1996 Toronto Blue Jays season

1996 Toronto Blue Jays
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1977)
Eastern Division (since 1977)
Location
SkyDome (since 1989)
Toronto (since 1977)
Other information
Owner(s)	Interbrew, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
General manager(s)	Gord Ash
Manager(s)	Cito Gaston
Local television	CBC Television (Brian Williams, Tommy Hutton) Baton (Don Chevrier, Tommy Hutton, Fergie Olver) The Sports Network (Dan Shulman, Buck Martinez)
Local radio	CJCL (AM) (Jerry Howarth, Tom Cheek)
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The 1996 Toronto Blue Jays season was the 20th season in franchise history. The season involved the Blue Jays finishing fourth in the American League East with a record of 74 wins and 88 losses. The Blue Jays had a losing record for the third consecutive season.

Offseason

• December 6, 1995: Howard Battle and Ricardo Jordan were traded by the Blue Jays to the Philadelphia Phillies for Paul Quantrill.
• December 7, 1995: Otis Nixon was signed as a free agent by the Toronto Blue Jays.
• December 14, 1995: Charlie O'Brien was signed as a free agent by the Blue Jays.
• December 20, 1995: Mike Huff was signed as a free agent by the Blue Jays.
• January 16, 1996: Juan Samuel was signed as a free agent by the Blue Jays.
• February 10, 1996: Dane Johnson was signed as a free agent by the Blue Jays.
• February 22, 1996: Frank Viola signed as a Free Agent with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Regular season

A new tradition would start in 1996 as the Blue Jays donned red uniforms for the first time. These uniforms would be worn only on Canada Day and would feature "Canada" on the back of their jerseys rather than a player's name. Eventual Cy Young Award winner Pat Hentgen would start the Canada Day match against the Baltimore Orioles.

The final series of the season would be embroiled in controversy. Against the American League East champion Baltimore Orioles, two events would define the Orioles season. The game on Friday, September 27, 1996 would go down as one of the most infamous events in baseball history, as former Blue Jay Roberto Alomar would spit at umpire John Hirschbeck. The Sunday game would be a coming-out party for Brady Anderson, as he would hit his 50th home run of the regular season off Pat Hentgen. The total would break Frank Robinson's team record for most home runs in a season.

1996 also marked the end of an era for the Blue Jays, as they would redesign their logo and uniforms in the following year and also radically shake up their roster.

Season standings

AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	92	70	0.568	—	49–31	43–39
Baltimore Orioles	88	74	0.543	4	43–38	45–36
Boston Red Sox	85	77	0.525	7	47–34	38–43
Toronto Blue Jays	74	88	0.457	18	35–46	39–42
Detroit Tigers	53	109	0.327	39	27–54	26–55

Record vs. opponents

1996 American League Records Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	7–6	6–6	4–8	5–7	11–2	9–3	9–3	7–5	3–10	9–4	7–5	3–10–1	8–5
Boston	6–7	—	8–4	6–6	1–11	12–1	3–9	7–5	6–6	7–6	8–5	7–6	6–6	8–5
California	6–6	4–8	—	6–6	4–9	6–6	4–8	7–5	4–8	7–6	6–7	5–8	4–9	7–5
Chicago	8–4	6–6	6–6	—	5–8	10–3	7–6	6–7	6–7	6–7	5–7	5–7	8–4	7–5
Cleveland	7–5	11–1	9–4	8–5	—	12–0	7–6	7–6	10–3	3–9	6–6	8–4	4–8	7–5
Detroit	2–11	1–12	6–6	3–10	0–12	—	6–6	4–8	6–6	5–8	4–8	6–6	4–9	6–7
Kansas City	3–9	9–3	8–4	6–7	6–7	6–6	—	4–9	6–7	4–8	5–7	7–5	6–6	5–8
Milwaukee	3–9	5–7	5–7	7–6	6–7	8–4	9–4	—	9–4	6–6	7–5	4–9	6–7	5–7
Minnesota	5–7	6–6	8–4	7–6	3–10	6–6	7–6	4–9	—	5–7	6–7	6–6	7–5	8–5
New York	10–3	6–7	6–7	7–6	9–3	8–5	8–4	6–6	7–5	—	9–3	3–9	5–7	8–5
Oakland	4–9	5–8	7–6	7–5	6–6	8–4	7–5	5–7	7–6	3–9	—	8–5	7–6	4–8
Seattle	5–7	6–7	8–5	7–5	4–8	6–6	5–7	9–4	6–6	9–3	5–8	—	10–3	5–7
Texas	10–3–1	6–6	9–4	4–8	8–4	9–4	6–6	7–6	5–7	7–5	6–7	3–10	—	10–2
Toronto	5–8	5–8	5–7	5–7	5–7	7–6	8–5	7–5	5–8	5–8	8–4	7–5	2–10	—

Opening Day starters

• Tilson Brito
• Joe Carter
• Alex Gonzalez
• Pat Hentgen
• Otis Nixon
• Charlie O'Brien
• John Olerud
• Robert Pérez
• Juan Samuel
• Ed Sprague

Notable transactions

• May 15, 1996: D. J. Boston (minors) was traded by the Blue Jays to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jacob Brumfield.
• June 4, 1996: 1996 Major League Baseball draft
  • Billy Koch was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 1st round (4th pick). Player signed August 23, 1996.
  • Joe Lawrence was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 1st round (16th pick). Player signed July 1, 1996.
  • Orlando Hudson was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 33rd round, but did not sign.
• June 5, 1996: Frank Viola was released by the Toronto Blue Jays.
• June 15, 1996: Luis Lopez was signed as an amateur free agent by the Blue Jays.

