1966 Houston Astros season

1966 Houston Astros
LeagueNational League
BallparkAstrodome
CityHouston, Texas
Record72–90 (.444)
League place8th
OwnersRoy Hofheinz
General managersTal Smith
ManagersGrady Hatton
TelevisionKTRK-TV
RadioKPRC (AM)
(Gene Elston, Loel Passe, Harry Kalas)
← 1965 Seasons 1967 →

During the 1966 Houston Astros season in American baseball, the team finished eighth in the National League with a record of 72–90 (.444), 23 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

This was the second season for the Astrodome, but its first with a playing surface of AstroTurf.[1] The infield portion was installed in March,[2][3][4][5][6] and the outfield was ready for play on July 19.[7][8][9]

Offseason

Regular season

Season standings

National League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Los Angeles Dodgers 95 67 .586 — 53‍–‍28 42‍–‍39
San Francisco Giants 93 68 .578 1½ 47‍–‍34 46‍–‍34
Pittsburgh Pirates 92 70 .568 3 46‍–‍35 46‍–‍35
Philadelphia Phillies 87 75 .537 8 48‍–‍33 39‍–‍42
Atlanta Braves 85 77 .525 10 43‍–‍38 42‍–‍39
St. Louis Cardinals 83 79 .512 12 43‍–‍38 40‍–‍41
Cincinnati Reds 76 84 .475 18 46‍–‍33 30‍–‍51
Houston Astros 72 90 .444 23 45‍–‍36 27‍–‍54
New York Mets 66 95 .410 28½ 32‍–‍49 34‍–‍46
Chicago Cubs 59 103 .364 36 32‍–‍49 27‍–‍54

Record vs. opponents

1966 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD NYM PHI PIT SF STL
Atlanta — 7–11 10–8 14–4–1 7–11 14–4 11–7 7–11 8–10 7–11
Chicago 11–7 — 6–12 5–13 8–10 8–10 5–13 6–12 6–12 4–14
Cincinnati 8–10 12–6 — 4–14 6–12 10–7 10–8 8–10 7–10 11–7
Houston 4–14–1 13–5 14–4 — 7–11 7–11 7–11 4–14 6–12 10–8
Los Angeles 11–7 10–8 12–6 11–7 — 12–6 11–7 9–9 9–9 10–8
New York 4–14 10–8 7–10 11–7 6–12 — 7–11 5–13 9–9 7–11
Philadelphia 7-11 13–5 8–10 11–7 7–11 11–7 — 10–8 10–8 10–8
Pittsburgh 11–7 12–6 10–8 14–4 9–9 13–5 8–10 — 7–11 8–10
San Francisco 10–8 12–6 10–7 12–6 9–9 9–9 8–10 11–7 — 12–6
St. Louis 11–7 14–4 7–11 8–10 8–10 11–7 8–10 10–8 6–12 —


Opening Day lineup

  1. Lee Maye, LF
  2. Sonny Jackson, SS
  3. Jimmy Wynn, CF
  4. Dave Nicholson, RF
  5. Joe Morgan, 2B
  6. Bob Aspromonte, 3B
  7. Chuck Harrison, 1B
  8. John Bateman, C
  9. Robin Roberts, P[13]

Notable transactions

Roster

1966 Houston Astros
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

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

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C John Bateman 131 433 121 .279 17 70
1B Chuck Harrison 119 434 111 .256 9 52
2B Joe Morgan 122 425 121 .285 5 42
3B Bob Aspromonte 152 560 141 .252 8 52
SS Sonny Jackson 150 596 174 .292 3 25
LF Lee Maye 115 358 103 .288 9 36
CF Jimmy Wynn 105 418 107 .256 18 62
RF Rusty Staub 153 554 155 .280 13 81

[15]

