The upstart Baltimore Orioles surprised everyone and marched to the pennant, beating the second place Minnesota Twins by nine full games. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Dodgers battled the San Francisco Giants and the Pittsburgh Pirates all season long, before winning the 1966 NL pennant by 1 1/2 games over the Giants and 3 games over the Pirates.

In the World Series, Baltimore went on to swept the heavy-favorite Dodgers, who posted a team ERA of 2.62 in the regular season, in four straight games. The Orioles finished the regular season with the highest slugging average in the American League - .409 pct.

Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, of the Baltimore Orioles won the Triple Crown in 1966.

He led the majors in homers with 49, led the AL with 122 RBIs and captured the league's batting crown with .316. And, was voted the AL Most Valuable Player.

Hall of Fame teammate third baseman Brooks Robinson finished second in the MVP balloting and Orioles first baseman Boog Powell was third.

Pittsburgh's great Roberto Clemente was the 1966 NL MVP, Sandy Koufax, of the LA Dodgers finished second and SF Giants Willie Mays was third.

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1966 Home Run Leaders

American League:

Frank Robinson, Baltimore 49... Harmon Killebrew, Minnesota 39... Boog Powell, Baltimore 34... Norm Cash, Detroit 32... Joe Pepitone, New York 31... Rocky Colavito, Cleveland 30... Al Kaline, Detroit 29... Tony Conigilaro, Boston 28... Willie Horton, 27... George Scott, Boston 27... Tom Tresh, New York 27... Fred Whitfield, Cleveland 27...

National League:

Hank Aaron, Atlanta 44... Dick Allen, Philadelphia 40... Willie Mays, San Francisco 37... Willie McCovey, San Francisco 36... Joe Torre, Atlanta 36... Jim Ray Hart, San Francisco 33... Willie Stargell, Pittsburgh 33... Felipe Alou, Atlanta 31... Ron Santo, Chicago 30... Roberto Clemente, Pittsburgh 29... Billy Williams, Chicago 29... Don Clendenon, Pittsburgh 28... Tom Haller, San Francisco 27...

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1966 RBIs Leader:

National League:

Hank Aaron, Atlanta 127... Roberto Clemente, Pittsburgh 119... Richie 'Dick' Allen, Philadelphia 110... Willie Mays, San Francisco 103... Bill White, Philadelphia 103... Willie Stargell, Pittsburgh 102... Joe Torre, Atlanta 101...

American League:

Frank Robinson, Baltimore 122... Harmon Killebrew, Minnesota 110... Boog Powell, Baltimore 109... Brooks Robinson, Baltimore 100... Willie Horton, Detroit 100...

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1966 Bating Average Leaders:

Brothers Matty and Felipe Alou finished one-two in batting in the majors and just two American League players hit .300 in '66, MVP Frank Robinson and Twins' star Tony Oliva.

National League:

Matty Alou, Pittsburgh .342... Felipe Alou, Atlanta .327... Rico Carty, Atlanta .326... Dick Allen, Philadelphia .317... Roberto Clemente, Pittsburgh .317... Willie Stargell, Pittsburgh .315... Joe Torre, Atlanta .315... Pete Rose, Cincinnati .313... Ron Santo, Chicago .312... Orlando Cepeda, St. Louis .301

American League:

Frank Robinson, Baltimore .316... Tony Oliva, Minnesota .307... Al Kaline, Detroit .288... Boog Powell, Baltimore .287... Harmon Killebrew, Minnesota .281... Norm Cash, Detroit .279... Leon Wagner, Cleveland .279... Danny Cater, Kansas City A's .278... Frank Howard, Washington .278... Carl Yastrzemski, Boston .278...

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1966 Earned Run Average Leaders:

National League:

Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles 1.73 ERA... Mike Cuellar, Houston 2.22 ERA... Juan Marichal, San Francisco 2.23 ERA... Jim Bunning, Philadelphia 2.41 ERA... Bob Gibson, St Louis 2.44 ERA...

American League:

Gary Peters, Chicago 1.98 ERA... Joe Horlen, Chicago 2.43 ERA... Steve Hargan, Cleveland 2.48 ERA... Jim Perry, Minnesota 2.54 ERA... Tommy John, Chicago 2.62 ERA...

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