The 1996 Boston Red Sox season was the 96th season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished third in the American League East with a record of 85–77, seven games behind the New York Yankees, who went on to win the 1996 World Series.

Offseason October 13, 1995: Butch Henry was selected off waivers by the Red Sox from the Montreal Expos.Butch Henry Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com December 14, 1995: Mike Stanley was signed as a free agent by the Red Sox.Mike Stanley page at Baseball Reference December 21, 1995: Milt Cuyler was signed as a free agent by the Red Sox.Milt Cuyler page at Baseball Reference December 21, 1995: Tom Gordon was signed as a free agent by the Red Sox.Tom Gordon page at Baseball Reference January 2, 1996: Jamie Moyer was signed as a free agent by the Red Sox.Jamie Moyer page at Baseball Reference January 10, 1996: Traded Rhéal Cormier, Ryan McGuire, and Shayne Bennett to the Montreal Expos for Wil Cordero and Bryan Eversgerd.Red Sox 1996 transactions page at Baseball Reference January 21, 1996: Dan Monzon, supervisor of Latin American scouting, was killed in an automobile accident in the Dominican Republic. January 22, 1996: Alex Cole was signed as a free agent by the Red Sox.Alex Cole page at Baseball Reference January 29, 1996: Glenn Murray, Ken Ryan, and Lee Tinsley were traded by the Red Sox to the Philadelphia Phillies for Heathcliff Slocumb, Larry Wimberly (minors) and Rick Holyfield (minors).Heathcliff Slocumb page at Baseball Reference March 8, 1996: Kevin Mitchell was signed as a free agent by the Red Sox.Kevin Mitchell page at Baseball Reference March 19, 1996: Luis Alicea was selected off waivers by the St. Louis Cardinals.Luis Alicea page at Baseball Reference

Regular season September 18, 1996: Roger Clemens struck out 20 batters for the second time in his career, becoming the only player ever to do so. The performance came against the Detroit Tigers at Tiger Stadium. Clemens' second 20-K day occurred in his second-to-last game as a member of the Boston Red Sox.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Detailed records

American League Opponent W L WP AL East Baltimore Orioles 6 7 78 71 Boston Red Sox Detroit Tigers 12 1 108 50 New York Yankees 7 6 72 73 Toronto Blue Jays 8 5 77 72 Total 33 19 335 266 AL Central Chicago White Sox 6 6 71 70 Cleveland Indians 1 11 42 87 Kansas City Royals 3 9 48 69 Milwaukee Brewers 7 5 58 68 Minnesota Twins 6 6 78 76 Total 23 37 297 370 AL West California Angels 8 4 69 52 Oakland Athletics 8 5 76 57 Seattle Mariners 7 6 88 81 Texas Rangers 6 6 63 95 Total 29 21 296 285 Season Total 85 77 928 921

Month Games Won Lost Win % April 26 7 19 120 166 May 26 14 12 177 155 June 27 13 14 152 174 July 26 13 13 163 148 August 31 22 9 156 136 September 26 16 10 160 142 Total 162 85 77 928 921 Games Won Lost Win % Home 81 47 34 517 464 Away 81 38 43 411 457 Total 162 85 77 928 921

Notable transactions April 18, 1996: Bryan Eversgerd was traded by Red Sox to the Texas Rangers for a player to be named later. The Rangers completed the deal by sending Rudy Pemberton on April 24.Bryan Eversgerd page at Baseball Reference May 17, 1996: Brad Pennington was selected off of waivers from the California Angels.Brad Pennington page at Baseball Reference June 5, 1996: Jeff Frye was signed as a free agent.Jeff Frye page at Baseball Reference June 9, 1996: Traded Scott Backum to the Philadelphia Phillies for Lee Tinsley.Lee Tisley page at Baseball Reference July 30, 1996: Kevin Mitchell was traded by the Red Sox to the Cincinnati Reds for Roberto Mejía and Brad Tweedie (minors). July 30, 1996: Jamie Moyer was traded by the Red Sox to the Seattle Mariners for Darren Bragg. July 31, 1996: Mike Stanton and a player to be named later were traded by the Red Sox to the Texas Rangers for Mark Brandenburg and Kerry Lacy. The Red Sox completed the deal by sending Dwayne Hosey to the Rangers on November 4.Mike Stanton page at Baseball Reference August 1, 1996: Greg Pirkl was selected off waivers by the Red Sox from the Seattle Mariners.Greg Pirkl page at Baseball Reference August 26, 1996: Traded for a player to be named later to the Minnesota Twins for Pat Mahomes. Brian Looney was sent to the Twins on December 17 to complete the deal.Pat Mahomes page at Baseball Reference

