# 1966 New York Mets season

The 1966 New York Mets season was the fifth regular season for the Mets. They went 66–95 and finished ninth in the National League. They were managed by Wes Westrum. They played home games at Shea Stadium.
1966 marked the first season in which the Mets avoided a last place finish, as well as the first time they did not lose at least 100 games. It was also the first time their record was above .500 at any point of the season, as they stood 2-1 after taking two of three games in the opening series with the Atlanta Braves.

## Offseason

* October 20, 1965: Charley Smith and Al Jackson were traded by the Mets to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ken Boyer.
* November 29, 1965: Al Luplow was purchased by the Mets from the Cleveland Indians.
* November 30, 1965: Joe Christopher was traded by the Mets to the Boston Red Sox for Ed Bressoud.
* January 6, 1966: Gary Kroll was traded by the Mets to the Houston Astros for Johnny Weekly and cash.

## Regular season

* September 11, 1966: Pitcher Pat Jarvis of the Atlanta Braves becomes the first of 5,714 strikeout victims of Nolan Ryan's career.

### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 95 | 67 | .586 | — | 53‍–‍28 | 42‍–‍39 |
| San Francisco Giants | 93 | 68 | .578 | 1½ | 47‍–‍34 | 46‍–‍34 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 92 | 70 | .568 | 3 | 46‍–‍35 | 46‍–‍35 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 87 | 75 | .537 | 8 | 48‍–‍33 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Atlanta Braves | 85 | 77 | .525 | 10 | 43‍–‍38 | 42‍–‍39 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 83 | 79 | .512 | 12 | 43‍–‍38 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 76 | 84 | .475 | 18 | 46‍–‍33 | 30‍–‍51 |
| Houston Astros | 72 | 90 | .444 | 23 | 45‍–‍36 | 27‍–‍54 |
| New York Mets | 66 | 95 | .410 | 28½ | 32‍–‍49 | 34‍–‍46 |
| Chicago Cubs | 59 | 103 | .364 | 36 | 32‍–‍49 | 27‍–‍54 |

### Record vs. opponents

1966 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | NYM | PHI | PIT | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 7–11 | 10–8 | 14–4–1 | 7–11 | 14–4 | 11–7 | 7–11 | 8–10 | 7–11 |
| Chicago | 11–7 | — | 6–12 | 5–13 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 5–13 | 6–12 | 6–12 | 4–14 |
| Cincinnati | 8–10 | 12–6 | — | 4–14 | 6–12 | 10–7 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 7–10 | 11–7 |
| Houston | 4–14–1 | 13–5 | 14–4 | — | 7–11 | 7–11 | 7–11 | 4–14 | 6–12 | 10–8 |
| Los Angeles | 11–7 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 11–7 | — | 12–6 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 10–8 |
| New York | 4–14 | 10–8 | 7–10 | 11–7 | 6–12 | — | 7–11 | 5–13 | 9–9 | 7–11 |
| Philadelphia | 7-11 | 13–5 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 7–11 | 11–7 | — | 10–8 | 10–8 | 10–8 |
| Pittsburgh | 11–7 | 12–6 | 10–8 | 14–4 | 9–9 | 13–5 | 8–10 | — | 7–11 | 8–10 |
| San Francisco | 10–8 | 12–6 | 10–7 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 11–7 | — | 12–6 |
| St. Louis | 11–7 | 14–4 | 7–11 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 6–12 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 3, 1966: Tom Seaver was signed as an amateur free agent by the Mets.
* June 4, 1966: Galen Cisco was released by the Mets.
* June 7, 1966: Duffy Dyer was drafted by the Mets in the 1st round (9th pick) of the 1966 Major League Baseball draft (secondary phase).
* June 10, 1966: Bob Shaw was purchased by the Mets from the San Francisco Giants.
* August 6, 1966: Ralph Terry was purchased by the Mets from the Kansas City Athletics.

