# 1966 Washington Senators season

The 1966 Washington Senators season involved the Senators finishing eighth in the American League with a record of 71 wins and 88 losses.

## Offseason

* October 12, 1965: Woodie Held was traded by the Senators to the Baltimore Orioles for John Orsino.
* November 19, 1965: Don Zimmer was released by the Senators.
* November 29, 1965: Bob Saverine was drafted by the Senators from the Houston Astros in the 1965 rule 5 draft.

## Regular season

* Emmett Ashford, the first black umpire in Major League Baseball history made his debut at D.C. Stadium on April 9, 1966.

### Opening Day starters

* Ed Brinkman
* Doug Camilli
* Joe Cunningham
* Ken Hamlin
* Frank Howard
* Don Lock
* Ken McMullen
* Pete Richert
* Fred Valentine

### 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

* April 5, 1966: Al Closter was purchased by the Senators from the Cleveland Indians.
* April 13, 1966: Diego Seguí was purchased by the Senators from the Kansas City Athletics.
* July 30, 1966: Diego Seguí was traded by the Senators to the Kansas City Athletics for Jim Duckworth.

#### Draft picks

* June 7, 1966: Del Unser was drafted by the Senators in the 1st round (18th pick) of the secondary phase of the 1966 Major League Baseball Draft. Player signed June 28, 1966.

### 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 | Paul Casanova | 122 | 429 | 109 | .254 | 13 | 44 |
| 1B | Ken Harrelson | 71 | 250 | 62 | .248 | 7 | 28 |
| 2B | Bob Saverine | 120 | 406 | 102 | .251 | 5 | 24 |
| SS | Ed Brinkman | 158 | 582 | 133 | .229 | 7 | 48 |
| 3B | Ken McMullen | 147 | 524 | 122 | .233 | 13 | 54 |
| LF | Frank Howard | 146 | 493 | 137 | .278 | 18 | 71 |
| CF | Don Lock | 138 | 386 | 90 | .233 | 16 | 48 |
| RF | Jim King | 117 | 310 | 77 | .248 | 10 | 30 |

#### 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 |
| Fred Valentine | 146 | 508 | 140 | .276 | 16 | 59 |
| Dick Nen | 94 | 235 | 50 | .213 | 6 | 30 |
| Don Blasingame | 68 | 200 | 43 | .215 | 1 | 11 |
| Willie Kirkland | 124 | 163 | 31 | .190 | 6 | 17 |
| Ken Hamlin | 66 | 158 | 34 | .215 | 1 | 16 |
| Doug Camilli | 44 | 107 | 22 | .206 | 2 | 8 |
| Bob Chance | 37 | 57 | 10 | .175 | 1 | 8 |
| Dick Phillips | 25 | 37 | 6 | .162 | 0 | 4 |
| Tim Cullen | 18 | 34 | 8 | .235 | 0 | 0 |
| Hank Allen | 9 | 31 | 12 | .387 | 1 | 6 |
| Jim French | 10 | 24 | 5 | .208 | 0 | 3 |
| John Orsino | 14 | 23 | 4 | .174 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Brumley | 9 | 18 | 2 | .111 | 0 | 0 |
| Joe Cunningham | 3 | 8 | 1 | .125 | 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 |
| Pete Richert | 36 | 245.2 | 14 | 14 | 3.37 | 195 |
| Mike McCormick | 41 | 216.0 | 11 | 14 | 3.46 | 101 |
| Phil Ortega | 33 | 197.1 | 12 | 12 | 3.92 | 121 |
| Barry Moore | 12 | 62.1 | 3 | 3 | 3.75 | 28 |
| Jim Duckworth | 5 | 14.1 | 0 | 3 | 5.02 | 14 |
| Joe Coleman | 1 | 9.0 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 | 4 |

#### 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 Hannan | 30 | 114.0 | 3 | 9 | 4.26 | 68 |
| Diego Seguí | 21 | 72.0 | 3 | 7 | 5.00 | 54 |
| Dick Bosman | 13 | 39.0 | 2 | 6 | 7.60 | 20 |
| Frank Kreutzer | 9 | 31.1 | 0 | 5 | 6.03 | 24 |
| Tom Cheney | 3 | 5.1 | 0 | 1 | 5.06 | 3 |

#### 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 |
| Ron Kline | 63 | 6 | 4 | 23 | 2.39 | 46 |
| Casey Cox | 66 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 3.50 | 46 |
| Bob Humphreys | 58 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2.82 | 88 |
| Dick Lines | 53 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2.28 | 49 |
| Dave Baldwin | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.86 | 4 |
| Buster Narum | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21.60 | 0 |
| Howie Koplitz | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
| Pete Craig | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 1 |
| Al Closter | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Hawaii Islanders | Pacific Coast League | George Case |
| AA | York White Roses | Eastern League | Billy Klaus |
| A | Burlington Senators | Carolina League | Wayne Terwilliger |
| A | Geneva Senators | New York–Penn League | Gordon Mackenzie |