# 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. This was the first season to feature the players' last names on the back of the jerseys.

## Offseason

* Vernon Stouffer bought 80% of the Cleveland Indians for $8,000,000.
* November 28, 1965: Hank Peters resigned from the Kansas City Athletics and became the minor league director for the Cleveland Indians.

### Notable transactions

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

## Regular season

* On May 1, Sam McDowell threw his second consecutive one-hitter for the Indians.
* On May 8, 1966, Baltimore Orioles outfielder Frank Robinson hit a 540-foot home run off Indians pitcher Luis Tiant, becoming the only player to hit a fair ball out of Memorial Stadium.

### 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

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

### Opening Day Lineup

Opening Day Starters :
| # | Name | Position |
| 25 | Vic Davalillo | CF |
| 10 | Max Alvis | 3B |
| 27 | Leon Wagner | LF |
| 21 | Rocky Colavito | RF |
| 23 | Chuck Hinton | 1B |
| 24 | Pedro González | 2B |
| 16 | Larry Brown | SS |
| 7 | Del Crandall | C |
| 48 | Sam McDowell | P |

### 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 | 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 |

### 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 |
| Gary Bell | 40 | 254.1 | 14 | 15 | 3.22 | 194 |
| Sonny Siebert | 34 | 241.0 | 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 | 192.0 | 13 | 10 | 2.48 | 132 |
| Luis Tiant | 46 | 155.0 | 12 | 11 | 2.79 | 145 |
| John O'Donoghue | 32 | 108.0 | 6 | 8 | 3.83 | 49 |
| Tom Kelley | 31 | 95.1 | 4 | 8 | 4.34 | 64 |
| Lee Stange | 8 | 16.0 | 1 | 0 | 2.81 | 8 |
| Bob Heffner | 5 | 13.0 | 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 |