### 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 | Jerry Grote | 120 | 317 | 75 | .237 | 3 | 31 |
| 1B | Ed Kranepool | 146 | 464 | 118 | .254 | 16 | 57 |
| 2B | Ron Hunt | 132 | 479 | 138 | .288 | 3 | 33 |
| SS | Ed Bressoud | 133 | 405 | 91 | .225 | 10 | 49 |
| 3B | Ken Boyer | 136 | 496 | 132 | .266 | 14 | 61 |
| LF | Ron Swoboda | 112 | 342 | 76 | .222 | 8 | 50 |
| CF | Cleon Jones | 139 | 495 | 136 | .275 | 8 | 57 |
| RF | Al Luplow | 111 | 334 | 84 | .251 | 7 | 31 |

#### 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 |
| Chuck Hiller | 108 | 254 | 71 | .280 | 2 | 14 |
| Roy McMillan | 76 | 220 | 47 | .214 | 1 | 12 |
| Larry Elliot | 65 | 199 | 49 | .246 | 5 | 32 |
| Johnny Lewis | 65 | 166 | 32 | .193 | 5 | 20 |
| Jim Hickman | 58 | 160 | 38 | .238 | 4 | 16 |
| John Stephenson | 63 | 143 | 28 | .196 | 1 | 11 |
| Billy Murphy | 84 | 135 | 31 | .230 | 3 | 13 |
| Hawk Taylor | 53 | 109 | 19 | .174 | 3 | 12 |
| Bud Harrelson | 33 | 99 | 22 | .222 | 0 | 4 |
| Dick Stuart | 31 | 87 | 19 | .218 | 4 | 13 |
| Danny Napoleon | 12 | 33 | 7 | .212 | 0 | 0 |
| Greg Goossen | 13 | 32 | 6 | .188 | 1 | 5 |
| Choo-Choo Coleman | 6 | 16 | 3 | .188 | 0 | 0 |
| Shaun Fitzmaurice | 9 | 13 | 2 | .154 | 0 | 0 |
| Lou Klimchock | 5 | 5 | 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 |
| Jack Fisher | 38 | 230.0 | 11 | 14 | 3.68 | 127 |
| Dennis Ribant | 39 | 188.1 | 11 | 9 | 3.20 | 84 |
| Bob Shaw | 26 | 167.2 | 11 | 10 | 3.92 | 104 |

#### 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 |
| Jack Hamilton | 57 | 148.2 | 6 | 13 | 3.93 | 93 |
| Rob Gardner | 41 | 133.2 | 4 | 8 | 5.12 | 74 |
| Bob Friend | 22 | 86.0 | 5 | 8 | 4.40 | 30 |
| Dick Selma | 30 | 80.2 | 4 | 6 | 4.24 | 58 |
| Tug McGraw | 15 | 62.1 | 2 | 9 | 5.34 | 34 |
| Gerry Arrigo | 17 | 43.1 | 3 | 3 | 3.74 | 28 |
| Dick Rusteck | 8 | 24.0 | 1 | 2 | 3.00 | 9 |
| Larry Miller | 4 | 8.1 | 0 | 2 | 7.56 | 7 |
| Nolan Ryan | 2 | 3.0 | 0 | 1 | 15.00 | 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 |
| Bill Hepler | 37 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3.52 | 25 |
| Darrell Sutherland | 31 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4.87 | 23 |
| Larry Bearnarth | 29 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4.45 | 27 |
| Dave Eilers | 23 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4.67 | 14 |
| Gordie Richardson | 15 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 9.16 | 15 |
| Ralph Terry | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4.74 | 14 |
| Dallas Green | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.40 | 1 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Jacksonville Suns | International League | Solly Hemus |
| AA | Williamsport Mets | Eastern League | Bill Virdon |
| A | Auburn Mets | New York–Penn League | Clyde McCullough |
| A | Greenville Mets | Western Carolinas League | Pete Pavlick |
| Rookie | Marion Mets | Appalachian League | Buddy Peterson |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Auburn, Marion