1966 New York Mets season

The 1966 New York Mets season was the fifth regular season for the Mets. They went 66–95 and finished ninth in the National League. They were managed by Wes Westrum. They played home games at Shea Stadium.
1966 marked the first season in which the Mets avoided a last place finish, as well as the first time they did not lose at least 100 games. It was also the first time their record was above.500 at any point of the season, as they stood 2–1 after taking two of three games in the opening series with the Atlanta Braves.

Offseason

October 20, 1965: Charley Smith and Al Jackson were traded by the Mets to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ken Boyer.
November 29, 1965: Al Luplow was purchased by the Mets from the Cleveland Indians.
November 30, 1965: Joe Christopher was traded by the Mets to the Boston Red Sox for Ed Bressoud.
January 6, 1966: Gary Kroll was traded by the Mets to the Houston Astros for Johnny Weekly and cash.

Regular season

September 11, 1966: Pitcher Pat Jarvis of the Atlanta Braves becomes the first of 5,714 strikeout victims of Nolan Ryan's career.

Notable transactions

April 3, 1966: Tom Seaver was signed as an amateur free agent by the Mets.
June 4, 1966: Galen Cisco was released by the Mets.
June 7, 1966: Duffy Dyer was drafted by the Mets in the 1st round of the 1966 Major League Baseball draft.
June 10, 1966: Bob Shaw was purchased by the Mets from the San Francisco Giants.
August 6, 1966: Ralph Terry was purchased by the Mets from the Kansas City Athletics.

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	Jerry Grote	120	317	75	.237	3	31
1B	Ed Kranepool	146	464	118	.254	16	57
2B	Ron Hunt	132	479	138	.288	3	33
SS	Ed Bressoud	133	405	91	.225	10	49
3B		136	496	132	.266	14	61
LF	Ron Swoboda	112	342	76	.222	8	50
CF	Cleon Jones	139	495	136	.275	8	57
RF		111	334	84	.251	7	31

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
Chuck Hiller	108	254	71	.280	2	14
Roy McMillan	76	220	47	.214	1	12
Larry Elliot	65	199	49	.246	5	32
Johnny Lewis	65	166	32	.193	5	20
Jim Hickman	58	160	38	.238	4	16
John Stephenson	63	143	28	.196	1	11
Billy Murphy	84	135	31	.230	3	13
Hawk Taylor	53	109	19	.174	3	12
Bud Harrelson	33	99	22	.222	0	4
Dick Stuart	31	87	19	.218	4	13
Danny Napoleon	12	33	7	.212	0	0
Greg Goossen	13	32	6	.188	1	5
Choo-Choo Coleman	6	16	3	.188	0	0
Shaun Fitzmaurice	9	13	2	.154	0	0
Lou Klimchock	5	5	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
Jack Fisher	38	230.0	11	14	3.68	127
Dennis Ribant	39	188.1	11	9	3.20	84
Bob Shaw	26	167.2	11	10	3.92	104

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
Jack Hamilton	57	148.2	6	13	3.93	93
Rob Gardner	41	133.2	4	8	5.12	74
Bob Friend	22	86.0	5	8	4.40	30
Dick Selma	30	80.2	4	6	4.24	58
Tug McGraw	15	62.1	2	9	5.34	34
	17	43.1	3	3	3.74	28
Dick Rusteck	8	24.0	1	2	3.00	9
Larry Miller	4	8.1	0	2	7.56	7
	2	3.0	0	1	15.00	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
Bill Hepler	37	3	3	0	3.52	25
Darrell Sutherland	31	2	0	1	4.87	23
	29	2	3	0	4.45	27
Dave Eilers	23	1	1	0	4.67	14
Gordie Richardson	15	0	2	1	9.16	15
Ralph Terry	11	0	1	1	4.74	14
Dallas Green	4	0	0	0	5.40	1

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Auburn, Marion