# 1966 New York Yankees season

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. 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. It was also first time that the Yankees did not win the pennant in consecutive seasons since not winning the pennant in 3 straight seasons from 1944 to 1946.
On September 22, a paid attendance of 413 was announced at the 65,000-seat Yankee Stadium. 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

* November 29, 1965: Rich Barry was drafted from the Yankees by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1965 minor league draft.
* January 14, 1966: Doc Edwards was traded by the Yankees to the Cleveland Indians for Lou Clinton.
* January 29, 1966: Darrell Evans was drafted by the Yankees in the 2nd round of the 1966 Major League Baseball draft (secondary phase), but did not sign.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Baltimore Orioles | 97 | 63 | .606 | — | 48‍–‍31 | 49‍–‍32 |
| Minnesota Twins | 89 | 73 | .549 | 9 | 49‍–‍32 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Detroit Tigers | 88 | 74 | .543 | 10 | 42‍–‍39 | 46‍–‍35 |
| Chicago White Sox | 83 | 79 | .512 | 15 | 45‍–‍36 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Cleveland Indians | 81 | 81 | .500 | 17 | 41‍–‍40 | 40‍–‍41 |
| California Angels | 80 | 82 | .494 | 18 | 42‍–‍39 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 74 | 86 | .463 | 23 | 42‍–‍39 | 32‍–‍47 |
| Washington Senators | 71 | 88 | .447 | 25½ | 42‍–‍36 | 29‍–‍52 |
| Boston Red Sox | 72 | 90 | .444 | 26 | 40‍–‍41 | 32‍–‍49 |
| New York Yankees | 70 | 89 | .440 | 26½ | 35‍–‍46 | 35‍–‍43 |

### Record vs. opponents

1966 American League recordvte Sources: :
| 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

* May 3, 1966: Al Closter was purchased by the Yankees from the Washington Senators.
* June 7, 1966: Joe Pactwa was drafted by the Yankees in the 18th round of the 1966 Major League Baseball draft.

### Roster
## 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

| 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