1961 Chicago Cubs
LeagueNational League
BallparkWrigley Field
CityChicago, IL
Record64–90 (.416)
League place7th
OwnersPhilip K. Wrigley
General managersJohn Holland
ManagersVedie Himsl (31 games)
Harry Craft (16 games)
El Tappe (96 games)
Lou Klein (11 games)
TelevisionWGN-TV
(Jack Brickhouse, Vince Lloyd)
RadioWGN
(Jack Quinlan, Lou Boudreau)
← 1960 Seasons 1962 →

The 1961 Chicago Cubs season was the 90th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 86th in the National League and the 46th at Wrigley Field. In the first season under their College of Coaches, the Cubs finished seventh in the National League with a record of 64–90, 29 games behind the Cincinnati Reds.

Offseason

Regular season

The College of Coaches

This season marked the introduction of the so-called "College of Coaches", a system instituted by owner Philip K. Wrigley after input from El Tappe. Under this system, the Cubs would have no single manager, but instead would have a rotating series of eight coaches, with one managing the team while others served as either assistant coaches or minor league field personnel.

Four different men served as manager during 1961: Tappe, who served the most games in the position and had a record of 42–54; Harry Craft, who had a record of 7–9; Vedie Himsl, who had a record of 10–21; and Lou Klein, who was brought on board in midseason and had a record of 5–6. Other coaches in the system during the season were Charlie Grimm – the team's manager in 1960 – Bobby Adams, Dick Cole, Ripper Collins, Goldie Holt, Fred Martin and Verlon Walker. The team improved to 64–90, four games better than their 1960 record, although none of the four managers posted a winning record individually. The experiment would be carried over into the 1962 season.

Season standings

National League 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cincinnati Reds 93 61 0.604 — 47–30 46–31
Los Angeles Dodgers 89 65 0.578 4 45–32 44–33
San Francisco Giants 85 69 0.552 8 45–32 40–37
Milwaukee Braves 83 71 0.539 10 45–32 38–39
St. Louis Cardinals 80 74 0.519 13 48–29 32–45
Pittsburgh Pirates 75 79 0.487 18 38–39 37–40
Chicago Cubs 64 90 0.416 29 40–37 24–53
Philadelphia Phillies 47 107 0.305 46 22–55 25–52

Record vs. opponents

1961 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team CHC CIN LAD MIL PHI PIT SF STL
Chicago — 12–10 7–15 9–13–1 13–9 11–11 5–17 7–15–1
Cincinnati 10–12 — 12–10 15–7 19–3 11–11 12–10 14–8
Los Angeles 15–7 10–12 — 12–10 17–5 13–9 10–12 12–10
Milwaukee 13–9–1 7–15 10–12 — 16–6 12–10 11–11 14–8
Philadelphia 9–13 3–19 5–17 6–16 — 7–15 8–14–1 9–13
Pittsburgh 11–11 11–11 9–13 10–12 15–7 — 10–12 9–13
San Francisco 17–5 10–12 12–10 11–11 14–8–1 12–10 — 9–13
St. Louis 15–7–1 8–14 10–12 8–14 13–9 13–9 13–9 —


Notable transactions

Roster

1961 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Head coach

Coaches College of Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; 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 Dick Bertell 92 267 73 .273 2 33
1B Ed Bouchee 112 319 79 .248 12 38
2B Don Zimmer 128 477 120 .252 13 40
SS Ernie Banks 138 511 142 .278 29 80
3B Ron Santo 154 578 164 .284 23 83
LF Billy Williams 146 529 147 .278 25 86
CF Al Heist 109 321 82 .255 7 37
RF George Altman 138 518 157 .303 27 96

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
Jerry Kindall 96 310 75 .242 9 44
Richie Ashburn 109 307 79 .257 0 19
Sammy Taylor 89 235 56 .238 8 23
Andre Rodgers 73 214 57 .266 6 23
Bob Will 86 113 29 .257 0 8
Frank Thomas 15 50 13 .260 2 6
Mel Roach 23 39 5 .128 0 1
Moe Thacker 25 35 6 .171 0 2
Cuno Barragan 10 28 6 .214 1 2
Ken Hubbs 10 28 5 .179 1 2
Moe Morhardt 7 18 5 .278 0 1
Danny Murphy 4 13 5 .385 2 3
Lou Brock 4 11 1 .091 0 0
Jim McAnany 11 10 3 .300 0 0
Nelson Mathews 3 9 1 .111 0 0
George Freese 9 7 2 .286 0 1
Sammy Drake 13 5 0 .000 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
Don Cardwell 39 259.1 15 14 3.82 156
Glen Hobbie 36 198.2 7 13 4.26 103
Dick Ellsworth 37 186.2 10 11 3.86 91
Jack Curtis 31 180.1 10 13 4.89 57

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
Bob Anderson 57 152.0 7 10 4.26 96
Dick Drott 35 98.0 1 4 4.22 48
Jim Brewer 36 86.2 1 7 5.82 57

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
Don Elston 58 6 7 8 5.59 59
Barney Schultz 41 7 6 7 2.70 59
Joe Schaffernoth 21 0 4 0 6.34 23
Mel Wright 11 0 1 0 10.71 6
Dick Burwell 2 0 0 0 9.00 0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Houston Buffaloes American Association Grady Hatton, Fred Martin,
Lou Klein and Harry Craft
AA San Antonio Missions Texas League Ripper Collins, Harry Craft,
Bobby Adams and Verlon Walker
B Wenatchee Chiefs Northwest League Verlon Walker, Vedie Himsl,
Dick Cole and Bobby Adams
C St. Cloud Rox Northern League Joe Macko
D Morristown Cubs Appalachian League John Fitzpatrick
D Carlsbad Potashes Sophomore League Lou Klein and Walt Dixon

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: San Antonio

Notes

  1. ^ Billy Cowan page at Baseball-Reference
  2. ^ Jim McAnany page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Braves trade Mel Roach for Frank Thomas
  4. ^ Curt Motton page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Paul Casanova page at Baseball Reference

References

Categories