1961 MLB season | |
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League | Major League Baseball |
Sport | Baseball |
Duration | April 10 – October 12, 1961 |
Number of games | 162 (AL), 154 (NL) |
Number of teams | 18 |
TV partner(s) | NBC, CBS, ABC |
Regular season | |
Season MVP | AL: Roger Maris (NY) NL: Frank Robinson (CIN) |
AL champions | New York Yankees |
AL runners-up | Detroit Tigers |
NL champions | Cincinnati Reds |
NL runners-up | Los Angeles Dodgers |
World Series | |
Champions | New York Yankees |
Runners-up | Cincinnati Reds |
World Series MVP | Whitey Ford (NY) |
The 1961 Major League Baseball season was played from April 10 to October 12, 1961. That season saw the New York Yankees defeat the Cincinnati Reds in five games in the World Series. The season is best known for Yankee teammates Roger Maris' and Mickey Mantle's pursuit of Babe Ruth's prestigious 34-year-old single-season home run record of 60. Maris ultimately broke the record when he hit his 61st home run on the final day of the regular season, while Mantle was forced out of the lineup in late September due to a hip infection and finished with 54 home runs.
In response to the proposed Continental League, the American League expanded by two teams in the first MLB expansion since 1901. The original Washington Senators moved to Minnesota and became the Minnesota Twins. The American League therefore placed a new team in Washington, also called the Senators. Also, the American League placed a team in Los Angeles called the Los Angeles Angels.
In order to keep its schedule balanced, the American League season was extended by eight games. Previously, teams had played 154 games (22 games per opponent), but from 1961 AL teams would play opponents 18 times each for a total of 162 games. The National League played a 154-game schedule for the final time in 1961 before switching to 162 games when they also expanded to ten teams for the 1962 Major League Baseball season.
Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
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New York Yankees | 109 | 53 | .673 | — | 65–16 | 44–37 |
Detroit Tigers | 101 | 61 | .623 | 8 | 50–31 | 51–30 |
Baltimore Orioles | 95 | 67 | .586 | 14 | 48–33 | 47–34 |
Chicago White Sox | 86 | 76 | .531 | 23 | 53–28 | 33–48 |
Cleveland Indians | 78 | 83 | .484 | 30½ | 40–41 | 38–42 |
Boston Red Sox | 76 | 86 | .469 | 33 | 50–31 | 26–55 |
Minnesota Twins | 70 | 90 | .438 | 38 | 36–44 | 34–46 |
Los Angeles Angels | 70 | 91 | .435 | 38½ | 46–36 | 24–55 |
Kansas City Athletics | 61 | 100 | .379 | 47½ | 33–47 | 28–53 |
Washington Senators | 61 | 100 | .379 | 47½ | 33–46 | 28–54 |
Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
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Cincinnati Reds | 93 | 61 | .604 | — | 47–30 | 46–31 |
Los Angeles Dodgers | 89 | 65 | .578 | 4 | 45–32 | 44–33 |
San Francisco Giants | 85 | 69 | .552 | 8 | 45–32 | 40–37 |
Milwaukee Braves | 83 | 71 | .539 | 10 | 45–32 | 38–39 |
St. Louis Cardinals | 80 | 74 | .519 | 13 | 48–29 | 32–45 |
Pittsburgh Pirates | 75 | 79 | .487 | 18 | 38–39 | 37–40 |
Chicago Cubs | 64 | 90 | .416 | 29 | 40–37 | 24–53 |
Philadelphia Phillies | 47 | 107 | .305 | 46 | 22–55 | 25–52 |
World Series | ||||
AL | New York Yankees | 4 | ||
NL | Cincinnati Reds | 1 |
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Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E | ||||||||||||||||||||
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American League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
National League | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Starting pitchers: AL: Whitey Ford NL: Warren Spahn WP: Stu Miller (1–0) LP: Hoyt Wilhelm (0–1) Home runs: AL: Harmon Killebrew (1) NL: George Altman (1) |
