Baseball...numbers, stories and analysis

1966, and triples...

The narrative of the 1966 baseball season should really begin in 1965. On December 9^th, the Cincinnati Reds traded their former MVP outfielder Frank Robinson to the Baltimore Orioles for three pitchers: Jack Baldschun, Milt Pappas and Dick Simpson. The trade was a gamble by Reds General manager Bill DeWitt, and it didn't work out too well for them.

Robinson would help lead the Orioles to their first World Series championship, and would win the league's MVP Award, becoming the first to win the award in both leagues.

He would also win the forgotten Triple Crown that year as well. Leading the league in Homers, Runs Batted In and Batting Average in the same season constitutes the baseball Triple Crown. Robinson did it in 1966, the first to do so since Mickey Mantle did it in 1956, but I call it the forgotten Triple Crown, because Carl Yastrzemski would do it with the Red Sox in 1967, and would be the answer to a trivia question about the last Triple Crown winner. Until Miguel Cabrera did it in 2014.

But speaking of triples, Tim McCarver, catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals hit 13 triples in 1966, becoming the first catcher to lead his league in triples. Carlton Fisk would tie for the league lead with 9 in 1972.

Before the season began, two eminent Dodger pitchers, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale jointly held themselves out of Spring Training as a salary negotiation tactic to each get the raises in pay they felt they deserved. They wanted a three-year contract for a reported $1.05million to be divided equally.

They remained held out until March 30^th, when Koufax signed for $125,000 and Drysdale for $110,000. Both signed one year deals. It would be Koufax's last contract, as he would retire at the end of the season due to a deteriorating arthritic issue with his pitching elbow.

Koufax would be the first pitcher to strike out 300 batters in three different seasons, and the first since Pete Alexander in 1920 to have 3 20-win seasons. He would also win his third Cy Young Award in four seasons.

Tragedy would strike in Detroit in regards to its managers. They started the season with Chuck Dressen at the helm, but he suffered a heart attack in May, and was replaced by Bob Swift. Dressen would pass away in August.

In July, Swift was taken to the hospital to be treated for suspected food poisoning, and was replaced by Frank Skaff, who finished the season at the helm. Swift's treatment uncovered a malignant tumor of the lung, and he passed that October.

New stadiums opened in Anaheim and St. Louis, but the biggest new arrival involved the shift of the Braves from Milwaukee to Atlanta. The Braves debuted in the 'Launching Pad” that was Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, and they played before packed houses throughout the season, drawing more than 1.5 million paying fans to cheer their team to a fifth place finish.

The Braves played a part in a weird historical footnote. Their Richmond minor league affiliate signed college pitcher George Thomas (Tom) Seaver to a contract with a reported $40,000 signing bonus. The Braves had drafted him a month before, in the January free-agent draft. The issue was that at the signing of the contract, Seaver's college (USC) had already begun its inter-collegiate schedule, and his signing was a violation of the college rule.

Commissioner William Eckert voided the contract, and fined the Braves $500. Unfortunately for Seaver, the college authorities disqualified Seaver since he had signed a professional contract, even though he never appeared in a game for any professional team.

Eckert decided that Seaver would be a free agent, and in an unprecedented move, opened a draft exclusive to Seaver. The Braves would be ineligible for this draft. Three teams expressed an interest: Cleveland, Philadelphia and the Mets. And for once, luck was on the Mets side, as the commissioner drew their name from the hat on April 3^rd of that year, and the Mets quickly signed him to a Jacksonville contract.

Seaver would go on to become 'The Franchise' for the Mets, and would lead them to their 1969 World Series Championship. He would win over 300 games, 198 of them for the Mets. He would also strike out over 3600 batters. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with a then all-time record of 98.8% of votes.

In that year's June draft, the Mets had the 1st overall pick, historically drafting catcher Steve Chilcott out of Antelope Valley High in Lancaster, California. Chilcott never made it to the majors, but the second round pick, Arizona State University outfielder Reggie Jackson, who was drafted by the Kansas City Athletics had a slightly more memorable baseball career.

Interestingly, with their tenth pick, the Yankees picked University of Alabama pitcher Ken Stabler, who opted for a Hall of Fame NFL career instead of baseball.

The Braves also had an historic slugging performance in 1966 as well. No, not by Hank Aaron. Nor was it by Joe Torre. Or Eddie Matthews. Not even Felipe Alou. They hit 205 homers, 5 of them by pitcher Tony Cloninger. Two of those came in the same game against the Giants, and both were Grand Slams. Cloninger was the first player to hit two Grand Slam homers in the same game, and is still the only pitcher to have accomplished that feat.