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
Dave Nicholson 100 280 69 .246 10 31
Ron Davis 48 194 48 .247 2 19
Bob Lillis 68 164 38 .232 0 11
Félix Mantilla 77 151 33 .219 6 22
Jim Gentile 49 144 35 .243 7 18
Ron Brand 56 123 30 .244 0 10
Bill Heath 55 123 37 .301 0 8
Norm Miller 11 34 5 .147 1 3
Gene Freese 21 33 3 .091 0 0
Brock Davis 10 27 4 .148 0 1
Aaron Pointer 11 26 9 .346 1 5
Joe Gaines 11 13 1 .077 0 0
Nate Colbert 19 7 0 .000 0 0
Dave Adlesh 3 6 0 .000 0 0
Greg Sims 7 6 1 .167 0 0
Julio Gotay 4 5 0 .000 0 0
Bob Watson 1 1 0 .000 0 0

[15]

Pitching

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
Mike Cuellar 38 227.1 12 10 2.22 175
Dave Giusti 34 210.0 15 14 4.20 131
Larry Dierker 29 187.0 10 8 3.18 108
Bob Bruce 25 129.2 3 13 5.34 71
Robin Roberts 13 63.2 3 5 3.82 26
Chris Zachary 10 55.0 3 5 3.44 37

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
Turk Farrell 32 152.2 6 10 4.60 101
Barry Latman 31 103.0 2 7 2.71 74

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
Claude Raymond 62 7 5 16 3.13 73
Jim Owens 40 4 7 2 4.68 32
Ron Taylor 36 2 3 0 5.71 29
Carroll Sembera 24 1 2 1 3.00 21
Gary Kroll 10 0 0 0 3.80 22
Aurelio Monteagudo 10 0 0 1 4.70 7
Frank Carpin 10 1 0 0 7.50 2
Don Lee 9 2 0 0 2.50 9
Don Arlich 7 0 1 0 15.75 1
Danny Coombs 2 0 0 0 3.38 3
Don Wilson 1 1 0 0 3.00 7
Jim Ray 1 0 0 0 inf 0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Oklahoma City 89ers Pacific Coast League Mel McGaha
AA Amarillo Sonics Texas League Buddy Hancken
A Durham Bulls Carolina League Chuck Churn
A Cocoa Astros Florida State League Joe Frazier
A Salisbury Astros Western Carolinas League Walt Matthews
A-Short Season Bismarck–Mandan Pards Northern League Tony Pacheco

References

  1. ^ "Astroturf planned for Houston field". Florence Times. (Alabama). Associated Press. March 13, 1966. p. 18.
  2. ^ "Astroturf looks great, but..." Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. March 20, 1966. p. 2b.
  3. ^ "What's new? Astroturf". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). Associated Press. March 21, 1966. p. 23.
  4. ^ "Zippered 'grass' big hit in Astrodome". Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal. (Florida). Associated Press. March 20, 1966. p. 1B.
  5. ^ Bledsoe, Terry (March 20, 1966). "Astrodome's synthetic grass gets 1st test with skids and bounces". Milwaukee Journal. p. 1, sports.
  6. ^ Rathet, Mike (March 21, 1966). "Brickbats starting to fly over Houston's Astroturf". Victoria Advocate. (Texas). Associated Press. p. 8.
  7. ^ "Phils, Astros plan tonight on artificial grass". Reading Eagle. (Pennsylvania). Associated Press. July 19, 1966. p. 23.
  8. ^ "Phil find Farrell, turf unfriendly". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. July 20, 1966. p. 3C.
  9. ^ "Astros clout Phils; Farrell leads way". Victoria Advocate. (Texas). Associated Press. July 20, 1966. p. 8.
  10. ^ Nate Colbert at Baseball-Reference
  11. ^ Bob Saverine at Baseball-Reference
  12. ^ Gary Kroll at Baseball-Reference
  13. ^ 1966 Houston Astros Roster by Baseball Almanac
  14. ^ Fred Stanley at Baseball Reference
  15. ^ a b 1966 Houston Astros Statistics and Roster – Baseball-Reference.com