1966 Minnesota Twins season
| 1966 Minnesota Twins | ||
|---|---|---|
| League | American League | |
| Ballpark | Metropolitan Stadium | |
| City | Bloomington, Minnesota | |
| Owners | Calvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes) | |
| General managers | Calvin Griffith | |
| Managers | Sam Mele | |
| Television | WTCN-TV | |
| Radio | 830 WCCO AM (Ray Scott, Herb Carneal, Halsey Hall) | |
| ||
The 1966 Minnesota Twins finished 89–73, second in the American League. 1,259,374 fans attended Twins games, the second highest total in the American League.[1]
Regular season
[edit]In the June 9 game against the Kansas City Athletics, the Twins set a major-league record that still stands, by hitting five home runs in their half of the seventh inning. Only a Sandy Valdespino groundout amidst the onslaught kept them from being consecutive. Rich Rollins homered to drive in two, followed by solo shots by Zoilo Versalles, Tony Oliva, Don Mincher and Harmon Killebrew, with his second of the day.
On July 21, in a 1–0 three-hit win over the Washington Senators, pitcher Jim Merritt struck out seven consecutive batters in the middle innings to set an American League record.
Against the California Angels on August 18, the Twins turned their first-ever triple play, off a grounder by Frank Malzone. The play went Rich Rollins to César Tovar to Harmon Killebrew to retire the side.
Jim Kaat won an AL best 25 games. Kaat became the first pitcher in the history of the American League to win 25 games but not win the Cy Young Award.[2] Kaat also won his fifth Gold Glove. He led the AL in: wins, games started, complete games, innings pitched, batters faced, most hits allowed, fewest walks per nine innings and strikeout-to-walk ratio. The Sporting News named Kaat the AL Pitcher of the Year.
Tony Oliva led the AL with 191 hits. Harmon Killebrew again led the team with 39 HR and 110 RBI.[3]
Four Twins made the All-Star Game: first baseman Harmon Killebrew, outfielder Tony Oliva, catcher Earl Battey, and pitcher Jim Kaat.
Season standings
[edit]| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore Orioles | 97 | 63 | .606 | — | 48–31 | 49–32 |
| Minnesota Twins | 89 | 73 | .549 | 9 | 49–32 | 40–41 |
| Detroit Tigers | 88 | 74 | .543 | 10 | 42–39 | 46–35 |
| Chicago White Sox | 83 | 79 | .512 | 15 | 45–36 | 38–43 |
| Cleveland Indians | 81 | 81 | .500 | 17 | 41–40 | 40–41 |
| California Angels | 80 | 82 | .494 | 18 | 42–39 | 38–43 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 74 | 86 | .463 | 23 | 42–39 | 32–47 |
| Washington Senators | 71 | 88 | .447 | 25½ | 42–36 | 29–52 |
| Boston Red Sox | 72 | 90 | .444 | 26 | 40–41 | 32–49 |
| New York Yankees | 70 | 89 | .440 | 26½ | 35–46 | 35–43 |
Record vs. opponents
[edit]Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KCA | MIN | NYY | WSH | |||
| Baltimore | — | 12–6 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 11–5 | 10–8 | 15–3 | 11–7 | |||
| Boston | 6–12 | — | 9–9 | 11–7 | 7–11 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 8–10 | 8–10 | |||
| California | 6–12 | 9–9 | — | 8–10 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 11–7 | 7–11 | |||
| Chicago | 9–9 | 7–11 | 10–8 | — | 11–7 | 8–10 | 13–5 | 4–14 | 9–9–1 | 12–6 | |||
| Cleveland | 10–8 | 11–7 | 8–10 | 7–11 | — | 9–9 | 6–12 | 9–9 | 12–6 | 9–9 | |||
| Detroit | 9–9 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 9–9 | — | 6–12 | 11–7 | 11–7 | 13–5 | |||
| Kansas City | 5–11 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 5–13 | 12–6 | 12–6 | — | 8–10 | 5–13 | 9–9 | |||
| Minnesota | 8–10 | 12–6 | 7–11 | 14–4 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 10–8 | — | 8–10 | 14–4 | |||
| New York | 3–15 | 10–8 | 7–11 | 9–9–1 | 6–12 | 7–11 | 13–5 | 10–8 | — | 5–10 | |||
| Washington | 7–11 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 6–12 | 9–9 | 5–13 | 9–9 | 4–14 | 10–5 | — | |||
