1966 Minnesota Twins season

1966 Minnesota Twins
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkMetropolitan Stadium
CityBloomington, Minnesota
OwnersCalvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes)
General managersCalvin Griffith
ManagersSam Mele
TelevisionWTCN-TV
Radio830 WCCO AM
(Ray Scott, Herb Carneal, Halsey Hall)
← 1965 Seasons 1967 →

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

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

American League
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

1966 American League record

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

Roster

1966 Minnesota Twins
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 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

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

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
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

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

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

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Denver Bears Pacific Coast League Cal Ermer
AA Charlotte Hornets Southern League Harry Warner
A Wilson Tobs Carolina League Vern Morgan
A Orlando Twins Florida State League Johnny Goryl
A Wisconsin Rapids Twins Midwest League Ray Bellino
A Thomasville Hi-Toms Western Carolinas League Ralph Rowe
A-Short Season St. Cloud Rox Northern League Ken Staples
Rookie GCL Twins Gulf Coast League Fred Waters

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: St. Cloud

Notes

  1. ^ "1966 American League Attendance & Team Age". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
  2. ^ Nemec, David; Flatow, Scott (April 1, 2008). Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Firsts (2008 Edition). SIGNET. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0.
  3. ^ "1966 Minnesota Twins Batting Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
  4. ^ "Steve Garvey". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
  5. ^ "Roger Freed". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2024.

References