# 1966 Minnesota Twins season

The 1966 Minnesota Twins season was the 6th season for the Minnesota Twins franchise in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, their 6th season at Metropolitan Stadium and the 66th overall in the American League.
The Twins finished 89–73, second in the American League. 1,259,374 fans attended Twins games, the second highest total in the American League.

## 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. 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.
Four Twins made the All-Star Game: first baseman Harmon Killebrew, outfielder Tony Oliva, catcher Earl Battey, and pitcher Jim Kaat.

### 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

* June 7, 1966: 1966 Major League Baseball draft
** Steve Garvey was drafted by the Twins in the 3rd round, but did not sign.
** Roger Freed was drafted by the Twins, but the pick was voided.

### 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 | Earl Battey | 115 | 364 | 93 | .255 | 4 | 34 |
| 1B | Don Mincher | 139 | 431 | 108 | .251 | 14 | 62 |
| 2B | Bernie Allen | 101 | 319 | 76 | .238 | 5 | 30 |
| 3B | Harmon Killebrew | 162 | 569 | 160 | .281 | 39 | 110 |
| SS | Zoilo Versalles | 137 | 543 | 135 | .249 | 7 | 36 |
| LF | Jimmie Hall | 120 | 356 | 85 | .239 | 20 | 47 |
| CF | Ted Uhlaender | 105 | 367 | 83 | .226 | 2 | 22 |
| RF | Tony Oliva | 159 | 622 | 191 | .307 | 25 | 87 |

#### 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 Tovar | 134 | 465 | 121 | .260 | 2 | 41 |
| Rich Rollins | 90 | 269 | 66 | .245 | 10 | 40 |
| Bob Allison | 70 | 168 | 37 | .220 | 8 | 19 |
| Andy Kosco | 57 | 158 | 35 | .222 | 2 | 13 |
| Jerry Zimmerman | 60 | 119 | 30 | .252 | 1 | 15 |
| Sandy Valdespino | 52 | 108 | 19 | .176 | 2 | 9 |
| Russ Nixon | 51 | 96 | 25 | .260 | 0 | 7 |
| George Mitterwald | 3 | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Rich Reese | 3 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Ron Clark | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | 1 |
| Joe Nossek | 4 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 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 |
| Jim Kaat | 41 | 304.2 | 25 | 13 | 2.75 | 205 |
| Mudcat Grant | 35 | 249.0 | 13 | 13 | 3.25 | 110 |
| Jim Perry | 33 | 184.1 | 11 | 7 | 2.54 | 122 |
| Dave Boswell | 28 | 169.1 | 12 | 5 | 3.14 | 173 |
| Camilo Pascual | 21 | 103.0 | 8 | 6 | 4.89 | 56 |

#### 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 Merritt | 31 | 144.0 | 7 | 14 | 3.38 | 124 |
| Jim Ollom | 3 | 10.0 | 0 | 0 | 3.60 | 11 |

#### 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 Worthington | 65 | 6 | 3 | 16 | 2.46 | 93 |
| Pete Cimino | 35 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 5.06 | 1 |
| Johnny Klippstein | 26 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3.40 | 26 |
| Dwight Siebler | 23 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3.44 | 24 |
| Garry Roggenburk | 12 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5.84 | 3 |
| Bill Pleis | 8 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1.93 | 9 |
| Ron Keller | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.06 | 1 |
| Jim Roland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |

## Farm system

| 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