1966 Cleveland Indians season

The 1966 Cleveland Indians season was a season in American baseball. The team finished fifth in the American League with a record of 81–81, 17 games behind the Baltimore Orioles. This was the first season to feature the players' last names on the back of the jerseys.

Offseason

Vernon Stouffer bought 80% of the Cleveland Indians for $8,000,000.
November 28, 1965: Hank Peters resigned from the Kansas City Athletics and became the minor league director for the Cleveland Indians.

Notable transactions

November 29, 1965: Al Closter was selected by the Indians from the New York Yankees in the first-year player draft.
November 29, 1965: Al Luplow was purchased from the Indians by the New York Mets.
December 1, 1965: Joe Rudi and Phil Roof were traded by the Indians to the Kansas City Athletics for Jim Landis and Jim Rittwage.
January 14, 1966: Lou Clinton was traded by the Indians to the New York Yankees for Doc Edwards.
March 10, 1966: Cam Carreon was traded by the Indians to the Baltimore Orioles for Lou Piniella.

Regular season

On May 1, Sam McDowell threw his second consecutive one-hitter for the Indians.
On May 8, 1966, Baltimore Orioles outfielder Frank Robinson hit a 540-foot home run off Indians pitcher Luis Tiant, becoming the only player to hit a fair ball out of Memorial Stadium.

Notable transactions

April 6, 1966: Ralph Terry was traded by the Indians to the Kansas City Athletics for John O'Donoghue and cash.

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	Joe Azcue	98	302	83	.275	9	37
1B	Fred Whitfield	137	502	121	.241	27	78
2B		110	352	82	.233	2	17
SS		105	340	78	.229	3	17
3B	Max Alvis	157	596	146	.245	17	55
LF	Leon Wagner	150	549	153	.279	23	66
CF	Vic Davalillo	121	344	86	.250	3	19
RF	Rocky Colavito	151	533	127	.238	30	72

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
Chico Salmon	126	422	108	.256	7	40
Chuck Hinton	123	348	89	.256	12	50
	85	158	35	.222	3	14
Dick Howser	67	140	32	.229	2	4
Duke Sims	52	133	35	.263	6	19
Del Crandall	50	108	25	.231	4	8
Vern Fuller	16	47	11	.234	2	2
Jim Gentile	33	47	6	.128	2	4
	23	38	6	.158	1	4
	17	32	6	.188	0	3
Buddy Booker	18	28	6	.214	2	5
Tony Martínez	17	17	5	.294	0	0
Tony Curry	19	16	2	.125	0	3
George Banks	4	4	1	.250	0	1
Paul Dicken	2	2	0	.000	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
	40	254.1	14	15	3.22	194
Sonny Siebert	34	241.0	16	8	2.80	163
	35	194.1	9	8	2.87	225

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
	38	192.0	13	10	2.48	132
Luis Tiant	46	155.0	12	11	2.79	145
	32	108.0	6	8	3.83	49
Tom Kelley	31	95.1	4	8	4.34	64
Lee Stange	8	16.0	1	0	2.81	8
Bob Heffner	5	13.0	0	1	3.46	7
	5	9.2	0	2	8.38	6

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
Dick Radatz	39	0	3	10	4.61	49
	36	2	2	5	4.21	33
Jack Kralick	27	3	4	0	3.82	31
Don McMahon	12	1	1	1	2.92	5