1966 Baltimore Orioles
World Series Champions
American League Champions
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkMemorial Stadium
CityBaltimore, Maryland
Record97–63 (.606)
League place1st
OwnersJerold Hoffberger
General managersHarry Dalton
ManagersHank Bauer
TelevisionWJZ-TV
RadioWBAL (AM)
(Chuck Thompson, Frank Messer, Bill O'Donnell)
← 1965 Seasons 1967 →

The 1966 Baltimore Orioles season involved the Orioles finishing first in the American League with a record of 97 wins and 63 losses, nine games ahead of the runner-up Minnesota Twins. It was their first AL pennant since 1944, when the club was known as the St. Louis Browns. The Orioles swept the NL champion Los Angeles Dodgers in four games to register their first-ever World Series title. The team was managed by Hank Bauer, and played their home games at Memorial Stadium. They drew 1,203,366 fans to their home ballpark, third in the ten-team league. It would be the highest home attendance of the team's first quarter-century at Memorial Stadium, and was eclipsed by the pennant-winning 1979 Orioles.[1] This was the first season to feature names on the back of the uniforms and the first with the cartoon bird on the cap.

Offseason

Regular season

Right fielder Frank Robinson, acquired via trade from the Cincinnati Reds in the off-season, won the Triple Crown, leading the AL with a .316 average, 49 home runs, and 122 RBI. He was named winner of the American League MVP Award, becoming the first player in the history of Major League Baseball to win MVP honors in both the American and National Leagues.[8]

On May 8, 1966, Frank Robinson hit a 540-foot home run off Cleveland Indians pitcher Luis Tiant, becoming the only player to hit a fair ball out of Memorial Stadium.[9] It cleared the left field single-deck portion of the grandstand.[10] A flag was later erected near the spot the ball cleared the back wall, with simply the word "HERE" upon it.

Season standings

American League 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Baltimore Orioles 97 63 0.606 — 48–31 49–32
Minnesota Twins 89 73 0.549 9 49–32 40–41
Detroit Tigers 88 74 0.543 10 42–39 46–35
Chicago White Sox 83 79 0.512 15 45–36 38–43
Cleveland Indians 81 81 0.500 17 41–40 40–41
California Angels 80 82 0.494 18 42–39 38–43
Kansas City Athletics 74 86 0.463 23 42–39 32–47
Washington Senators 71 88 0.447 25½ 42–36 29–52
Boston Red Sox 72 90 0.444 26 40–41 32–49
New York Yankees 70 89 0.440 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 —


Opening Day starters

[11]

Notable transactions

Roster

1966 Baltimore Orioles
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 Andy Etchebarren 121 412 91 .221 11 50
1B Boog Powell 140 491 141 .287 34 109
2B Davey Johnson 131 501 129 .257 7 56
3B Brooks Robinson 157 620 167 .269 23 100
SS Luis Aparicio 151 659 182 .276 6 41
LF Curt Blefary 131 419 107 .255 23 64
CF Paul Blair 133 303 84 .277 6 33
RF Frank Robinson 155 576 182 .316 49 122

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
Russ Snyder 117 373 114 .306 3 41
Sam Bowens 89 243 51 .210 6 20
Bob Johnson 71 157 34 .217 1 10
Vic Roznovsky 41 97 23 .237 1 10
Woodie Held 56 82 17 .207 1 7
Larry Haney 20 56 9 .161 1 3
Jerry Adair 17 52 15 .288 0 3
Mark Belanger 8 19 3 .158 0 0
Charley Lau 18 12 6 .500 0 5
Mike Epstein 6 11 2 .182 0 3
Cam Carreon 4 9 2 .222 0 2

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
Dave McNally 34 213.0 13 6 3.17 158
Jim Palmer 30 208.1 15 10 3.46 147
Wally Bunker 29 142.2 10 6 4.29 89
Steve Barber 25 133.1 10 5 2.30 91
Bill Short 6 37.2 2 3 2.87 27
Tom Phoebus 3 22.0 2 1 1.23 17

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
Eddie Watt 43 145.2 9 7 3.83 102
John Miller 23 100.2 4 8 4.74 81
Frank Bertaina 16 63.1 2 5 3.13 46

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
Stu Miller 51 9 4 18 2.25 67
Eddie Fisher 44 5 3 13 2.64 39
Moe Drabowsky 44 6 0 7 2.81 98
Dick Hall 32 6 2 7 3.95 44
Gene Brabender 31 4 3 2 3.55 62
Ed Barnowski 2 0 0 0 3.00 2

1966 World Series

Main article: 1966 World Series
AL Baltimore Orioles (4) vs. NL Los Angeles Dodgers (0)
Game Score Date Location Attendance Time of Game
1 Orioles – 5, Dodgers – 2 October 5 Dodger Stadium 55,941 2:56
2 Orioles – 6, Dodgers – 0 October 6 Dodger Stadium 55,947 2:26
3 Dodgers – 0, Orioles – 1 October 8 Memorial Stadium 54,445 1:55
4 Dodgers – 0, Orioles – 1 October 9 Memorial Stadium 54,458 1:45

Awards and honors

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Rochester Red Wings International League Earl Weaver
AA Elmira Pioneers Eastern League Darrell Johnson
A Stockton Ports California League Harry Malmberg
A Miami Marlins Florida State League Billy DeMars
A-Short Season Aberdeen Pheasants Northern League Cal Ripken Sr.
Rookie Bluefield Orioles Appalachian League Joe Altobelli

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Elmira

Notes

  1. ^ Baseball Reference: Baltimore Orioles attendance history
  2. ^ Woodie Held at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ a b Ron Stone at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Norm Siebern at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Darold Knowles at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Frank Robinson at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Lou Piniella at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.153, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  9. ^ 100 Things Orioles Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die, Dan Connolly, Triumph Books, Chicago, 2015, ISBN 978-1-62937-041-5, p.117
  10. ^ "Retrosheet Boxscore: Baltimore Orioles 8, Cleveland Indians 3 (2)". www.retrosheet.org.
  11. ^ 1966 Baltimore Oriole roster at Baseball Almanac
  12. ^ Roger Freed at Baseball-Reference
  13. ^ Eddie Fisher at Baseball-Reference
  14. ^ American League MVP Award voting results at Baseball Reference
  15. ^ Triple Crown winners at Baseball Reference
  16. ^ 1966 Batting leaders at Baseball Reference
  17. ^ Babe Ruth Award winners at Baseball Reference
  18. ^ a b 1966 Post-Season Awards at Baseball Reference
  19. ^ a b American League Gold Glove Award winners at Baseball Reference

References

External links

World Series champions
American League champions
1966 MLB season by team
Baltimore Orioles 1966 World Series champions
Baltimore Orioles
Categories