The 1966 New York Yankees season was the franchise’s 64th overall. The squad concluded with a 70–89 record, trailing the Baltimore Orioles by 26.5 games. Johnny Keane and Ralph Houk were in charge of New York.
At Yankee Stadium, the Yankees played the game which could be regarded as their worst. Keane’s final MLB game was in early May, and he died in January of the following year at the age of 55.
The Yankees came in tenth place, but it was a “strong” tenth.
It was the first time they had finished last at the Hilltop since 1912, their final year there. For the next twenty-four years, the Yankees would not finish in last place.
The 65,000-seat Yankee Stadium announced a paid attendance of 413 on September 22.
As he commented on the low turnout, WPIX announcer Red Barber instructed the TV cameras to pan the empty stands. Despite being denied camera shots by the Yankees’ head of media relations, he said, “I don’t know what the paid attendance is today, but whatever it is, it is the smallest crowd in the history of Yankee Stadium, and this crowd is the story, not the game.”
That game was, by a cruel twist of fate, CBS executive Mike Burke’s first as team president. Barber was summoned to brunch a week later, where Burke informed him that his contract would not be renewed.