Draft picks June 4, 1996: 1996 Major League Baseball draft Chris Reitsma was drafted by the Red Sox in the 1st round. Player signed June 22, 1996.Chris Reitsma page at Baseball Reference Dernell Stenson was drafted by the Red Sox in the 2nd round. Player signed July 12, 1996.Dernell Stensen page at Baseball Reference Robert Ramsay was drafted by the Red Sox in the 7th round. Player signed June 15, 1996.Robert Ramsay page at Baseball Reference Justin Duchscherer was drafted by the Red Sox in the 8th round. Player signed June 14, 1996.Justin Duchscherer page at Baseball Reference Shea Hillenbrand was drafted by the Red Sox in the 10th round. Player signed June 6, 1996.She Hillenbrand page at Baseball Reference Aaron Harang was drafted by the Red Sox in the 22nd round, but did not sign.Aaron Harang page at Baseball Reference

Opening Day lineup 12 Wil Cordero 2B13 John Valentin SS42 Mo Vaughn 1B33 José Canseco DH 22 Mike Stanley C39 Mike Greenwell     LF11 Tim Naehring 3B25 Troy O'Leary RF46 Dwayne Hosey CF21 Roger Clemens P

Roster 1996 Boston Red Sox Roster Pitchers Catchers

InfieldersOutfielders

Other batters Manager

Coaches (Bullpen) (Pitching) (Bench) (Pitching) (Third base) (Hitting) (Bullpen) (First base)

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; SB = Stolen bases Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI SB C 121 397 107 .270 24 69 2 1B 161 635 207 .326 44 143 2 2B 105 419 120 .286 4 41 18 SS 131 606 156 .296 13 59 9 3B 116 430 124 .288 17 65 2 LF 77 295 87 .295 7 44 4 CF 92 192 47 .245 3 14 6 RF 149 497 129 .260 15 81 3 DH 96 360 104 .289 28 82 3

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

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI SB Reggie Jefferson 122 386 134 .347 19 74 0 Bill Haselman 77 237 65 .274 8 34 4 Darren Bragg 58 222 56 .252 3 22 6 Wil Cordero 59 198 57 .288 3 37 2 Milt Cuyler 50 110 22 .200 2 12 7 José Malavé 41 102 24 .235 4 17 0 Bill Selby 40 95 26 .274 3 6 1 Kevin Mitchell 27 93 28 .304 2 13 0 Nomar Garciaparra 24 87 21 .241 4 16 5 Dwayne Hosey 28 78 17 .218 1 3 6 Alex Cole 24 72 16 .222 0 7 5 Tony Rodríguez 27 67 16 .239 1 9 0 Esteban Beltré 27 62 16 .258 0 6 1 Arquimedez Pozo 21 58 10 .172 1 11 1 Jeff Manto 22 48 10 .208 2 6 0 Rudy Pemberton 13 41 21 .512 1 10 3 Alex Delgado 26 20 5 .250 0 1 0 Scott Hatteberg 10 11 2 .182 0 1 0 Jim Tatum 2 8 1 .125 0 0 0 Trot Nixon 2 4 2 .500 0 0 1 Phil Clark 3 3 0 .000 0 0 0 Greg Pirkl 2 2 0 .000 0 0 0 Walt McKeel 1 0 0 ---- 0 0 0

Pitching Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G GS IP W L SV ERA SO 34 34 242.2 10 13 0 3.63 257 34 34 215.2 12 9 0 5.59 171 32 32 211.2 14 13 0 5.14 140 29 29 157.1 7 11 0 5.69 67 23 10 90.0 7 1 0 4.50 50 39 10 87.2 6 3 0 7.08 59 75 0 83.1 5 5 31 3.02 88 23 7 64.1 3 2 0 4.48 32 59 0 56.1 4 3 1 3.83 46 36 0 45.0 3 5 1 5.40 19 37 0 44.0 3 2 0 4.91 55 31 0 28.2 2 1 2 6.59 18 29 0 28.1 4 2 0 3.81 29 8 4 22.2 1 1 0 7.54 13 28 0 17.1 0 1 0 8.31 7 14 0 13.0 0 2 0 2.77 13 11 0 12.1 2 0 2 5.84 6 11 0 10.2 2 0 0 3.38 9 8 0 10.0 0 1 0 9.00 5 3 0 6.1 0 0 0 5.68 3 2 2 6.0 0 2 0 15.00 4 4 0 4.1 0 0 0 12.46 4 1 0 0.1 0 0 0 27.00 0

