1966 Houston Astros season

1966 Houston Astros
LeagueNational League
BallparkAstrodome
CityHouston, Texas
Record72–90 (.444)
League place8th
OwnersRoy Hofheinz
General managersTal Smith
ManagersGrady Hatton
TelevisionKTRK-TV
RadioKPRC (AM)
(Gene Elston, Loel Passe, Harry Kalas)
Seasons

The 1966 Houston Astros season was the fifth season for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Houston, Texas, their second as the Astros, fifth in the National League (NL), and second at The Astrodome. The Astros entered the season with a 65–97 record, in ninth place and 32 games behind the NL pennant and World Seres-winning Los Angeles Dodgers.

The 1965 season was the first for Grady Hatton as manager, the third in franchise history, having replaced Lum Harris.

Though this was the second season for the Astrodome in operation, it was the first with the playing surface of AstroTurf installed.[1] The infield portion was installed in March,[2][3][4][5][6] and the outfield was ready for play on July 19.[7][8][9]

The Astros' first round draft pick in the amateur draft was pitcher Wayne Twitchell, at third overall.

Second baseman Joe Morgan and pitcher Claude Raymond represented the Astros at the MLB All-Star Game, the first career selection for both. Morgan was the first player in franchise history to be named starter to the mid-season event; however, he missed the game due to injury.

The Astros concluded the season with a record of 72–90 (.444), in eighth place and 23 games behind the repeat NL pennant-winning Dodgers. At the time, the 72 wins represented more than Houston had won in any of their first four seasons of play.

Offseason

Regular season

Summary

On June 2, the Astros entered the 12th inning tied 3–3 with the Cincinnati Reds, and rallied to collect nine hits to defeat the Reds, 11–4. Rusty Staub collected two hits in the inning, starting with a single and finished off with a double.[13]

Pitcher Dave Giusti turned in an all-around contribution for the Astros, tossing a complete game against the Chiacago Cubs to lead an 8–4 win. At the plate, he doubled and went 3-for-3. John Bateman, Rusty Staub and Dave Nicholson all homered for Houston.[14]

With the Astros hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 22, a record-setting 55.988 fans witnessed Sandy Koufax take on the Houston Astros. Though Koufax led the Dodgers to a 5–2 win, Jimmy Wynn went 4-for-4 with a home run and two doubles.[15]

During pregame batting practice drills on June 25 before playing the St. Louis Cardinals, Lee May's line drive struck Astros infielder Joe Morgan on the knee, fracturing it. He would miss the next 40 games including his first All-Star Game.[16] Batting .319 prior to the injury, Morgan became the first player in franchise history to be named starter at the All-Star Game on June 28.[17]

Season standings

National 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
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 record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
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
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

  1. Lee Maye, LF
  2. Sonny Jackson, SS
  3. Jimmy Wynn, CF
  4. Dave Nicholson, RF
  5. Joe Morgan, 2B
  6. Bob Aspromonte, 3B
  7. Chuck Harrison, 1B
  8. John Bateman, C
  9. Robin Roberts, P[18]

Notable transactions

Roster

1966 Houston Astros
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

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

[20]

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

[20]

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

See also: Minor League Baseball
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

References

  1. ^ "Astroturf planned for Houston field". Florence Times. (Alabama). Associated Press. March 13, 1966. p. 18.
  2. ^ "Astroturf looks great, but..." Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. March 20, 1966. p. 2b.
  3. ^ "What's new? Astroturf". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). Associated Press. March 21, 1966. p. 23.
  4. ^ "Zippered 'grass' big hit in Astrodome". Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal. (Florida). Associated Press. March 20, 1966. p. 1B.
  5. ^ Bledsoe, Terry (March 20, 1966). "Astrodome's synthetic grass gets 1st test with skids and bounces". Milwaukee Journal. p. 1, sports.
  6. ^ Rathet, Mike (March 21, 1966). "Brickbats starting to fly over Houston's Astroturf". Victoria Advocate. (Texas). Associated Press. p. 8.
  7. ^ "Phils, Astros plan tonight on artificial grass". Reading Eagle. (Pennsylvania). Associated Press. July 19, 1966. p. 23.
  8. ^ "Phil find Farrell, turf unfriendly". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. July 20, 1966. p. 3C.
  9. ^ "Astros clout Phils; Farrell leads way". Victoria Advocate. (Texas). Associated Press. July 20, 1966. p. 8.
  10. ^ Nate Colbert at Baseball-Reference
  11. ^ Bob Saverine at Baseball-Reference
  12. ^ Gary Kroll at Baseball-Reference
  13. ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (June 2, 2025). "Today in Astros history - June 2". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved July 11, 2025.
  14. ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (June 12, 2025). "Today in Astros history - June 12". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved June 30, 2025.
  15. ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (June 22, 2025). "Today in Astros history - June 22". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved June 22, 2025.
  16. ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (June 25, 2025). "Today in Astros history - June 25". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved June 25, 2025.
  17. ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (June 28, 2025). "Today in Astros history - June 28". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
  18. ^ 1966 Houston Astros Roster by Baseball Almanac
  19. ^ Fred Stanley at Baseball Reference
  20. ^ a b 1966 Houston Astros Statistics and Roster – Baseball-Reference.com
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