# 1966 California Angels season

The 1966 California Angels season, the team's first in Anaheim, involved the Angels finishing sixth in the American League with a record of 80 wins and 82 losses, 18 games behind the AL and World Series Champion Baltimore Orioles.

## Offseason

* November 29, 1965: Willie Montañez was drafted by the Angels from the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1965 first-year draft.
* December 2, 1965: Dick Simpson was traded by the Angels to the Baltimore Orioles for Norm Siebern.

## 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 5, 1966: Willie Montañez was returned by the Angels to the St. Louis Cardinals.
* June 7, 1966: Steve Hovley was drafted by the Angels in the 35th round of the 1966 Major League Baseball draft.
* August 12, 1966: Aurelio Rodríguez was purchased by the Angels from the Charros de Jalisco.

### 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 | Buck Rodgers | 133 | 454 | 107 | .236 | 7 | 48 |
| 1B | Norm Siebern | 125 | 336 | 83 | .247 | 5 | 41 |
| 2B | Bobby Knoop | 161 | 590 | 137 | .232 | 17 | 72 |
| 3B | Paul Schaal | 138 | 386 | 94 | .244 | 6 | 24 |
| SS | Jim Fregosi | 162 | 611 | 154 | .252 | 13 | 67 |
| LF | Rick Reichardt | 89 | 319 | 92 | .288 | 16 | 44 |
| CF | José Cardenal | 154 | 561 | 155 | .276 | 16 | 48 |
| RF | Ed Kirkpatrick | 117 | 312 | 60 | .192 | 9 | 44 |

#### 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 |
| Jay Johnstone | 61 | 254 | 67 | .264 | 3 | 17 |
| Joe Adcock | 83 | 231 | 63 | .273 | 18 | 48 |
| Tom Satriano | 103 | 226 | 54 | .239 | 0 | 24 |
| Willie Smith | 90 | 195 | 36 | .185 | 1 | 20 |
| Frank Malzone | 82 | 155 | 32 | .206 | 2 | 12 |
| Jimmy Piersall | 75 | 123 | 26 | .211 | 0 | 14 |
| Jackie Warner | 45 | 123 | 26 | .211 | 7 | 16 |
| Bubba Morton | 15 | 50 | 11 | .220 | 0 | 4 |
| Jackie Hernández | 58 | 23 | 1 | .043 | 0 | 2 |
| Charlie Vinson | 13 | 22 | 4 | .182 | 1 | 6 |
| Tom Egan | 7 | 11 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Al Spangler | 6 | 9 | 6 | .667 | 0 | 0 |
| Ed Bailey | 5 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Albie Pearson | 2 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Willie Montañez | 8 | 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 |
| Dean Chance | 41 | 259.2 | 12 | 17 | 3.08 | 180 |
| George Brunet | 41 | 212.0 | 13 | 13 | 3.31 | 148 |
| Marcelino López | 37 | 199.0 | 7 | 14 | 3.93 | 132 |
| Fred Newman | 21 | 102.2 | 4 | 7 | 4.73 | 42 |

#### 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 |
| Clyde Wright | 20 | 91.1 | 4 | 7 | 3.74 | 37 |
| Jim McGlothlin | 19 | 67.2 | 3 | 1 | 4.52 | 41 |
| Jim Coates | 9 | 31.2 | 1 | 1 | 3.98 | 16 |
| Jorge Rubio | 7 | 27.1 | 2 | 1 | 2.96 | 27 |
| Ramón López | 4 | 7.0 | 0 | 1 | 5.14 | 2 |

#### 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 |
| Bob Lee | 61 | 5 | 4 | 16 | 2.74 | 46 |
| Lew Burdette | 54 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 3.39 | 27 |
| Jack Sanford | 50 | 13 | 7 | 5 | 3.83 | 54 |
| Minnie Rojas | 47 | 7 | 4 | 10 | 2.88 | 37 |
| Howie Reed | 19 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2.93 | 17 |
| Ed Sukla | 12 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6.48 | 8 |
| Dick Egan | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.40 | 11 |
| Bill Kelso | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.38 | 11 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Seattle Angels | Pacific Coast League | Bob Lemon |
| AA | El Paso Sun Kings | Texas League | Chuck Tanner |
| A | San Jose Bees | California League | Rocky Bridges |
| A | Quad Cities Angels | Midwest League | Harry Dunlop |
| Rookie | Idaho Falls Angels | Pioneer League | Tom Morgan, Alex Monchak, Joe Gordon and John Fitzpatrick |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Seattle