1966 Minnesota Twins season

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.

1966 Minnesota Twins
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Calvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes)
General manager(s)Calvin Griffith
Manager(s)Sam Mele
Local televisionWTCN-TV
Local radio830 WCCO AM
(Ray Scott, Herb Carneal, Halsey Hall)
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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.[1] 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.[2]

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 W L Pct. GB Home Road
Baltimore Orioles 9763 0.606 — 48–31 49–32
Minnesota Twins 8973 0.549 9 49–32 40–41
Detroit Tigers 8874 0.543 10 42–39 46–35
Chicago White Sox 8379 0.512 15 45–36 38–43
Cleveland Indians 8181 0.500 17 41–40 40–41
California Angels 8082 0.494 18 42–39 38–43
Kansas City Athletics 7486 0.463 23 42–39 32–47
Washington Senators 7188 0.447 25½ 42–36 29–52
Boston Red Sox 7290 0.444 26 40–41 32–49
New York Yankees 7089 0.440 26½ 35–46 35–43

Record vs. opponents
1966 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIN NYY WSH
Baltimore —12–612–69–98–109–911–510–815–311–7
Boston 6–12—9–911–77–118–109–96–128–108–10
California 6–129–9—8–1010–89–99–911–711–77–11
Chicago 9–97–1110–8—11–78–1013–54–149–9–112–6
Cleveland 10–811–78–107–11—9–96–129–912–69–9
Detroit 9–910–89–910–89–9—6–1211–711–713–5
Kansas City 5–119–99–95–1312–612–6—8–105–139–9
Minnesota 8–1012–67–1114–49–97–1110–8—8–1014–4
New York 3–1510–87–119–9–16–127–1113–510–8—5–10
Washington 7–1110–811–76–129–95–139–94–1410–5—

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
CEarl Battey11536493.255434
1BDon Mincher139431108.2511462
2BBernie Allen10131976.238530
3BHarmon Killebrew162569160.28139110
SSZoilo Versalles137543135.249736
LFJimmie Hall12035685.2392047
CFTed Uhlaender10536783.226222
RFTony Oliva159622191.3072587

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 Tovar134465121.260241
Ron Clark5111.00001

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 Kaat41304.225132.75205
Mudcat Grant3524913133.25110
Jim Perry33184.11172.54122
Dave Boswell28169.11253.14173

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 Merritt311447143.38124
Dwight Siebler2349.2223.4424

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 Worthington6563162.4693
Pete Cimino352545.061
Ron Keller20005.061

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. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 236, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  2. "Minnesota Twins". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  3. Steve Garvey at Baseball-Reference
  4. Roger Freed at Baseball-Reference

References
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