Gary Peters of the White Sox pitched a complete game shutout against the Yankees on July 30^th. Not sure if this is a record or not, but Peters threw just 75 pitches in the game.

Jack Aker of the Kansas City Athletics became the first American League reliever to garner 30 saves in a season. Ted Abernathy of the Cubs did it the season before.

Two Players each had three inside-the-park home-runs in 1966. Rookie shortstop Sonny Jackson of the Astros, and slugger Richie Allen of the Phillies.

The New York Mets did not finish in last place for the first time in their six year history, while the cross-town Yankees did finish in last place, just their third time in their sixty-three year history.

One rule change was instituted after a bizarre play involving the Mets against the Phillies. A foul pop was hit and headed over towards the Phillies dugout, and as Mets catcher Jerry Grote attempted to catch the pop-up, Phillies manager Gene Mauch grabbed at Grote's glove, making him drop the ball. Believe it or not, this was not against the rules at the time. The rules were changed during the following off-season.

One other seemingly trivial thing happened in 1966 that would come to light many years later, and that was the Players Association hiring Marvin Miller as their Executive Director. Miller, who had previously been at the United Steelworkers of America, would become a key player in the labor issues and Free Agency battles of the 1970's.

On to the season at play.

The power rankings were as follows:

Orioles World Champion

Dodgers NL Champions

Pirates 3^rd in NL

Twins 2^nd in AL

Giants 2^nd in NL

The Orioles stunned the baseball world by beating the Dodgers in the World Series in a four-game sweep. The baseball experts expected the Orioles bats to struggle against the Dodgers pitching, which they did. They batted just .200 for the Series. But the Dodgers batted only .142. The Dodgers scored just 2 runs in the first game, and were shutout in the remaining games. The last two games of the Series were both 1-0 games.

Let's look at the AL pitching first...

The American League pitchers were as a whole 5.7% more efficient than their national League counterparts, so lets look at the initial numbers:

Pitcher	Team	W-L	ERA	Saves
Jim Kaat	Twins	25-13	2.75	0
Earl Wilson	Red Sox/Tigers	18-11	3.07	0
Gary Peters	White Sox	12-10	1.98	0
Jack Aker	A's	8-4	1.99	32
Sonny Siebert	Indians	16-8	2.80	1
Stu Miller	Orioles	8-4	2.25	18
Tommy John	White Sox	14-11	2.62	0
Hoyt Wilhelm	White Sox	5-2	1.66	6
Steve Hargan	Indians	13-10	2.48	0
Jim Perry	Twins	11-7	2.54	0

And then against their team averages:

Earl Wilson	above
Jack Aker	above
Jim Kaat	above
Sonny Siebert	above
Lew Krausse	A's	14-9	2.99	3
Gary Peters	above
Don McMahon	Red Sox/Indians	9-8	2.69	10
Steve Hargan	above
Pete Richert	Senators	14-14	3.37	0
Denny McLain	Tigers	20-14	3.92	0

And then as they finally figure, the top 10:

Earl Wilson	14^th in MVP
Jim Kaat	5^th in MVP
Jack Aker	13^th in MVP
Gary Peters	No votes
Sonny Siebert	28^th in MVP tie
Lew Krausse	No votes
Ron Kline	Senators	6-4	2.39	23
Stu Miller	11^th in MVP
Steve Hargan	No votes
Tommy John	No votes

Over in the National League we have these initial numbers:

Sandy Koufax	Dodgers	27-9	1.73	0
Juan Marichal	Giants	25-6	2.23	0
Bob Gibson	Cardinals	21-12	2.44	0
Phil Regan	Dodgers	14-1	1.62	21
Gaylord Perry	Giants	21-8	2.99	0
Jim Bunning	Phillies	19-14	2.41	0
Jim Maloney	Reds	16-8	2.80	0
Mike Cuellar	Astros	12-10	2.22	2
Joe Hoerner	Cardinals	5-1	1.54	13
Al Jackson	Cardinals	13-15	2.51	0

Against their teams, we get:

Juan Marichal	above
Jim Maloney	above
Mike Cuellar	above
Bob Gibson	above
Sandy Koufax	above
Jim Bunning	above
Dennis Ribant	Mets	11-9	3.20	3
Billy McCool	Reds	8-8	2.48	18
Bob Shaw	Mets	11-10	3.92	0
Ken Holtzman	Cubs	11-16	3.79	0
Bob Shaw combined	Giants/Mets	12-14	4.29	0

I included the combined stats for Bob Shaw, as it was his performance with the Mets that qualified him for this particular list, not his overall performance.

