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)

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 Series-winning Los Angeles Dodgers.

The 1965 season was the first for Grady Hatton as manager, the third in franchise history, having replaced Lum Harris. On April 12 at Dodger Stadium, Robin Roberts made the Opening Day start for Houston, who were defeated by Los Angeles, 3–2.

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 Dodgers, who repeated as NL pennant-winners. 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

April—May

Opening Day starting lineup[13][14]
20 Lee Maye LF
16 Sonny Jackson SS
24 Jimmy Wynn CF
21 Dave Nicholson RF
18 Joe Morgan 2B
14 Bob Aspromonte 3B
17 Chuck Harrison 1B
 7 John Bateman  C
38 Robin Roberts  P
Venue: Dodger Stadium • LAD 3, HOU 2

Courtesy of Jimmy Wynn's single on May 5, Joe Morgan scored the walk-off run to allow the Astros to obtain their 13th win in 13 innings. Hence, the Astros prevailed, 4–3, over the Chicacgo Cubs. Though both game's starting pitchers, Turk Farrell and Bill Faul, bore uniform number 13, neither stayed in long enough to receive a decision for the win.[15]

June

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.[16]

Pitcher Dave Giusti turned in an all-around contribution for the Astros on June 12, tossing a complete game over the 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.[17]

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, Astros outfielder Jimmy Wynn provided the audience with some thrills as he went 4-for-4 with a home run and two doubles.[18] This attendance record stood for 22 years.[19]

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.[20] 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.[21] During Morgan's absence, the Astros performed to a record of 11–29 (.275).[22][23]

August

On August 11, outfielder Lee Maye achieved his first five-hit game as a member of the Astros, during the first contest of a doubleheader.[24] Bob Aspromonte walloped a grand slam, during the second inning off Robin Roberts. Chuck Harrison doubled and tripled. However, Randy Hundley hit for the cycle with three runs batted in for the Chicago Cubs as they defeated Houston, 9–8.[25]

On August 26, an infuriated Cubs manager Leo Durocher ripped out the dugout phone from off the wall and heaved it onto the Astrodome field.[26] To polish off the contest, Aspromonte exacerbated Durocher's misery by connecting for a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the ninth off Cal Koonce, vaulting Houston to a dramatic 7–4 triumph. Aspromonte's sixth career grand slam—all with Houston[27]—it was the first-ever walloped at the Astrodome.[28] His third career walk-off home run overall, this was Aspromonte's second via the grand slam, and all three blasts had come at the expense of the Cubs.[29] Southwestern Bell restored the dugout apparatus the following day and the Astros apportioned Durocher the bill.[26]

September

Twenty-one year old right-hander Don Wilson made his major-league debut on September 29 at Crosley Field,[30] during which he attained key milestones on the mound and in the batter's box, including his first major league win and first hit. Wilson assumed the third inning in relief of Bob Bruce, and the first batter, Leo Cárdenas, singled. However, Càrdenas was immediately retired on a double play, when Wilson handled Joe Nuxhall's bunt attempt, and flipped it to shortstop Sonny Jackson for the twin-killing. Wilson fanned Art Shamsky in the bottom of the fourth for his first major league strikeout, but later surrendered his first home run to Shamsky in the bottom of the seventh inning, a two-run blast. By then, Houston already had mounted a 3–0 lead courtesy of home runs by Chuck Harrison and Aaron Pointer. Immediately following Pointer's home run in the top of the seventh, Wilson doubled off Nuxhall for his first major league hit. He totaled six innings on the mound with seven strikeouts. In the bottom of the ninth, Turk Farrell retired the Reds in order, closing out a 3–2 Houston victory for his second save of the season and to preserve the win for Wilson. This was Houston's 70th win of the season,[31] the first time they had reached that threshold, during their fifth season of play.[32]