Roster

1996 Toronto Blue Jays
Roster
Pitchers 49 Luis Andújar 60,32 Brian Bohanon 27 Scott Brow 38 Giovanni Carrara 49 Tony Castillo 37 Tim Crabtree 38 Huck Flener 57 Juan Guzmán 39 Erik Hanson 41 Pat Hentgen 36 Marty Janzen 50 Dane Johnson 48 Paul Quantrill 55 Bill Risley 45 José Silva 24 Paul Spoljaric 40 Mike Timlin 19 Frank Viola 52 Jeff Ware 54 Woody Williams		Catchers 53,35 Sandy Martínez 46 Julio Mosquera 22 Charlie O'Brien Infielders 14 Tilson Brito  3 Miguel Cairo 20 Domingo Cedeño  6 Felipe Crespo 21 Carlos Delgado  8 Alex Gonzalez  9 John Olerud  1 Tomás Pérez 33 Ed Sprague		Outfielders  5 Jacob Brumfield 29 Joe Carter 15 Shawn Green 26 Mike Huff  2 Otis Nixon 17 Robert Pérez 11 Juan Samuel  7 Shannon Stewart		Manager 43 Cito Gaston Coaches  4 Alfredo Griffin (first base) 16 Nick Leyva (third base) 34 Mel Queen (pitching) 18 Gene Tenace (bullpen) 28 Willie Upshaw (hitting)

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

= Indicates team leader

Pos	Player	G	AB	R	H	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
C	Charlie O'Brien	109	324	33	77	.238	13	44	0
1B	John Olerud	125	398	59	109	.274	18	61	1
2B	Tomás Pérez	91	295	24	74	.251	1	19	1
3B	Ed Sprague	159	591	88	146	.247	36	101	0
SS	Alex Gonzalez	147	527	64	124	.235	14	64	16
LF	Joe Carter	157	625	84	158	.253	30	107	7
CF	Otis Nixon	125	496	87	142	.286	1	29	54
RF	Shawn Green	132	422	52	118	.280	11	45	5
DH	Carlos Delgado	138	488	68	132	.270	25	92	0

Other batters

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Jacob Brumfield	90	308	79	.256	12	52
Domingo Cedeño	77	282	79	.280	2	17
Sandy Martínez	76	229	52	.227	3	18
Robert Pérez	86	202	66	.327	2	21
Juan Samuel	69	188	48	.255	8	26
Tilson Brito	26	80	19	.238	1	7
Mike Huff	11	29	5	.172	0	0
Shannon Stewart	7	17	3	.176	0	2

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Erik Hanson	35	214.2	13	17	5.41	156
Pat Hentgen	35	265.7	20	10	3.22	177
Juan Guzmán	27	187.7	11	8	2.93	165
Frank Viola	6	30.3	1	3	7.71	18

Other pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Paul Quantrill	38	134.3	5	14	5.43	86
Jeff Ware	13	32.7	1	5	9.09	11
Luis Andújar	3	14.3	1	1	5.02	5

Relief pitchers

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Mike Timlin	59	1	6	31	3.65	52
Paul Spoljaric	28	2	2	1	3.08	38
Scott Brow	18	1	0	0	5.59	23
Dane Johnson	10	0	0	0	3.00	7
José Silva	2	0	0	0	13.50	0

Award winners

• Juan Guzmán, Pitcher of the Month Award, April
• Pat Hentgen, Pitcher of the Month Award, July
• Pat Hentgen, Pitcher of the Month Award, August
• Pat Hentgen, Cy Young Award

All-Star Game

• Joe Carter, OF
  • Joe Carter received boos at the All-Star Game, as it took place at Veterans Stadium, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies, for his home run that ended the 1993 World Series.

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Syracuse Chiefs	International League	Richie Hebner
AA	Knoxville Smokies	Southern League	Omar Malavé
A	Dunedin Blue Jays	Florida State League	Dennis Holmberg
A	Hagerstown Suns	South Atlantic League	J. J. Cannon
A-Short Season	St. Catharines Stompers	New York–Penn League	Rocket Wheeler
Rookie	Medicine Hat Blue Jays	Pioneer League	Marty Pevey

External links

• 1996 Toronto Blue Jays at Baseball Reference
• 1996 Toronto Blue Jays at Baseball Almanac

Preceded by 1995 Toronto Blue Jays season

1996 Toronto Blue Jays Season 1996

Succeeded by 1997 Toronto Blue Jays season