1966 Boston Red Sox season

The 1966 Boston Red Sox season was the 66th season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished ninth in the American League (AL) with a record of 72 wins and 90 losses, 26 games behind the AL and World Series champion Baltimore Orioles. After this season, the Red Sox would not lose 90 games again until 2012.

1966 Boston Red Sox
League	American League
Ballpark	Fenway Park
City	Boston, Massachusetts
Record	72–90 (.444)
League place	9th (26 GB)
Owners	Tom Yawkey
President	Tom Yawkey
General managers	Dick O'Connell
Managers	Billy Herman (64–82) Pete Runnels (8–8)
Television	WHDH-TV, Ch. 5
Radio	WHDH-AM 850 (Ken Coleman, Ned Martin, Mel Parnell)
Stats	ESPN.com BB-reference
← 1965 Seasons 1967 →

Offseason

• November 29, 1965: Jimy Williams was drafted from the Red Sox by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1965 first-year draft.^[1]
• November 30, 1965: Eddie Bressoud was traded by the Red Sox to the New York Mets for Joe Christopher.^[2]

Regular season

Season standings

v t e American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Baltimore Orioles	97	63	0.606	—	48–31	49–32
Minnesota Twins	89	73	0.549	9	49–32	40–41
Detroit Tigers	88	74	0.543	10	42–39	46–35
Chicago White Sox	83	79	0.512	15	45–36	38–43
Cleveland Indians	81	81	0.500	17	41–40	40–41
California Angels	80	82	0.494	18	42–39	38–43
Kansas City Athletics	74	86	0.463	23	42–39	32–47
Washington Senators	71	88	0.447	25½	42–36	29–52
Boston Red Sox	72	90	0.444	26	40–41	32–49
New York Yankees	70	89	0.440	26½	35–46	35–43

Record vs. opponents

1966 American League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
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	—

Opening Day lineup

14	George Smith	2B
24	George Thomas	CF
8	Carl Yastrzemski	LF
25	Tony Conigliaro	RF
5	George Scott	3B
11	Tony Horton	1B
6	Rico Petrocelli	SS
22	Mike Ryan	C
26	Earl Wilson	P

Notable transactions

• June 6, 1966: Galen Cisco was signed as a free agent by the Red Sox.^[3]
• June 14, 1966: Joe Christopher and Earl Wilson were traded by the Red Sox to the Detroit Tigers for Don Demeter and a player to be named later. The Tigers completed the deal by sending Julio Navarro to the Red Sox on June 21.^[2]
• August 15, 1966: The Red Sox acquire pitchers Hank Fischer from the Cincinnati Reds and Bill Short from the Baltimore Orioles.^[4] The Red Sox also announce that they have sold pitcher Bob Sadowski to the Toronto Maple Leafs.^[4]

Roster

1966 Boston Red Sox
Roster
Pitchers 28 Dennis Bennett 27 Bucky Brandon 38 Hank Fischer 37 Guido Grilli 16 Jim Lonborg 36 Pete Magrini 44 Don McMahon 23 Dave Morehead 19 Dan Osinski 17 Dick Radatz 18 Garry Roggenburk 21 Bob Sadowski 29 Ken Sanders 30 José Santiago 40 Rollie Sheldon 15 Bill Short 37 Lee Stange 18 Jerry Stephenson 42 Dick Stigman 26 Earl Wilson 26 John Wyatt		Catchers 22 Mike Ryan 10 Bob Tillman Infielders 39 Mike Andrews  1 Joe Foy 11 Tony Horton  3 Dalton Jones  2 Eddie Kasko  6 Rico Petrocelli  5 George Scott 14 George Smith		Outfielders 20 Joe Christopher 25 Tony Conigliaro  4 Don Demeter  4 Jim Gosger  7 Lenny Green 41 Reggie Smith 12 José Tartabull 24 George Thomas  8 Carl Yastrzemski		Managers 35 Billy Herman 32 Pete Runnels Coaches 31 Billy Gardner (Third base) 33 Sal Maglie (Pitching) 34 Len Okrie (Bullpen) 32 Pete Runnels (First base)

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

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	Mike Ryan	116	369	79	.214	2	32
1B	George Scott	162	601	147	.245	27	90
2B	George Smith	128	403	86	.213	8	37
3B	Joe Foy	151	554	145	.262	15	63
SS	Rico Petrocelli	139	522	124	.238	18	59
LF	Carl Yastrzemski	160	594	165	.278	16	80
CF	Don Demeter	73	226	66	.292	9	29
RF	Tony Conigliaro	150	558	148	.265	28	93

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
Dalton Jones	115	252	59	.234	4	23
Bob Tillman	78	204	47	.230	3	24
Jose Tartabull	68	195	54	.277	0	11
George Thomas	61	173	41	.237	5	20
Eddie Kasko	58	136	29	.213	1	12
Lenny Green	85	133	32	.241	1	12
Jim Gosger	40	126	32	.254	5	17
Reggie Smith	6	26	4	.154	0	0
Tony Horton	6	22	3	.136	0	2
Mike Andrews	5	18	3	.167	0	0
Joe Christopher	12	13	1	.077	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
Jose Santiago	35	172.0	12	13	3.66	119
Lee Stange	28	153.1	7	9	3.35	77
Earl Wilson	15	100.2	5	5	3.84	67
Dennis Bennett	16	75.0	3	3	3.24	77
Jerry Stephenson	15	66.1	2	5	5.83	50
Hank Fischer	6	31.0	2	3	2.90	26

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 Lonborg	45	181.2	10	10	3.86	131
Bucky Brandon	40	157.2	8	8	3.31	101
Dick Stigman	34	81.0	2	1	5.44	65
Rollie Sheldon	23	79.2	1	6	4.97	38
Bob Sadowski	11	33.1	1	1	5.40	11
Dave Morehead	12	28.0	1	2	5.46	20
Pete Magrini	3	7.1	0	1	9.82	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
Don McMahon	49	8	7	9	2.65	57
Dan Osinski	44	4	3	2	3.61	44
John Wyatt	42	3	4	9	3.14	63
Ken Sanders	24	3	6	2	3.80	33
Dick Radatz	16	0	2	4	4.74	19
Bill Short	8	0	0	0	4.32	2
Guido Grilli	6	0	1	0	7.71	4
Garry Roggenburk	1	0	0	0	0.00	0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Toronto Maple Leafs	International League	Dick Williams
AA	Pittsfield Red Sox	Eastern League	Eddie Popowski
A	Winston-Salem Red Sox	Carolina League	Bill Slack
A	Waterloo Hawks	Midwest League	Dave Philley
A	Oneonta Red Sox	New York–Penn League	Matt Sczesny
Rookie	Covington Red Sox	Appalachian League	Rac Slider

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Toronto
Source:^[5][6]

References

1. Jimy Williams page at Baseball Reference
2. Joe Christopher page at Baseball Reference
3. Galen Cisco page at Baseball Reference
4. "Red Sox Get Hank Fischer, Bill Short". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. August 16, 1966. p. 21. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
5. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
6. Boston Red Sox Yearbook. 1966. p. 34. Retrieved March 14, 2021 – via Wayback Machine.

External links

• 1966 Boston Red Sox team page at Baseball Reference
• 1966 Boston Red Sox season at baseball-almanac.com