1966 New York Yankees season

1966 New York Yankees
Major League affiliations
Location
  • New York City, New York (since 1903)
Other information
Owner(s) CBS
Manager(s) Johnny Keane and Ralph Houk
Local television

WPIX

(Red Barber, Phil Rizzuto, Jerry Coleman, Joe Garagiola)
Local radio WCBS (AM)
(Phil Rizzuto, Red Barber, Jerry Coleman, Joe Garagiola)
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The 1966 New York Yankees season was the 64th season for the Yankees. The team finished with a record of 70–89, finishing 26.5 games behind the Baltimore Orioles. New York was managed by Johnny Keane and Ralph Houk. The Yankees played at Yankee Stadium. Keane managed his final MLB game in early-May, and died the following January at the age of 55.

The Yankees finished in 10th place, although arguably a "strong" tenth.[1] It was the first time they had finished in last place since 1912, their last year at the Hilltop.

On September 22, paid attendance of 413 was announced at the 65,000-seat Yankee Stadium.[2] WPIX announcer Red Barber asked the TV cameras to pan the empty stands as he commented on the low attendance. Although denied the camera shots on orders from the Yankees' head of media relations, he said, "I don't know what the paid attendance is today, but whatever it is, it is the smallest crowd in the history of Yankee Stadium, and this crowd is the story, not the game." By a horrible stroke of luck, that game was the first for CBS executive Mike Burke as team president. A week later, Barber was invited to breakfast where Burke told him that his contract wouldn't be renewed.

Offseason

Regular season

Season standings

American League W L Pct. GB
Baltimore Orioles 97 63 .606 --
Minnesota Twins 89 73 .549 9
Detroit Tigers 88 74 .543 10
Chicago White Sox 83 79 .512 15
Cleveland Indians 81 81 .500 17
California Angels 80 82 .494 18
Kansas City Athletics 74 86 .463 23
Washington Senators 71 88 .447 25.5
Boston Red Sox 72 90 .444 26
New York Yankees 70 89 .440 26.5

Notable transactions

Roster

1966 New York Yankees
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders 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 Howard, ElstonElston Howard 126 410 105 .256 6 35
1B Pepitone, JoeJoe Pepitone 152 585 149 .255 31 83
2B Richardson, BobbyBobby Richardson 149 610 153 .251 7 42
3B Boyer, CleteClete Boyer 144 500 120 .240 14 57
SS Clarke, HoraceHorace Clarke 96 312 83 .266 6 28
LF Tresh, TomTom Tresh 151 537 125 .233 27 68
CF Mantle, MickeyMickey Mantle 106 333 96 .288 23 56
RF Maris, RogerRoger Maris 119 348 81 .233 13 43

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
White, RoyRoy White 115 316 71 .225 7 20
Gibbs, JakeJake Gibbs 62 182 47 .258 3 20
Clinton, LouLou Clinton 80 159 35 .220 5 21
López, HéctorHéctor López 54 117 25 .214 4 16
Bryan, BillyBilly Bryan 27 69 15 .217 4 5
Schofield, DickDick Schofield 25 58 9 .155 0 2
Hegan, MikeMike Hegan 13 39 8 .205 0 2
Amaro, RubénRubén Amaro 14 23 5 .217 0 3

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
Stottlemyre, MelMel Stottlemyre 37 251 12 20 3.80 146
Peterson, FritzFritz Peterson 34 215 12 11 3.31 96
Downing, AlAl Downing 30 200 10 11 3.56 152
Talbot, FredFred Talbot 23 124.1 7 7 4.15 85
Bouton, JimJim Bouton 24 120.1 3 8 2.69 65
Bahnsen, StanStan Bahnsen 4 23 1 1 3.52 16

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
Ford, WhiteyWhitey Ford 22 73 2 5 2.47 43
Friend, BobBob Friend 12 44.2 1 2 4.84 22

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
Reniff, HalHal Reniff 56 3 7 9 3.21 79
Ramos, PedroPedro Ramos 52 3 9 13 3.61 58
Womack, DooleyDooley Womack 42 7 3 4 2.64 50
Hamilton, SteveSteve Hamilton 44 8 3 3 3.00 57
Cullen, JackJack Cullen 5 1 0 0 3.97 7
Henry, BillBill Henry 2 0 0 0 0.00 3

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Toledo Mud Hens International League Loren Babe
AA Columbus Confederate Yankees Southern League Jack Reed
A Greensboro Yankees Carolina League Gary Blaylock
A Fort Lauderdale Yankees Florida State League Lamar North
A Binghamton Triplets New York-Penn League Frank Verdi
Rookie Johnson City Yankees Appalachian League Bob Bauer
Rookie GCL Yankees Gulf Coast League Dick Berardino

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: GCL Yankees[8]

Notes

  1. United Press International (October 3, 1966). "Last-Place Yanks Last-Day Victors". New York Times. p. 83.
  2. Retrosheet Boxscore: Chicago White Sox 4, New York Yankees 1
  3. Rich Barry page at Baseball-Reference
  4. Doc Edwards page at Baseball-Reference
  5. Darrell Evans page at Baseball-Reference
  6. Al Closter page at Baseball-Reference
  7. Joe Pactwa page at Baseball-Reference
  8. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, N.C.: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

References