1966 Cleveland Indians season

The 1966 Cleveland Indians season was a season in American baseball. The team finished fifth in the American League with a record of 81–81, 17 games behind the Baltimore Orioles. The 1966 season started off hopeful for the Cleveland Indians as they won their first ten games, and held a 27-10 record in late May. They would hold first place as late as June 12 but were out of first place after that and never returned to the top. A struggle in run production brought the Indians back to the .500 mark, as a seemingly promising season ended up being one of the most disappointing.

1966 Cleveland Indians
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Location
Cleveland Municipal Stadium (since 1932) Cleveland, Ohio (since 1901)
Other information
Owner(s)	Gabe Paul, Vernon Stouffer
General manager(s)	Gabe Paul
Manager(s)	Birdie Tebbetts, George Strickland
Local television	WJW-TV (Harry Jones, Herb Score)
Local radio	WERE (Jimmy Dudley, Bob Neal)
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The Indians were the only team to win the regular-season series vs the World Series Winning 1966 Baltimore Orioles (who would sweep the Dodgers, while allowing only 2 runs the entire series). Ironically, it was their first series, starting on May 6, against the Orioles in Baltimore that put the team on the road to a disappointing season when they only won one game of a four-game series. When they came into Baltimore the Indians were 14 and 1. On May 13, the Indians had another series in Baltimore against the Orioles where they won only one game out of four. [1]

The Indians next went to D.C. where they played the Washington Senators, starting on May 17, for a three-game series where the team dropped 2 games.[2]

Offseason

• Vernon Stouffer bought eighty percent of the Cleveland Indians for eight million dollars.[3]
• November 28, 1965: Hank Peters resigned from the Kansas City Athletics and became the minor league director for the Cleveland Indians.[4]

Notable transactions

• November 29, 1965: Al Closter was selected by the Indians from the New York Yankees in the first-year player draft.[5]
• November 29, 1965: Al Luplow was purchased from the Indians by the New York Mets.[6]
• December 1, 1965: Joe Rudi and Phil Roof were traded by the Indians to the Kansas City Athletics for Jim Landis and Jim Rittwage.[7]
• January 14, 1966: Lou Clinton was traded by the Indians to the New York Yankees for Doc Edwards.[8]
• March 10, 1966: Cam Carreon was traded by the Indians to the Baltimore Orioles for Lou Piniella.[9]

Regular season

On May 1, Sam McDowell threw his second consecutive one-hitter for the Indians.

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 Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	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

• April 6, 1966: Ralph Terry was traded by the Indians to the Kansas City Athletics for John O'Donoghue and cash.[10]

Roster

1966 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers 36 Bob Allen 39 Gary Bell 40 George Culver 34 Steve Hargan 37 Bob Heffner 45 Tom Kelley 31 Jack Kralick 48 Sam McDowell 44 Don McMahon 32 John O'Donoghue 46 Dick Radatz 42 Sonny Siebert 43 Lee Stange 33 Luis Tiant		Catchers  6 Joe Azcue  5 Buddy Booker  7 Del Crandall  9 Duke Sims Infielders 10 Max Alvis 16 Larry Brown 12 Bill Davis 13 Vern Fuller 12 Jim Gentile 24 Pedro González 18 Dick Howser 22 Tony Martínez 17 Chico Salmon 15 Fred Whitfield		Outfielders 21 Rocky Colavito 25 Vic Davalillo 23 Chuck Hinton 26 Jim Landis 29 José Vidal 27 Leon Wagner Other batters 14 George Banks 29 Tony Curry 30 Paul Dicken		Manager  3 George Strickland  1 Birdie Tebbetts Coaches  5 Ray Mueller  4 Reggie Otero (First Base)  3 George Strickland (Third Base)  2 Early Wynn (Pitching)

Player stats

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	Joe Azcue	98	302	83	.275	9	37
1B	Fred Whitfield	137	502	121	.241	27	78
2B	Pedro González	110	352	82	.233	2	17
SS	Larry Brown	105	340	78	.229	3	17
3B	Max Alvis	157	596	146	.245	17	55
LF	Leon Wagner	150	549	153	.279	23	66
CF	Vic Davalillo	121	344	86	.250	3	19
RF	Rocky Colavito	151	533	127	.238	30	72

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
Chico Salmon	126	422	108	.256	7	40
Chuck Hinton	123	348	89	.256	12	50
Jim Landis	85	158	35	.222	3	14
Dick Howser	67	140	32	.229	2	4
Duke Sims	52	133	35	.263	6	19
Del Crandall	50	108	25	.231	4	8
Vern Fuller	16	47	11	.234	2	2
Jim Gentile	33	47	6	.128	2	4
Bill Davis	23	38	6	.158	1	4
José Vidal	17	32	6	.188	0	3
Buddy Booker	18	28	6	.214	2	5
Tony Martínez	17	17	5	.294	0	0
Tony Curry	19	16	2	.125	0	3
George Banks	4	4	1	.250	0	1
Paul Dicken	2	2	0	.000	0	0

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
Gary Bell	40	254.1	14	15	3.22	194
Sonny Siebert	34	241	16	8	2.80	163
Sam McDowell	35	194.1	9	8	2.87	225

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
Steve Hargan	38	192	13	10	2.48	132
Luis Tiant	46	155	12	11	2.79	145
John O'Donoghue	32	108	6	8	3.83	49
Tom Kelley	31	95.1	4	8	4.34	64
Lee Stange	8	16	1	0	2.81	8
Bob Heffner	5	13	0	1	3.46	7
George Culver	5	9.2	0	2	8.38	6

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
Dick Radatz	39	0	3	10	4.61	49
Bob Allen	36	2	2	5	4.21	33
Jack Kralick	27	3	4	0	3.82	31
Don McMahon	12	1	1	1	2.92	5

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Portland Beavers	Pacific Coast League	Johnny Lipon
AA	Pawtucket Indians	Eastern League	Clay Bryant
A	Reno Silver Sox	California League	Phil Cavarretta
A	Dubuque Packers	Midwest League	Elmer Valo

[11]

Notes

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/tgl.cgi?team=CLE&t=b&year=1966
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/tgl.cgi?team=CLE&t=b&year=1966
3. Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, p. 4, Bill Madden, Harper Collins Publishing, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-06-169031-0
4. Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p.95, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
5. Al Closter page at Baseball Reference
6. Al Luplow page at Baseball Reference
7. Joe Rudi page at Baseball Reference
8. Doc Edwards page at Baseball-Reference
9. Lou Piniella page at Baseball Reference
10. Ralph Terry page at Baseball Reference
11. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References

• 1966 Cleveland Indians season at Baseball Reference