[1] They also became the third NL team (following the Chicago Cubs in 1907–08 and the New York Giants in 1921–22) to win consecutive World Series, and remain the last to do so.

General Manager Gabe Paul made numerous trades getting Mickey Rivers and Ed Figueroa from the Angels for Bobby Bonds; Willie Randolph and Dock Ellis from the Pirates for Doc Medich; and Doyle Alexander, Ken Holtzman, and Grant Jackson from the Orioles for Rudy May, Tippy Martinez, Scott McGregor, and Rick Dempsey.

The heart of the team was Yankee captain, Thurman Munson, whose grit and determination were factors in his winning the 1976 American League MVP award.

East advancing to the World Series by beating the Kansas City Royals in the fifth game of the playoffs on a ninth-inning walk-off home run by Chambliss.

The defending champion Cincinnati Reds were piloted by Sparky Anderson who had a star-studded lineup led by second baseman Joe Morgan.

Morgan went on to win his second-straight National League Most Valuable Player award, outdistancing runner-up teammate Foster.

On the mound, the Reds relied on left-handers Don Gullett and Fred Norman to pacify the Yankee hitters in Games 1 and 2, respectively.

Game 3 in New York pitted effective 1976 NL Rookie of the Year Pat Zachry for the Reds against newly acquired Yankee, Dock Ellis.

In the top of the ninth, a frustrated Billy Martin threw a baseball from the dugout onto the field towards home plate umpire Bill Deegan, causing his ejection from the game.

In the ninth, Bench's second home run followed by back-to-back doubles by César Gerónimo and Dave Concepción made the score 7–2 and essentially blew the game open.

The Yankees tied the game in the second when Lou Piniella hit a leadoff double, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Graig Nettles's sacrifice fly.

The only bad news for the Reds was an injury to starting pitcher Don Gullett, who pulled a calf muscle in the eighth and would be unavailable for the remainder of the Series.

[7] Major League Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn responded to criticism of the scheduling, which was done to accommodate NBC television, by attending the game without wearing an overcoat in spite of the cold nighttime weather.

Mason became the first of two players to hit a home run in his only World Series at-bat, the second being Geoff Blum in 2005 for the Chicago White Sox.

This was the first World Series game at Yankee Stadium to open with opera star Robert Merrill's famous rendition of the National Anthem.

The Yankees got on the board in the first (which would be their only lead in this Series) on a two-out Thurman Munson single and a Chris Chambliss double off of Gary Nolan.

Figueroa walked two before being relieved by Dick Tidrow, who allowed a one-out three-run home run to Bench to extend the Reds' lead to 6–2.

It was also the last time that local announcers for the participating teams (the Reds' Marty Brennaman and the Yankees' Phil Rizzuto, in this case) would be regularly featured on the network telecast.