1966 Los Angeles Dodgers season

The 1966 Los Angeles Dodgers won the National League championship with a 95–67 record (1½ games over the San Francisco Giants), but were swept by the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series.

1966 Los Angeles Dodgers
1966 National League Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Walter O'Malley, James & Dearie Mulvey
General manager(s)Buzzie Bavasi
Manager(s)Walter Alston
Local televisionKTTV (11)
Local radioKFI
Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett
KWKW
José García, Jaime Jarrín
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Regular season

Sandy Koufax became the first pitcher to win three Cy Young Awards in a career.[1]

Season recap

The defending World Series champion Dodgers relied upon the same model that brought them the championship in 1965; great pitching, tight defense, and speed. However, ace pitchers Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale held out nearly all of spring training in a celebrated contract dispute, finally signing just before the start of the regular season. The hold out did not seem to affect Koufax, who went 27–9 with a 1.73 E.R.A. However, Drysdale had a sub par season going 13–16 with a 3.42 E.R.A. More than making up for that, Claude Osteen had his best season to date, winning 17 games with a 2.85 E.R.A., and rookie Don Sutton replaced aging Johnny Podres in the rotation, chipping in with 12 wins and a 2.99 E.R.A. Finally, reliever Phil Regan had a remarkable year, going 14–1 with 21 saves.

The National League race was a 4 team affair between the Dodgers, Giants, Pirates, and Phillies, with all but the Phillies taking their turn in 1st place during the summer. The Dodgers vaulted to the top with an 8-game win streak in mid-September. However, the pennant was still not decided until the final day of the season. The Giants, who had eliminated the Pirates by beating them on the next to last day, needed to beat the Pirates again in the season's final game, and then hope the Dodgers would lose both games of a double header in Philadelphia to the Phillies. If that happened, the Giants would have trailed the Dodgers by 1/2 game, and would still have had to fly to Cincinnati to play the Reds in a make-up game, needing a win to tie for 1st. The Giants defeated the Pirates in extra innings, and the Dodgers lost the first game of the double header, blowing a lead in the 8th inning. However, while the Giants were waiting at the Pittsburgh airport (not knowing if they were going to fly to Cincinnati or go home), Koufax beat the Phillies in the second game of the double header. While they were waiting, a reporter asked Giants pitcher Ron Herbel "you guys don't know where you're going yet, do you?" Herbel replied "we know where we're going. No way superman (Koufax) loses the second game."

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 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 11–76–125–138–108–105–136–126–124–14
Cincinnati 8–1012–64–146–1210–710–88–107–1011–7
Houston 4–14–113–514–47–117–117–114–146–1210–8
Los Angeles 11–710–812–611–712–611–79–99–910–8
New York 4–1410–87–1011–76–127–115–139–97–11
Philadelphia 7-1113–58–1011–77–1111–710–810–810–8
Pittsburgh 11–712–610–814–49–913–58–107–118–10
San Francisco 10–812–610–712–69–99–98–1011–712–6
St. Louis 11–714–47–118–108–1011–78–1010–86–12

Opening Day lineup

Opening Day Starters
NamePosition
Maury WillsShortstop
Wes ParkerFirst baseman
Willie DavisCenter fielder
Ron FairlyRight fielder
Jim LefebvreThird baseman
Lou JohnsonLeft fielder
Johnny RoseboroCatcher
Nate OliverSecond baseman
Claude OsteenStarting pitcher

Notable transactions

Roster

1966 Los Angeles Dodgers
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 Roseboro142445123.276953
1BWes Parker156475120.2531251
2BJim Lefebvre152544149.2742474
SSMaury Wills143594162.273139
3BJohn Kennedy12527455.201324
LFLou Johnson152526143.2721773
CFWillie Davis153624177.2841161
RFRon Fairly117351101.2881461

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
Tommy Davis10031398.313327
Jim Gilliam8823551.217116
Nate Oliver8011923.19303
Jeff Torborg4612027.225113
Al Ferrara6311531.270523
Dick Stuart389124.26439
Jim Barbieri398223.28003
Dick Schofield207018.25704
Wes Covington37334.12116
Derrell Griffith23151.06702
Bart Shirley1251.20000
Tommy Hutton320.00000
Jim Campanis110.00000
Willie Crawford600---00

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
Sandy Koufax413232791.73317
Don Drysdale40273.213163.42177
Claude Osteen39240.117142.85137
Don Sutton37225.212122.99209

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
Joe Moeller2978.2242.5231
Nick Willhite64.1002.084
Bill Singer34000.004

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
Bob Miller464252.7758
Ron Perranoski556773.1850
Phil Regan65141211.6288
Jim Brewer130223.688
Howie Reed10000.001
Johnny Podres10000.001

1966 World Series

Game 1

October 5, 1966, at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Attendance: 55,941

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Baltimore (A) 310 100 000 590
Los Angeles (N) 011 000 000 230
W: Moe Drabowsky (1–0) L: Don Drysdale (0–1)
HR: BALFrank Robinson (1), Brooks Robinson (1)    LADJim Lefebvre (1)

Game 2

October 6, 1966, at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Attendance: 55,947

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Baltimore (A) 000 031 020 680
Los Angeles (N) 000 000 000 046
W: Jim Palmer (1–0) L: Sandy Koufax (0–1)

Game 3

October 8, 1966, at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland. Attendance: 54,445

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Los Angeles (N) 000 000 000 060
Baltimore (A) 000 010 00X 130
W: Wally Bunker (1–0) L: Claude Osteen (0–1)
HR: BALPaul Blair (1)

Game 4

October 9, 1966, at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland. Attendance: 54,458

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Los Angeles (N) 000 000 000 040
Baltimore (A) 000 100 00X 140
W: Dave McNally (1–0) L: Don Drysdale (0–2)
HR: BALFrank Robinson (2)

Awards and honors

Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax

All-Stars

The Sporting News awards

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Spokane Indians Pacific Coast League Roy Hartsfield
AA Albuquerque Dodgers Texas League Bob Kennedy
A Santa Barbara Dodgers California League Norm Sherry
A Jamestown Dodgers New York–Penn League Bill Berrier
A Tri-City Atoms Northwest League Duke Snider
Rookie Ogden Dodgers Pioneer League Tommy Lasorda

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Tri-City, Ogden

1966 Major League Baseball Draft

This was the second Major League Baseball Draft. The Dodgers drafted 67 players in the June draft and 9 in the January draft. The top draft pick was pitcher Lawrence Hutton from Greenfield High School in Greenfield, Indiana. He played in the Dodgers farm system through 1971 and finished with a 22–28 record and 4.33 ERA in 117 games, never advancing past AA.

The most successful picks from this draft class were Bill Russell and Charlie Hough. Russell, the ninth round pick out of Pittsburg High School played with the Dodgers through 1986, mostly as a shortstop and later managed the team from 1996–1998. Hough was drafted in the eighth round out of Hialeah High School as an infielder but quickly converted to pitcher. He played with the Dodgers through 1980 and then with three other teams until he retired in 1994. He later became a coach for the Dodgers organization.

Notes

References

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