But speaking of overall performances, our top ten comes to this list:

Sandy Koufax	2^nd in MVP, Cy Young Award
Juan Marichal	6^th in MVP
Bob Gibson	no votes
Jim Maloney	23^rd in MVP (tied)
Jim Bunning	no votes
Mike Cuellar	no votes
Phil Regan	7^th in MVP
Gaylord Perry	18^th in MVP
Billy McCool	no votes
Joe Hoerner	no votes

Of note here as well, this was a time when there was just one Cy Young Award presented per season, across both leagues. In 1966, Sandy Koufax was the unanimous choice.

Now let's look at the hitters. We have already established the Frank Robinson won the Triple Crown and the Most Valuable Player award, but let's see how the rest of the league stacked up in '66. The National League had a 5.2% statistical advantage over the American League...

Player	Team	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG
Frank Robinson	Orioles	49	122	.316	.410	.637
Boog Powell	Orioles	34	109	.287	.372	.532
Al Kaline	Tigers	29	88	.288	.392	.534
Harmon Killebrew	Twins	39	110	.281	.391	.538
Tony Oliva	Twins	25	87	.307	.353	.502
Brooks Robinson	Orioles	23	100	.269	.333	.444
Norm Cash	Tigers	32	93	.279	.351	.478
Willie Horton	Tigers	27	100	.262	.321	.481
Tommie Agee	White Sox	22	86	.273	.326	.447
Tony Conigliaro	Red Sox	28	93	.265	.330	.487

Now looking at their performances against their teams performances, we get:

Frank Robinson	above
Tommie Agee	above
Harmon Killebrew	above
Fred Valentine	Senators	16	59	.276	.351	.455
Tony Oliva	above
Joe Pepitone	Yankees	31	83	.255	.290	.463
Al Kaline	above
Fred Whitfield	Indians	27	78	.241	.283	.440
Leon Wagner	Indians	23	66	.279	.334	.441
Tony Conigliaro	above

Which brings us these results:

Frank Robinson	MVP
Harmon Killebrew	4^th in MVP
Tommie Agee	8^th in MVP, Rookie of the Year
Boog Powell	3^rd in MVP
Al Kaline	7^th in MVP
Tony Oliva	6^th in MVP
Tony Conigliaro	28^th in MVP (tied)
Norm Cash	12^th in MVP
Fred Valentine	21^st in MVP
Joe Foy	Red Sox 15 63 .262 .364 .413

In the MVP voting by the BBWAA, Brooks Robinson of the Orioles finished 2^nd.

Over in the National League, we start with:

Richie Allen	Phillies	40	110	.317	.396	.632
Hank Aaron	Braves	44	127	.279	.356	.539
Roberto Clemente	Pirates	29	119	.317	.360	.536
Joe Torre	Braves	36	101	.315	.382	.560
Willie Stargell	Pirates	33	102	.315	.381	.581
Willie Mays	Giants	37	103	.288	.368	.556
Ron Santo	Cubs	30	94	.312	.412	.538
Felipe Alou	Braves	31	74	.327	.361	.533
Willie McCovey	Giants	36	96	.295	.391	.586
Bill White	Phillies	22	103	.276	.352	.451

Now looking at their teams, we get:

Richie Allen	above
Willie Mays	above
Ron Santo	above
Willie McCovey	above
Orlando Cepeda	Giants/Cardinals	20	73	.301	.361	.473
Hank Aaron	above
Jim Wynn	Astros	18	62	.256	.321	.440
Roberto Clemente	above
Joe Torre	above
Billy Williams	Cubs	29	91	.276	.347	.461

I will mention this again, the reason that I like to use this particular stat is because it highlights those performers who are mired with a team that may not be as good as the upper echelon teams, and it brings those performances to light. It might make one look at those players in a different light. As in the examples above, Jimmy Wynn's Astros scored the third fewest runs in the league, so Wynn's ability to create runs was that much better than a player from an offense rich team, if that makes sense.

The same with the pitching above. Dennis Ribant and Bob Shaw both pitched for the Mets, who finished 28 ½ games out of first place, but their performances may have gone unnoticed. Ribant and Shaw combined for 22 of the Mets 66 wins, or 1/3^rd of those wins

Anyway, back to the analysis at hand. Our top National League hitters were then ranked as such:

Richie Allen	4^th in MVP
Hank Aaron	8^th in MVP
Roberto Clemente	MVP
Willie Mays	3^rd in MVP
Joe Torre	16^th in MVP
Ron Santo	12^th in MVP
Willie McCovey	17^th in MVP
Willie Stargell	15^th in MVP
Felipe Alou	5^th in MVP
Billy Williams	No votes