# 1966 Houston Astros season

During the 1966 Houston Astros season in American baseball, the team finished eighth in the National League with a record of 72–90 (.444), 23 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.
This was the second season for the Astrodome, but its first with a playing surface of AstroTurf. The infield portion was installed in March, and the outfield was ready for play on July 19.

## Offseason

* November 29, 1965: 1965 rule 5 draft
** Nate Colbert was drafted by the Astros from the St. Louis Cardinals.
** Bob Saverine was drafted from the Astros by the Washington Senators.
* January 6, 1966: Johnny Weekly and cash were traded by the Astros to the New York Mets for Gary Kroll.

## 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 | — |

### Opening Day lineup

* Lee Maye, LF
* Sonny Jackson, SS
* Jimmy Wynn, CF
* Dave Nicholson, RF
* Joe Morgan, 2B
* Bob Aspromonte, 3B
* Chuck Harrison, 1B
* John Bateman, C
* Robin Roberts, P

### Notable transactions

* June 7, 1966: Fred Stanley was drafted by the Astros in the 8th round of the 1966 Major League Baseball draft.

### 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 | John Bateman | 131 | 433 | 121 | .279 | 17 | 70 |
| 1B | Chuck Harrison | 119 | 434 | 111 | .256 | 9 | 52 |
| 2B | Joe Morgan | 122 | 425 | 121 | .285 | 5 | 42 |
| 3B | Bob Aspromonte | 152 | 560 | 141 | .252 | 8 | 52 |
| SS | Sonny Jackson | 150 | 596 | 174 | .292 | 3 | 25 |
| LF | Lee Maye | 115 | 358 | 103 | .288 | 9 | 36 |
| CF | Jimmy Wynn | 105 | 418 | 107 | .256 | 18 | 62 |
| RF | Rusty Staub | 153 | 554 | 155 | .280 | 13 | 81 |

#### 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 |
| Dave Nicholson | 100 | 280 | 69 | .246 | 10 | 31 |
| Ron Davis | 48 | 194 | 48 | .247 | 2 | 19 |
| Bob Lillis | 68 | 164 | 38 | .232 | 0 | 11 |
| Félix Mantilla | 77 | 151 | 33 | .219 | 6 | 22 |
| Jim Gentile | 49 | 144 | 35 | .243 | 7 | 18 |
| Ron Brand | 56 | 123 | 30 | .244 | 0 | 10 |
| Bill Heath | 55 | 123 | 37 | .301 | 0 | 8 |
| Norm Miller | 11 | 34 | 5 | .147 | 1 | 3 |
| Gene Freese | 21 | 33 | 3 | .091 | 0 | 0 |
| Brock Davis | 10 | 27 | 4 | .148 | 0 | 1 |
| Aaron Pointer | 11 | 26 | 9 | .346 | 1 | 5 |
| Joe Gaines | 11 | 13 | 1 | .077 | 0 | 0 |
| Nate Colbert | 19 | 7 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Dave Adlesh | 3 | 6 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Greg Sims | 7 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| Julio Gotay | 4 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Bob Watson | 1 | 1 | 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 |
| Mike Cuellar | 38 | 227.1 | 12 | 10 | 2.22 | 175 |
| Dave Giusti | 34 | 210.0 | 15 | 14 | 4.20 | 131 |
| Larry Dierker | 29 | 187.0 | 10 | 8 | 3.18 | 108 |
| Bob Bruce | 25 | 129.2 | 3 | 13 | 5.34 | 71 |
| Robin Roberts | 13 | 63.2 | 3 | 5 | 3.82 | 26 |
| Chris Zachary | 10 | 55.0 | 3 | 5 | 3.44 | 37 |

#### 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 |
| Turk Farrell | 32 | 152.2 | 6 | 10 | 4.60 | 101 |
| Barry Latman | 31 | 103.0 | 2 | 7 | 2.71 | 74 |

#### 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 |
| Claude Raymond | 62 | 7 | 5 | 16 | 3.13 | 73 |
| Jim Owens | 40 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 4.68 | 32 |
| Ron Taylor | 36 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5.71 | 29 |
| Carroll Sembera | 24 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3.00 | 21 |
| Gary Kroll | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.80 | 22 |
| Aurelio Monteagudo | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4.70 | 7 |
| Frank Carpin | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7.50 | 2 |
| Don Lee | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2.50 | 9 |
| Don Arlich | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 15.75 | 1 |
| Danny Coombs | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.38 | 3 |
| Don Wilson | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.00 | 7 |
| Jim Ray | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | inf | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Oklahoma City 89ers | Pacific Coast League | Mel McGaha |
| AA | Amarillo Sonics | Texas League | Buddy Hancken |
| A | Durham Bulls | Carolina League | Chuck Churn |
| A | Cocoa Astros | Florida State League | Joe Frazier |
| A | Salisbury Astros | Western Carolinas League | Walt Matthews |
| A-Short Season | Bismarck–Mandan Pards | Northern League | Tony Pacheco |