1966 New York Yankees
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkYankee Stadium
CityNew York City
OwnersCBS
General managersRalph Houk, Dan Topping, Jr.
ManagersJohnny Keane, Ralph Houk
TelevisionWPIX
(Red Barber, Phil Rizzuto, Jerry Coleman, Joe Garagiola)
RadioWCBS (AM)
(Phil Rizzuto, Red Barber, Jerry Coleman, Joe Garagiola)
← 1965 Seasons 1967 →

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 eventual World Series champion 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 tenth 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. The Yankees would not finish in last place again for another twenty four years.

On September 22, a 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 would not be renewed.

Offseason

Regular season

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 —


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 Elston Howard 126 410 105 .256 6 35
1B Joe Pepitone 152 585 149 .255 31 83
2B Bobby Richardson 149 610 153 .251 7 42
3B Clete Boyer 144 500 120 .240 14 57
SS Horace Clarke 96 312 83 .266 6 28
LF Tom Tresh 151 537 125 .233 27 68
CF Mickey Mantle 106 333 96 .288 23 56
RF Roger 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
Roy White 115 316 71 .225 7 20
Jake Gibbs 62 182 47 .258 3 20
Lou Clinton 80 159 35 .220 5 21
Héctor López 54 117 25 .214 4 16
Steve Whitaker 31 114 28 .246 7 15
Ray Barker 61 75 14 .187 3 13
Billy Bryan 27 69 15 .217 4 5
Bobby Murcer 21 69 12 .174 0 5
Dick Schofield 25 58 9 .155 0 2
Roger Repoz 37 43 15 .349 0 9
Mike Hegan 13 39 8 .205 0 2
Mike Ferraro 10 28 5 .179 0 0
Rubén Amaro 14 23 5 .217 0 3
John Miller 6 23 2 .087 1 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
Mel Stottlemyre 37 251.0 12 20 3.80 146
Fritz Peterson 34 215.0 12 11 3.31 96
Al Downing 30 200.0 10 11 3.56 152
Fred Talbot 23 124.1 7 7 4.15 85
Jim Bouton 24 120.1 3 8 2.69 65
Stan Bahnsen 4 23.0 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
Whitey Ford 22 73.0 2 5 2.47 43
Bob 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
Pedro Ramos 52 3 9 13 3.61 58
Hal Reniff 56 3 7 9 3.21 79
Dooley Womack 42 7 3 4 2.64 50
Steve Hamilton 44 8 3 3 3.00 57
Jack Cullen 5 1 0 0 3.97 7
Bill Henry 2 0 0 0 0.00 3

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
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, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

References

Categories