# 1966 Chicago Cubs season

The 1966 Chicago Cubs season was the 95th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 91st in the National League and the 51st at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished tenth and last in the National League with a record of 59–103, 36 games behind the NL Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. The Cubs would not lose 100 or more games in a season for another 46 seasons. One of the defining trades in Cubs history occurred on April 21, when the Cubs acquired future Cy Young Award winner Ferguson Jenkins in a trade with the Philadelphia Phillies.

## Offseason

* December 2, 1965: Lindy McDaniel and Don Landrum were traded by the Cubs to the San Francisco Giants for Randy Hundley and Bill Hands.
* January 10, 1966: Doug Clemens was traded by the Cubs to the Philadelphia Phillies for Wes Covington.

## Regular season
### 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 21, 1966: Larry Jackson and Bob Buhl were traded by the Cubs to the Philadelphia Phillies for Ferguson Jenkins, John Herrnstein and Adolfo Phillips.
* April 28, 1966: Bobby Cox and cash were traded by the Cubs to the Atlanta Braves for Billy Cowan.
* May 14, 1966: Frank Thomas was signed as a free agent by the Cubs.
* May 28, 1966: Wes Covington was released by the Cubs.
* May 29, 1966: John Herrnstein was traded by the Cubs to the Atlanta Braves for Marty Keough and Arnold Earley.
* June 4, 1966: Frank Thomas was released by the Cubs.
* June 22, 1966: Billy Cowan was traded by the Cubs to the Philadelphia Phillies for Norm Gigon.

### Roster
## Player stats

* = Indicates team leader

### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: 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 | Randy Hundley | 149 | 526 | 124 | .236 | 19 | 63 |
| 1B | Ernie Banks | 141 | 511 | 139 | .272 | 15 | 75 |
| 2B | Glenn Beckert | 153 | 656 | 188 | .287 | 1 | 59 |
| 3B | Ron Santo | 155 | 561 | 175 | .312 | 30 | 94 |
| SS | Don Kessinger | 150 | 533 | 146 | .274 | 1 | 43 |
| LF | Byron Browne | 120 | 419 | 102 | .243 | 16 | 51 |
| CF | Adolfo Phillips | 116 | 416 | 109 | .262 | 16 | 36 |
| RF | Billy Williams | 162 | 648 | 179 | .276 | 29 | 91 |

#### 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 |
| John Boccabella | 75 | 206 | 47 | .228 | 6 | 25 |
| George Altman | 88 | 185 | 41 | .222 | 5 | 17 |
| Lee Thomas | 75 | 149 | 36 | .242 | 1 | 9 |
| Jimmy Stewart | 57 | 90 | 16 | .178 | 0 | 4 |
| Ron Campbell | 24 | 60 | 13 | .217 | 0 | 4 |
| Joey Amalfitano | 41 | 38 | 6 | .158 | 0 | 3 |
| Bob Raudman | 8 | 29 | 7 | .241 | 0 | 2 |
| Chris Krug | 11 | 28 | 6 | .214 | 0 | 1 |
| Marty Keough | 33 | 26 | 6 | .231 | 0 | 5 |
| Don Bryant | 13 | 26 | 8 | .308 | 0 | 4 |
| Carl Warwick | 16 | 22 | 5 | .227 | 0 | 0 |
| John Herrnstein | 9 | 17 | 3 | .176 | 0 | 0 |
| Roberto Peña | 6 | 17 | 3 | .176 | 0 | 1 |
| Ty Cline | 7 | 17 | 6 | .353 | 0 | 2 |
| Wes Covington | 9 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 0 | 0 |
| Paul Popovich | 2 | 6 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Frank Thomas | 5 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Harvey Kuenn | 3 | 3 | 1 | .333 | 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 |
| Dick Ellsworth | 38 | 269.1 | 8 | 22 | 3.98 | 144 |
| Ken Holtzman | 34 | 220.2 | 11 | 16 | 3.79 | 171 |
| Ernie Broglio | 15 | 62.1 | 2 | 6 | 6.35 | 34 |
| Dave Dowling | 1 | 9.0 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 | 3 |
| Bob Buhl | 1 | 2.1 | 0 | 0 | 15.43 | 1 |

#### 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 |
| Ferguson Jenkins | 60 | 182.0 | 6 | 8 | 3.31 | 148 |
| Bill Hands | 41 | 159.0 | 8 | 15 | 4.58 | 93 |
| Curt Simmons | 19 | 77.1 | 4 | 7 | 4.07 | 24 |
| Bill Faul | 17 | 51.1 | 1 | 4 | 5.08 | 32 |
| Robin Roberts | 11 | 48.1 | 2 | 3 | 6.14 | 28 |
| Rich Nye | 3 | 17.0 | 0 | 2 | 2.12 | 9 |
| Larry Jackson | 3 | 8.0 | 0 | 2 | 13.50 | 5 |

#### 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 Hendley | 43 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 3.91 | 65 |
| Cal Koonce | 45 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3.81 | 65 |
| Billy Hoeft | 36 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4.61 | 30 |
| Ted Abernathy | 20 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6.18 | 18 |
| Don Lee | 16 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7.11 | 7 |
| Arnold Earley | 13 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3.57 | 12 |
| Bill Connors | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7.31 | 3 |
| Chuck Estrada | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7.30 | 3 |
| Chuck Hartenstein | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.93 | 4 |
| Len Church | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7.50 | 3 |
| Fred Norman | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 6 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Tacoma Cubs | Pacific Coast League | Les Peden |
| AA | Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs | Texas League | Stan Hack, Pete Reiser and Lou Klein |
| A | Lodi Crushers | California League | Don Elston and Ray Perry |
| A | Quincy Cubs | Midwest League | Walt Dixon |
| A-Short Season | Duluth–Superior Dukes | Northern League | Joe Grace |
| Rookie | Treasure Valley Cubs | Pioneer League | George Freese |