Performance overview

The Astros concluded the season with a 72–90–1 (.445) record, in eighth place and 23 games behind the Dodgers in the National League, who repeated as the NL pennant-winners.[33] An improvement by seven victories from the year prior, the 72 wins established a then-team record, during their fifth season of play. The Astros matched this threshold again in 1968, prior to surpassing that landmark in 1969 with their first-ever .500 record and 81 wins.[32]

Left-hander Mike Cuellar set the club record for earned run average (ERA, 2.22), which stood until 1981, when it was surpassed by Nolan Ryan (1.69) and Bob Knepper (2.18).[19][34]

Having increased his grand slam total on August 26, Bob Aspromonte's six grand slams established Houston's franchise record, which stood until surpassed by Carlos Lee on July 25, 2011.[35]

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
Houston Astros 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
Houston 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 —


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

[37]

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

[37]

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

Awards and achievements

Grand slams

No. Date Astros batter Venue Inning Pitcher Opposing team Box
1 August 11 Bob Aspromonte Wrigley Field 2₰ Robin Roberts Chicago Cubs [25]
2 August 26 Bob Aspromonte Astrodome 9† Cal Koonce Chicago Cubs [38]
₰—Tied score or took lead • †—Walk-off

Awards

Minor league 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 stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
  11. ^ "Bob Saverine stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
  12. ^ "Gary Kroll stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
  13. ^ "Houston Astros (2) vs Los Angeles Dodgers (3) box score". Baseball Almanac. April 12, 1966. Retrieved October 15, 2025.
  14. ^ "1966 Houston Astros uniform numbers". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 14, 2025.
  15. ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (May 5, 2025). "Today in Astros history - May 5". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
  16. ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (June 2, 2025). "Today in Astros history - June 2". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved July 11, 2025.
  17. ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (June 12, 2025). "Today in Astros history - June 12". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved June 30, 2025.
  18. ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (June 22, 2025). "Today in Astros history - June 22". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved June 22, 2025.
  19. ^ a b "Astros history – Timeline". MLB.com. Retrieved August 28, 2025.
  20. ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (June 25, 2025). "Today in Astros history - June 25". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved June 25, 2025.
  21. ^ Schwartzberg, Seth (June 28, 2025). "Today in Astros history - June 28". The Crawfish Boxes. SB Nation. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
  22. ^ "Joe Morgan 1966 batting game logs". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 17, 2025.
  23. ^ "1966 Houston Astros schedule". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 17, 2025.
  24. ^ "Top performances for Lee Maye". Retrosheet. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  25. ^ a b "Houston Astros (8) vs Chicago Cubs (9) box score". Baseball-Reference.com. August 11, 1966. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  26. ^ a b Hulsey, Bob. "This date in Astros history". Astros Daily. Retrieved November 17, 2025.
  27. ^ Rathkamp, Tom (August 26, 1966). "Bob Aspromonte's walk-off slam lights up the sky for Astros". Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). Retrieved November 16, 2025.
  28. ^ "Astrodome firsts". Retrosheet. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
  29. ^ "Bob Aspromonte career home runs". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  30. ^ "Don Wilson stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 23, 2025.
  31. ^ "Houston Astros (3) at Cincinnati Reds (2) box score". Baseball-Reference.com. September 29, 1966. Retrieved November 23, 2025.
  32. ^ a b "Houston Astros team history & encyclopedia". Baaseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
  33. ^ "1966 National League team statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 23, 2025.
  34. ^ "Houston Astros top 10 single-season pitching leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 28, 2025.
  35. ^ Wernick, Mark (December 1, 2018). "Bob Aspromonte". Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). Retrieved December 7, 2025.
  36. ^ "Fred Stanley stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 14, 2025.
  37. ^ a b 1966 Houston Astros Statistics and Roster – Baseball-Reference.com
  38. ^ "Chicago Cubs (4) vs Houston Astros (7) box score". Baseball-Reference.com. August 26, 1966. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  39. ^ McTaggart, Brian (December 21, 2009). "Bourn highlights Astros' awards season". MLB.com. Archived from the original on December 8, 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2025.
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