Notable transactions
[edit]- June 7, 1966: 1966 Major League Baseball draft
- Steve Garvey was drafted by the Twins in the 3rd round, but did not sign.[4]
- Roger Freed was drafted by the Twins, but the pick was voided.[5]
Roster
[edit]| 1966 Minnesota Twins | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
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Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
Other batters
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Manager
Coaches
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Player stats
[edit]Batting
[edit]Starters by position
[edit]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 | Earl Battey | 115 | 364 | 93 | .255 | 4 | 34 |
| 1B | Don Mincher | 139 | 431 | 108 | .251 | 14 | 62 |
| 2B | Bernie Allen | 101 | 319 | 76 | .238 | 5 | 30 |
| 3B | Harmon Killebrew | 162 | 569 | 160 | .281 | 39 | 110 |
| SS | Zoilo Versalles | 137 | 543 | 135 | .249 | 7 | 36 |
| LF | Jimmie Hall | 120 | 356 | 85 | .239 | 20 | 47 |
| CF | Ted Uhlaender | 105 | 367 | 83 | .226 | 2 | 22 |
| RF | Tony Oliva | 159 | 622 | 191 | .307 | 25 | 87 |
Other batters
[edit]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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| César Tovar | 134 | 465 | 121 | .260 | 2 | 41 |
| Rich Rollins | 90 | 269 | 66 | .245 | 10 | 40 |
| Bob Allison | 70 | 168 | 37 | .220 | 8 | 19 |
| Andy Kosco | 57 | 158 | 35 | .222 | 2 | 13 |
| Jerry Zimmerman | 60 | 119 | 30 | .252 | 1 | 15 |
| Sandy Valdespino | 52 | 108 | 19 | .176 | 2 | 9 |
| Russ Nixon | 51 | 96 | 25 | .260 | 0 | 7 |
| George Mitterwald | 3 | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Rich Reese | 3 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Ron Clark | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | 1 |
| Joe Nossek | 4 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 0 | 0 |
Pitching
[edit]Starting pitchers
[edit]Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jim Kaat | 41 | 304.2 | 25 | 13 | 2.75 | 205 |
| Mudcat Grant | 35 | 249.0 | 13 | 13 | 3.25 | 110 |
| Jim Perry | 33 | 184.1 | 11 | 7 | 2.54 | 122 |
| Dave Boswell | 28 | 169.1 | 12 | 5 | 3.14 | 173 |
| Camilo Pascual | 21 | 103.0 | 8 | 6 | 4.89 | 56 |
Other pitchers
[edit]Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jim Merritt | 31 | 144.0 | 7 | 14 | 3.38 | 124 |
| Jim Ollom | 3 | 10.0 | 0 | 0 | 3.60 | 11 |
Relief pitchers
[edit]Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al Worthington | 65 | 6 | 3 | 16 | 2.46 | 93 |
| Pete Cimino | 35 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 5.06 | 1 |
| Johnny Klippstein | 26 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3.40 | 26 |
| Dwight Siebler | 23 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3.44 | 24 |
| Garry Roggenburk | 12 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5.84 | 3 |
| Bill Pleis | 8 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1.93 | 9 |
| Ron Keller | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.06 | 1 |
| Jim Roland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |
Farm system
[edit]LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: St. Cloud
Notes
[edit]- ^ "1966 American League Attendance & Team Age". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
- ^ Nemec, David; Flatow, Scott (April 1, 2008). Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Firsts (2008 ed.). SIGNET. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0.
- ^ "1966 Minnesota Twins Batting Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
- ^ "Steve Garvey". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
- ^ "Roger Freed". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
References
[edit]- Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com
- Team info from www.baseball-almanac.com
- Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.