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
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National League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
American League | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Starting pitchers: NL: Bob Purkey AL: Jim Bunning WP: None LP: None Home runs: NL: None AL: Rocky Colavito (1) |
Team | Manager | Comments |
---|---|---|
Baltimore Orioles | Paul Richards | Replaced during the season by Lum Harris |
Boston Red Sox | Pinky Higgins | |
Chicago White Sox | Al López | |
Cleveland Indians | Jimmy Dykes | Replaced during the season by Mel Harder |
Detroit Tigers | Bob Scheffing | |
Kansas City Athletics | Joe Gordon | Replaced during the season by Hank Bauer |
Los Angeles Angels | Bill Rigney | Expansion team |
Minnesota Twins | Cookie Lavagetto | Replaced during the season by Sam Mele |
New York Yankees | Ralph Houk | Won the World Series |
Washington Senators | Mickey Vernon | Expansion team |
Team | Manager | Comments |
---|---|---|
Chicago Cubs | College of Coaches | |
Cincinnati Reds | Fred Hutchinson | Won the National League pennant |
Los Angeles Dodgers | Walter Alston | |
Milwaukee Braves | Chuck Dressen | Replaced during the season by Birdie Tebbetts |
Philadelphia Phillies | Gene Mauch | |
Pittsburgh Pirates | Danny Murtaugh | |
San Francisco Giants | Alvin Dark | |
St. Louis Cardinals | Solly Hemus | Replaced during the season by Johnny Keane |
Team name | Wins | %± | Home attendance | %± | Per game |
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Los Angeles Dodgers[1] | 89 | 8.5% | 1,804,250 | -19.9% | 23,432 |
New York Yankees[2] | 109 | 12.4% | 1,747,725 | 7.4% | 21,577 |
Detroit Tigers[3] | 101 | 42.3% | 1,600,710 | 37.1% | 19,521 |
San Francisco Giants[4] | 85 | 7.6% | 1,390,679 | -22.5% | 18,061 |
Minnesota Twins[5] | 70 | -4.1% | 1,256,723 | 69.0% | 15,515 |
Pittsburgh Pirates[6] | 75 | -21.1% | 1,199,128 | -29.7% | 15,573 |
Chicago White Sox[7] | 86 | -1.1% | 1,146,019 | -30.3% | 14,148 |
Cincinnati Reds[8] | 93 | 38.8% | 1,117,603 | 68.4% | 14,514 |
Milwaukee Braves[9] | 83 | -5.7% | 1,101,441 | -26.5% | 14,304 |
Baltimore Orioles[10] | 95 | 6.7% | 951,089 | -19.9% | 11,599 |
St. Louis Cardinals[11] | 80 | -7.0% | 855,305 | -22.0% | 10,965 |
Boston Red Sox[12] | 76 | 16.9% | 850,589 | -24.7% | 10,373 |
Cleveland Indians[13] | 78 | 2.6% | 725,547 | -23.7% | 8,957 |
Kansas City Athletics[14] | 61 | 5.2% | 683,817 | -11.8% | 8,548 |
Chicago Cubs[15] | 64 | 6.7% | 673,057 | -16.9% | 8,629 |
Los Angeles Angels[16] | 70 | 603,510 | 7,360 | ||
Washington Senators[17] | 61 | 597,287 | 7,561 | ||
Philadelphia Phillies[18] | 47 | -20.3% | 590,039 | -31.6% | 7,565 |
CBS and NBC continued to air weekend Game of the Week broadcasts, while ABC televised several games in prime time. One of ABC's prime time games occurred as Roger Maris[21][22] was poised to tie and subsequently break Babe Ruth's regular season home run record of 60. As with all MLB games in those days, the action was totally blacked out[23] of major league markets. As a matter of fact, as documented in the HBO film 61*, the Maris family was welcomed into ABC's Kansas City, Missouri affiliate KMBC-TV so they could watch the in-house feed of the game, which was blacked out of Kansas City.
The All-Star Game and World Series aired on NBC.
1961 MLB season by team | |
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American League | |
National League | |
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Pre-modern era |
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Modern era |
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See also |