1966 Detroit Tigers season

The 1966 Detroit Tigers season was the 66th consecutive season for the Detroit franchise in the American League. The Tigers, who had finished fourth in the ten-team AL in 1965 with an 89–73 record, won one less game in 1966, going 88–74, but moved up to third in the league, ten full games behind the eventual world champion Baltimore Orioles. The team attracted 1,124,293 fans to Tiger Stadium, fifth in the ten-team circuit.[1]

1966 Detroit Tigers
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)John Fetzer
General manager(s)Jim Campbell
Manager(s)Chuck Dressen, Bob Swift, Frank Skaff
Local televisionWJBK
(George Kell, Ray Lane)
Local radioWJR
(Ernie Harwell, Gene Osborn)
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Regular season

The 1966 season saw the maturation of the core of the 1968 world champion Tiger club, and the addition of starting pitcher Earl Wilson, a future 20-game winner. But it was marred by the in-season illnesses, ultimately fatal, that struck manager Chuck Dressen and his immediate successor, interim pilot Bob Swift.

Dressen, 71, suffered a heart attack on May 16 (his second in two years) with Detroit 16–10, three games behind the Cleveland Indians. He was admitted to a Detroit hospital and third-base coach Swift, 51, took the reins as acting manager, as he had done in 1965. Under Swift, the Tigers won 32 of their next 57 games. But during the July 11–13 All-Star break, with Detroit in second place, eight games behind Baltimore, Swift was hospitalized for rapid weight loss and what was first suspected to be food poisoning. Tests revealed that he was suffering from lung cancer, and he was forced to step aside. Dressen died August 10, and Swift succumbed October 17.

Another Tiger coach, Frank Skaff, finished the season as acting manager, with the team playing only one game above the .500 mark for him, at 40–39. The Tigers eventually hired Mayo Smith as their new manager for 1967, and Smith would lead them to within one game of the 1967 pennant and the 1968 world title.

Season standings
American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Baltimore Orioles 9763 0.606 — 48–31 49–32
Minnesota Twins 8973 0.549 9 49–32 40–41
Detroit Tigers 8874 0.543 10 42–39 46–35
Chicago White Sox 8379 0.512 15 45–36 38–43
Cleveland Indians 8181 0.500 17 41–40 40–41
California Angels 8082 0.494 18 42–39 38–43
Kansas City Athletics 7486 0.463 23 42–39 32–47
Washington Senators 7188 0.447 25½ 42–36 29–52
Boston Red Sox 7290 0.444 26 40–41 32–49
New York Yankees 7089 0.440 26½ 35–46 35–43

Record vs. opponents
1966 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIN NYY WSH
Baltimore —12–612–69–98–109–911–510–815–311–7
Boston 6–12—9–911–77–118–109–96–128–108–10
California 6–129–9—8–1010–89–99–911–711–77–11
Chicago 9–97–1110–8—11–78–1013–54–149–9–112–6
Cleveland 10–811–78–107–11—9–96–129–912–69–9
Detroit 9–910–89–910–89–9—6–1211–711–713–5
Kansas City 5–119–99–95–1312–612–6—8–105–139–9
Minnesota 8–1012–67–1114–49–97–1110–8—8–1014–4
New York 3–1510–87–119–9–16–127–1113–510–8—5–10
Washington 7–1110–811–76–129–95–139–94–1410–5—

Notable transactions

Roster
1966 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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
CBill Freehan136492115.2341246
1BNorm Cash160603168.2793293
2BJerry Lumpe11338589.231126
SSDick McAuliffe124430118.2742356
3BDon Wert150559150.2681170
LFWillie Horton146526138.26227100
CFAl Kaline142479138.2882988
RFJim Northrup123419111.2651658

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
Mickey Stanley9223568.289319
Jake Wood9823058.252227
Ray Oyler7121036.17119
Gates Brown8816945.266727
Orlando McFarlane4913835.254513
Dick Tracewski8112424.19407
Don Demeter329921.212512
Arlo Brunsberg231.33300
Don Pepper430.00000

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
Denny McLain38264.120143.92192
Mickey Lolich40203.214144.77173
Earl Wilson23163.11362.59133

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
Dave Wickersham38140.2833.2093
Johnny Podres36107.2453.4353
Hank Aguirre30103.2393.8250
Bill Monbouquette30102.2784.7361
Joe Sparma2991.2275.3061

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
Larry Sherry5585203.8263
Orlando Peña544273.0879
Fred Gladding515023.2857
Terry Fox40116.306
George Korince20000.002
Bill Graham10000.002
John Hiller10009.001
Julio Navarro1000∞0

Farm system
See also: Minor league baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Syracuse Chiefs International League Frank Carswell
AA Montgomery Rebels Southern League Wayne Blackburn
A Rocky Mount Leafs Carolina League Al Federoff
A Daytona Beach Islanders Florida State League Gail Henley
A Statesville Tigers Western Carolinas League Al Lakeman and George Spencer

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Rocky Mount

Notes
  1. 1966 AL Attendance, Baseball Reference
  2. Mike Marshall page at Baseball Reference
  3. Les Cain page at Baseball Reference
  4. Joe Christopher page at Baseball Reference
  5. Tim Hosley page at Baseball Reference

References
  • Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, N.C.: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
  • 1966 Detroit Tigers season at Baseball Reference
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