.2601876
RFBernie Carbo8622866.2891534
DHJim Rice160644206.32039114

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
Dwight Evans7323066.2871436
Rick Miller8618948.254024
Steve Dillard6614134.241113
Tommy Helms215916.27115
Ted Cox135821.36216
Bob Montgomery174012.30027
Dave Coleman11120.00000
Bobby Darwin492.22201
Doug Griffin560.00000
Jack Baker230.00000
Bob Bailey220.00000
Sam Bowen320.00000
Bo Diaz210.00000
Ramón Avilés100---00

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
Ferguson Jenkins2819310103.68105
Reggie Cleveland36190.11184.2685
Luis Tiant32188.21284.53124
Rick Wise26128.11154.7785
Bill Lee27128954.4331
Don Aase1392.1623.1249

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
Bob Stanley41151873.9944
Mike Paxton291081053.8358

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 Campbell69139312.96114
Jim Willoughby316224.9433
Tom Murphy160106.7513
Ramón Hernández120115.688
Tom House810012.916
Jim Burton10000.003
Rick Kreuger10100

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Pawtucket Red Sox International League Joe Morgan
AA Bristol Red Sox Eastern League John Kennedy
A Winston-Salem Red Sox Carolina League Tony Torchia
A Winter Haven Red Sox Florida State League Rac Slider
A-Short Season Elmira Red Sox New York–Penn League Dick Berardino

Source:[17]

References

Further reading

  • Fitzgerald, Ray (October 10, 2020). "1977 Red Sox season ended in frustration". The Boston Globe. Retrieved October 10, 2020. Editor’s note: The Globe is reaching into its archives to bring you “Replay,” articles from the past that highlight something interesting, timely, or revealing. This column by Ray Fitzgerald on troubles facing the Red Sox as they concluded the 1977 season appeared on Sunday, Sept. 25, 1977, under the headline “5 frustrations hindered Sox.”
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