Game log Red Sox Win Red Sox Loss Game postponed

|- style="text-align:center; background-color:#fbb;" | 1 || April 1 || @ Rangers || 3–5 || Hill (1–0) || Clemens (0–1) || Vosberg (1) || The Ballpark in Arlington || 40,484 || 0–1 || L1 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#fbb;" | 2 || April 3 || @ Rangers || 2–7 || Pavlik (1–0) || Gordon (0–1) || — || The Ballpark in Arlington || 24,483 || 0–2 || L2 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#fbb;" | 3 || April 4 || @ Rangers || 2–13 || Gross (1–0) || Wakefield (0–1) || — || The Ballpark in Arlington || 18,086 || 0–3 || L3 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#fbb;" | 4 || April 5 || @ Royals || 4–5 (12)|| Clark (1–0) || Pennington (0–1) || — || Kauffman Stadium || 39,526 || 0–4 || L4 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#fbb;" | 5 || April 6 || @ Royals || 3–7 || Pichardo (1–1) || Belinda (0–1) || — || Kauffman Stadium || 17,339 || 0–5 || L5 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#bfb;" | 6 || April 7 || @ Royals || 3–1 || Moyer (1–0) || Gubicza (0–1) || Slocumb (1) || Kauffman Stadium || 13,183 || 1–5 || W1 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#bbb" | — || April 8 || Twins || colspan=8|Postponed (snow). Makeup date April 9. |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#bfb;" | 7 || April 9 || Twins || 9–1 || Gordon (1–1) || Rodriguez (0–1) || — || Fenway Park || 30,843 || 2–5 || W2 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#bbb" | — || April 10 || Twins || colspan=8|Postponed (snow). Makeup date August 3. |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#fbb" | 8 || April 11 || Twins || 5–6 || Radke (3–0) || Clemens (0–2) || Stevens (2) || Fenway Park || 15,594 || 2–6 || L1 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#fbb" | 9 || April 12 || Indians || 1–3 || Nagy (2–0) || Sele (0–1) || Mesa (2) || Fenway Park || 26,703 || 2–7 || L2 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#fbb" | 10 || April 13 || Indians || 2–14 || Martínez (2–1) || Moyer (1–1) || — || Fenway Park || 31,827 || 2–8 || L3 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#fbb" | 11 || April 14 || Indians || 6–7 (11)|| Tavárez (1–1) || Stanton (0–1) || Mesa (2) || Fenway Park || 31,796 || 2–9 || L4 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#fbb" | 12 || April 15 || Indians || 0–8 || McDowell (1–1) || Wakefield (0–2) || — || Fenway Park || 32,861 || 2–10 || L5 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#fbb" | 13 || April 16 || @ Orioles || 1–6 || Wells (2–0) || Clemens (0–3) || — || Camden Yards || 40,017 || 2–11 || L6 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#fbb" | 14 || April 17 || @ Orioles || 5–6 (12)|| Rhodes (2–0) || Maddux (0–1) || — || Camden Yards || 40,258 || 2–12 || L7 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#bfb;" | 15 || April 18 || @ Orioles || 10–7 || Moyer (2–1) || Mussina (3–1) || Slocumb (2) || Camden Yards || 47,283 || 3–12 || W1 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#fbb;" | 16 || April 19 || @ Indians || 4–9 || Martínez (3–1) || Gordon (1–2) || — || Jacobs Field || 40,521 || 3–13 || L1 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#fbb;" | 17 || April 20 || @ Indians || 1–2 || McDowell (2–1) || Wakefield (0–3) || Mesa (4) || Jacobs Field || 40,498 || 3–14 || L2 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#fbb;" | 18 || April 21 || @ Indians || 7–11 || Ogea (1–0) || Pennington (0–2) || — || Jacobs Field || 42,256 || 3–15 || L3 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#bfb;" | 19 || April 22 || @ Twins || 4–1 || Sele (1–1) || Robertson (0–4) || Slocumb (3) || Metrodome || 11,340 || 4–15 || W1 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#fbb;" | 20 || April 23 || @ Twins || 6–8 || Naulty (1–0) || Hudson (0–1) || Stevens (5) || Metrodome || 11,533 || 4–16 || L1 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#bfb;" | 21 || April 24 || Rangers || 11–9 || Stanton (1–1) || Heredia (0–2) || Slocumb (4) || Fenway Park || 19,217 || 5–16 || W1 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#bfb;" | 22 || April 25 || Rangers || 8–3 || Wakefield (1–3) || Gross (3–2) || — || Fenway Park || 20,350 || 6–16 || W2 |- style="text-align:center; background-color:#fbb;"