1966 Houston Astros season

The 1966 Houston Astros season was a 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.

1966 Houston Astros
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record72–90 (.444)
League place8th
Other information
Owner(s)Roy Hofheinz
General manager(s)Tal Smith
Manager(s)Grady Hatton
Local televisionKTRK-TV
Local radioKPRC (AM)
(Gene Elston, Loel Passe, Harry Kalas)
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This was the second season for the Astrodome, but its first with a playing surface of AstroTurf.[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]

Offseason

Regular season

Season standings
National League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Los Angeles Dodgers 9567 0.586 — 53–28 42–39
San Francisco Giants 9368 0.578 1½ 47–34 46–34
Pittsburgh Pirates 9270 0.568 3 46–35 46–35
Philadelphia Phillies 8775 0.537 8 48–33 39–42
Atlanta Braves 8577 0.525 10 43–38 42–39
St. Louis Cardinals 8379 0.512 12 43–38 40–41
Cincinnati Reds 7684 0.475 18 46–33 30–51
Houston Astros 7290 0.444 23 45–36 27–54
New York Mets 6695 0.410 28½ 32–49 34–46
Chicago Cubs 59103 0.364 36 32–49 27–54

Record vs. opponents
1966 National League Records

Sources:
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD NYM PHI PIT SF STL
Atlanta —7–1110–814–4–17–1114–411–77–118–107–11
Chicago 11–7—6–125–138–108–105–136–126–124–14
Cincinnati 8–1012–6—4–146–1210–710–88–107–1011–7
Houston 4–14–113–514–4—7–117–117–114–146–1210–8
Los Angeles 11–710–812–611–7—12–611–79–99–910–8
New York 4–1410–87–1011–76–12—7–115–139–97–11
Philadelphia 7-1113–58–1011–77–1111–7—10–810–810–8
Pittsburgh 11–712–610–814–49–913–58–10—7–118–10
San Francisco 10–812–610–712–69–99–98–1011–7—12–6
St. Louis 11–714–47–118–108–1011–78–1010–86–12—

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[13]

Notable transactions

Roster
1966 Houston Astros
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 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
CJohn Bateman131433121.2791770
1BChuck Harrison119434111.256952
2BJoe Morgan122425121.285542
3BBob Aspromonte152560141.252852
SSSonny Jackson150596174.292325
LFLee Maye115358103.288936
CFJimmy Wynn105418107.2561862
RFRusty Staub153554155.2801381

[15]

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 Nicholson10028069.2461031
Ron Davis4819448.247219
Bob Lillis6816438.232011
Félix Mantilla7715133.219622
Jim Gentile4914435.243718
Ron Brand5612330.244010
Bill Heath5512337.30108
Norm Miller11345.14713
Gene Freese21333.09100
Brock Davis10274.14801
Aaron Pointer11269.34615
Joe Gaines11131.07700
Nate Colbert1970.00000
Dave Adlesh360.00000
Greg Sims761.16700
Julio Gotay450.00000
Bob Watson110.00000

[15]

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
Bob Bruce25129.23135.3471
Robin Roberts1363.2353.8226

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
Barry Latman31103272.7174

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
Jim Owens404724.6832
Gary Kroll100003.8022
Frank Carpin101007.502
Don Lee92002.509
Don Arlich701015.751
Danny Coombs20003.383
Don Wilson11003.007
Jim Ray1000∞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. 1966 Houston Astros Roster by Baseball Almanac
  14. Fred Stanley at Baseball Reference
  15. 1966 Houston Astros Statistics and Roster – Baseball-Reference.com
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