1966 Chicago Cubs season

1966 Chicago Cubs
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1876)
Location
Wrigley Field (since 1916) Chicago (since 1870)
Other information
Owner(s)	Philip K. Wrigley
General manager(s)	John Holland
Manager(s)	Leo Durocher
Local television	WGN-TV (Jack Brickhouse, Lloyd Pettit)
Local radio	WGN (Vince Lloyd, Lou Boudreau)
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The 1966 Chicago Cubs season was the 95th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 91st in the National League and the 51st at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished tenth and last in the National League with a record of 59–103, 36 games behind the NL Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. The Cubs would not lose 100 or more games in a season for another 46 seasons. One of the defining trades in Cubs history occurred on April 21, when the Cubs acquired future Cy Young Award winner Ferguson Jenkins in a trade with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Offseason[]

• December 2, 1965: Lindy McDaniel and Don Landrum were traded by the Cubs to the San Francisco Giants for Randy Hundley and Bill Hands.^[1]
• January 10, 1966: Doug Clemens was traded by the Cubs to the Philadelphia Phillies for Wes Covington.^[2]

Regular season[]

Season standings[]

v t National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Los Angeles Dodgers	95	67	0.586	—	53–28	42–39
San Francisco Giants	93	68	0.578	1½	47–34	46–34
Pittsburgh Pirates	92	70	0.568	3	46–35	46–35
Philadelphia Phillies	87	75	0.537	8	48–33	39–42
Atlanta Braves	85	77	0.525	10	43–38	42–39
St. Louis Cardinals	83	79	0.512	12	43–38	40–41
Cincinnati Reds	76	84	0.475	18	46–33	30–51
Houston Astros	72	90	0.444	23	45–36	27–54
New York Mets	66	95	0.410	28½	32–49	34–46
Chicago Cubs	59	103	0.364	36	32–49	27–54

Record vs. opponents[]

1966 National League Records v t 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[]

• April 21, 1966: Larry Jackson and Bob Buhl were traded by the Cubs to the Philadelphia Phillies for Ferguson Jenkins, John Herrnstein and Adolfo Phillips.^[3]
• April 28, 1966: Bobby Cox and cash were traded by the Cubs to the Atlanta Braves for Billy Cowan.^[4]
• May 14, 1966: Frank Thomas was signed as a free agent by the Cubs.^[5]
• May 28, 1966: Wes Covington was released by the Cubs.^[2]
• May 29, 1966: John Herrnstein was traded by the Cubs to the Atlanta Braves for Marty Keough and Arnold Earley.^[3]
• June 4, 1966: Frank Thomas was released by the Cubs.^[5]
• June 22, 1966: Billy Cowan was traded by the Cubs to the Philadelphia Phillies for Norm Gigon.^[6]

Roster[]

1966 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers 39 Ted Abernathy 32 Ernie Broglio 31 Bob Buhl 45 Len Church 45 Bill Connors 46 Dave Dowling 47 Arnold Earley 37 Dick Ellsworth 47 Chuck Estrada 13 Bill Faul 49 Bill Hands 42 Chuck Hartenstein 33 Bob Hendley 40 Billy Hoeft 30 Ken Holtzman 46 Larry Jackson 31 Ferguson Jenkins 34 Cal Koonce 43 Don Lee 41 Fred Norman 32 Rich Nye 36 Robin Roberts 39 Curt Simmons		Catchers 25 Don Bryant  9 Randy Hundley 25 Chris Krug Infielders 17 Joey Amalfitano 14 Ernie Banks 18 Glenn Beckert 23 Ron Campbell  7 John Herrnstein 11 Don Kessinger 28 Roberto Peña 22 Paul Popovich 10 Ron Santo  8 Lee Thomas		Outfielders 21 George Altman 12 John Boccabella 29 Byron Browne 20 Ty Cline 43 Wes Covington 28 Marty Keough  7 Harvey Kuenn 20,41 Adolfo Phillips 27 Bob Raudman 19 Jimmy Stewart 23 Carl Warwick 26 Billy Williams Other batters 34 Frank Thomas		Manager  2 Leo Durocher Coaches  3 Fred Fitzsimmons  5 Whitey Lockman  7 Pete Reiser  4 Verlon Walker

Player stats[]

= Indicates team leader

Batting[]

Starters by position[]

Note: 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	Randy Hundley	149	526	124	.236	19	63
1B	Ernie Banks	141	511	139	.272	15	75
2B	Glenn Beckert	153	656	188	.287	1	59
3B	Ron Santo	155	561	175	.312	30	94
SS	Don Kessinger	150	533	146	.274	1	43
LF	Byron Browne	120	419	102	.243	16	51
CF	Adolfo Phillips	116	416	109	.262	16	36
RF	Billy Williams	162	648	179	.276	29	91

^[7]

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
John Boccabella	75	206	47	.228	6	25
George Altman	88	185	41	.222	5	17
Lee Thomas	75	149	36	.242	1	9
Jimmy Stewart	57	90	16	.178	0	4
Ron Campbell	24	60	13	.217	0	4
Joey Amalfitano	41	38	6	.158	0	3
Bob Raudman	8	29	7	.241	0	2
Chris Krug	11	28	6	.214	0	1
Marty Keough	33	26	6	.231	0	5
Don Bryant	13	26	8	.308	0	4
Carl Warwick	16	22	5	.227	0	0
John Herrnstein	9	17	3	.176	0	0
Roberto Peña	6	17	3	.176	0	1
Ty Cline	7	17	6	.353	0	2
Wes Covington	9	11	1	.091	0	0
Paul Popovich	2	6	0	.000	0	0
Frank Thomas	5	5	0	.000	0	0
Harvey Kuenn	3	3	1	.333	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
Dick Ellsworth	38	269.1	8	22	3.98	144
Ken Holtzman	34	220.2	11	16	3.79	171
Ernie Broglio	15	62.1	2	6	6.35	34
Dave Dowling	1	9	1	0	2.00	3
Bob Buhl	1	2.1	0	0	15.43	1

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
Ferguson Jenkins	60	182	6	8	3.31	148
Bill Hands	41	159	8	15	4.58	93
Curt Simmons	19	77.1	4	7	4.07	24
Bill Faul	17	51.1	1	4	5.08	32
Robin Roberts	11	48.1	2	3	6.14	28
Rich Nye	3	17	0	2	2.12	9
Larry Jackson	3	8	0	2	13.50	5

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
Cal Koonce	45	5	5	2	3.81	65
Bob Hendley	43	4	5	7	3.91	65
Billy Hoeft	36	1	2	3	4.61	30
Ted Abernathy	20	1	3	4	6.18	18
Don Lee	16	2	1	0	7.11	7
Arnold Earley	13	2	1	0	3.57	12
Bill Connors	11	0	1	0	7.31	3
Chuck Estrada	9	1	1	0	7.30	3
Chuck Hartenstein	5	0	0	0	1.93	4
Len Church	4	0	1	0	7.50	3
Fred Norman	2	0	0	0	4.50	6

Farm system[]

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Tacoma Cubs	Pacific Coast League	Les Peden
AA	Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs	Texas League	Stan Hack, Pete Reiser and Lou Klein
A	Lodi Crushers	California League	Don Elston and Ray Perry
A	Quincy Cubs	Midwest League	Walt Dixon
A-Short Season	Duluth–Superior Dukes	Northern League	Joe Grace
Rookie	Treasure Valley Cubs	Pioneer League	George Freese

Notes[]

References[]

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
• 1966 Chicago Cubs season at Baseball Reference