1966 American League

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1966 American League
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The 1966 season of the American League was the sixty-sixth season of the league.

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Standings

Bold indicates league champion, Italics indicates World Series champion

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS (RS/G)	RA (RA/G)	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	FPCT
1	Baltimore Orioles	160	97	63	0	.606	-.-	755 (4.72)	601 (3.76)	0.258	0.321	0.409	3.32	0.981
2	Minnesota Twins	162	89	73	0	.549	9.0	663 (4.09)	581 (3.59)	0.249	0.314	0.382	3.13	0.977
3	Detroit Tigers	162	88	74	0	.543	10.0	719 (4.44)	698 (4.31)	0.251	0.319	0.406	3.85	0.981
4	Chicago White Sox	163	83	79	1	.509	15.0	574 (3.52)	517 (3.17)	0.231	0.294	0.331	2.68	0.976
5	Cleveland Indians	162	81	81	0	.500	17.0	574 (3.54)	586 (3.62)	0.237	0.295	0.360	3.23	0.977
6	California Angels	162	80	82	0	.494	18.0	604 (3.73)	643 (3.97)	0.232	0.301	0.354	3.56	0.979
7	Kansas City Athletics	160	74	86	0	.463	23.0	564 (3.53)	648 (4.05)	0.236	0.292	0.337	3.56	0.977
8	Washington Senators	159	71	88	0	.447	25.5	557 (3.50)	659 (4.14)	0.234	0.294	0.355	3.70	0.977
9	Boston Red Sox	162	72	90	0	.444	25.0	655 (4.04)	731 (4.51)	0.240	0.308	0.376	3.92	0.975
10	New York Yankees	160	70	89	1	.438	26.5	611 (3.82)	612 (3.83)	0.235	0.299	0.374	3.41	0.977

League leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Don Buford	Chicago White Sox	163
At Bats	Luis Aparicio	Baltimore Orioles	659
Runs Scored	Frank Robinson	Baltimore Orioles	122
Hits	Tony Oliva	Minnesota Twins	191
Doubles	Carl Yastrzemski	Boston Red Sox	39
Triples	Bobby Knoop	California Angels	11
Home Runs	Frank Robinson	Baltimore Orioles	49
Total Bases	Frank Robinson	Baltimore Orioles	367
Runs Batted In	Frank Robinson	Baltimore Orioles	122
Stolen Bases	Bert Campaneris	Kansas City Athletics	52
Caught Stealing	Don Buford	Chicago White Sox	22
Walks	Harmon Killebrew	Minnesota Twins	103
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Harmon Killebrew	Minnesota Twins	18
Hit by Pitch	Rick Reichardt	California Angels	13
Strikeouts	George Scott	Boston Red Sox	152
Sacrifice Hits	Don Buford	Chicago White Sox	17
Sacrifice Flies	Tony Conigliaro Mike Hershberger Davey Johnson Bobby Knoop Frank Robinson Cesar Tovar Tom Tresh	Boston Red Sox Kansas City Athletics Baltimore Orioles California Angels Baltimore Orioles Minnesota Twins New York Yankees	7
Grounded into Double Plays	Rocky Colavito George Scott	Cleveland Indians Boston Red Sox	25
Batting Average	Frank Robinson	Baltimore Orioles	0.316
On-Base Percentage	Frank Robinson	Baltimore Orioles	0.410
Slugging Percentage	Frank Robinson	Baltimore Orioles	0.637
On-Base plus Slugging	Frank Robinson	Baltimore Orioles	1.047
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Frank Robinson	Baltimore Orioles	199

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Jim Kaat	Minnesota Twins	25
Losses	Mel Stottlemyre	New York Yankees	20
Win-Loss Percentage	Dave Boswell	Minnesota Twins	0.706
Appearances	Eddie Fisher	Chicago White Sox/Baltimore Orioles	67
Games Started	Jim Kaat	Minnesota Twins	41
Complete Games	Jim Kaat	Minnesota Twins	19
Shutouts	Tommy John Sam McDowell Luis Tiant	Chicago White Sox Cleveland Indians Cleveland Indians	5
Games Finished	Jack Aker	Kansas City Athletics	57
Saves	Jack Aker	Kansas City Athletics	32
Innings Pitched	Jim Kaat	Minnesota Twins	304.2
Batters Faced	Jim Kaat	Minnesota Twins	1227
Hits Allowed	Jim Kaat	Minnesota Twins	271
Home Runs Allowed	Denny McLain	Detroit Tigers	42
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Dean Chance	California Angels	114
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Ken Sanders	Boston Red Sox/Kansas City Athletics	16
Hit Batsmen	Marcelino Lopez	California Angels	9
Strikeouts	Sam McDowell	Cleveland Indians	225
Wild Pitches	Joe Horlen	Chicago White Sox	14
Balks	George Brunet	California Angels	4
Runs Allowed	Denny McLain	Detroit Tigers	120
Earned Runs Allowed	Denny McLain	Detroit Tigers	115
Earned Run Average	Gary Peters	Chicago White Sox	1.98
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Gary Peters	Chicago White Sox	0.982

All-Star Game

The American League lost the thirty-seventh midsummer classic at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis, MO on Tuesday, July 12, 1966 by a score of 2 to 1 in 10 innings. The league's manager was Sam Mele.

Postseason

In the World Series, the American League champion Baltimore Orioles defeated the National League's Los Angeles Dodgers, 4 games to 0.

Award winners

The winner of the league's Most Valuable Player Award, given its Most Valuable Player, was Frank Robinson, an outfielder with the Baltimore Orioles. In the award's voting, he had 280 out of a possible 280 points and 20 first place votes.

The winner of the Cy Young Award, given to the best pitcher in Major League Baseball irrespective of league, was Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers (NL). In the award's voting, he had 20 out of a possible 20 points and 20 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Rookie of the Year Award, given its best rookie player, was Tommie Agee, an outfielder with the Chicago White Sox. In the award's voting, he had 16 out of a possible 20 points and 16 first place votes.

Gold Gloves

The following players won the Gold Glove Award, given to the league's best fielders as voted upon by its managers and coaches, at their respective position.

Position	Player	Team
P	Jim Kaat	Minnesota Twins
C	Bill Freehan	Detroit Tigers
1B	Joe Pepitone	New York Yankees
2B	Bobby Knoop	California Angels
3B	Brooks Robinson	Baltimore Orioles
SS	Luis Aparicio	Baltimore Orioles
OF	Tommie Agee	Chicago White Sox
	Tony Oliva	Minnesota Twins
	Al Kaline	Detroit Tigers

Hall of Fame Game

The twenty-fourth annual Hall of Fame Game was played on July 25 at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, NY near the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In the game, the American League's Minnesota Twins lost to the St. Louis Cardinals of the National League by a score of 7 to 5.

Umpires

• Emmett Ashford
• Nestor Chylak
• Lou DiMuro
• Cal Drummond
• Red Flaherty
• Bill Haller
• Jim Honochick
• Bill Kinnamon
• Larry Napp
• Jerry Neudecker
• Jim Odom
• John Rice
• Ed Runge
• Al Salerno
• Hank Soar
• Marty Springstead
• Johnny Stevens
• Bob Stewart
• Frank Umont
• Bill Valentine

Further Reading

• David Krell: Do You Believe in Magic? Baseball and America in the Groundbreaking Year of 1966, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, MD, 2023. ISBN 978-1-5381-5943-9