1961 Cleveland Indians
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkCleveland Municipal Stadium
CityCleveland, Ohio
OwnersWilliam R. Daley
General managersFrank Lane, Gabe Paul
ManagersJimmy Dykes
TelevisionWJW-TV
(Ken Coleman, Harry Jones)
RadioWERE
(Jimmy Dudley, Bob Neal)
← 1960 Seasons 1962 →

The 1961 Cleveland Indians season was a season in American baseball. The team finished fifth in the newly expanded 10-team American League with a record of 78–83, 30½ games behind the New York Yankees. Although the 1961 season ended up being a disappointment, the Indians had a brief flurry of pennant fever early in the 1961 season. After starting 12–13, the Indians started to streak, going 22–4 over their next 26 games to reach a record of 34–17 (were 38–20 after 58 games). However the Indians cooled off afterwards and were quickly knocked out of first place, as they went 44–66 the rest of the year. For the second year in a row, the Indians had held first place in June, only to slump to a losing record. This would happen again in 1962 as well (47–34 start in early July).

Offseason

Regular season

Season standings

American League 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 109 53 0.673 — 65–16 44–37
Detroit Tigers 101 61 0.623 8 50–31 51–30
Baltimore Orioles 95 67 0.586 14 48–33 47–34
Chicago White Sox 86 76 0.531 23 53–28 33–48
Cleveland Indians 78 83 0.484 30½ 40–41 38–42
Boston Red Sox 76 86 0.469 33 50–31 26–55
Minnesota Twins 70 90 0.438 38 36–44 34–46
Los Angeles Angels 70 91 0.435 38½ 46–36 24–55
Kansas City Athletics 61 100 0.379 47½ 33–47 28–53
Washington Senators 61 100 0.379 47½ 33–46 28–54

Record vs. opponents

1961 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Team BAL BOS CHW CLE DET KCA LAA MIN NYY WSH
Baltimore — 11–7 11–7 9–9 9–9 13–5 8–10 11–7 9–9–1 14–4
Boston 7–11 — 9–9 5–13 8–10 10–8 11–7–1 11–7 5–13 10–8
Chicago 7–11 9–9 — 12–6 6–12 14–4 10–8 9–9–1 6–12 13–5
Cleveland 9–9 13–5 6–12 — 6–12 8–9 10–8 10–8 4–14 12–6
Detroit 9–9 10–8 12–6 12–6 — 12–6–1 14–4 11–7 8–10 13–5
Kansas City 5–13 8–10 4–14 9–8 6–12–1 — 9–9 7–11 4–14 9–9
Los Angeles 10–8 7–11–1 8–10 8–10 4–14 9–9 — 8–9 6–12 10–8
Minnesota 7–11 7–11 9–9–1 8–10 7–11 11–7 9–8 — 4–14 8–9
New York 9–9–1 13–5 12–6 14–4 10–8 14–4 12–6 14–4 — 11–7
Washington 4–14 8–10 5–13 6–12 5–13 9–9 8–10 9–8 7–11 —


Notable transactions

Opening Day Lineup

Opening Day Starters
# Name Position
16 Johnny Temple 2B
14 Tito Francona LF
37 Jimmy Piersall CF
8 Willie Kirkland RF
3 Woodie Held SS
10 Vic Power 1B
5 Bubba Phillips 3B
11 Johnny Romano C
31 Jim Perry P

[7]

Roster

1961 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

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 Johnny Romano 142 509 152 .299 21 80
1B Vic Power 147 563 151 .268 5 63
2B Johnny Temple 129 518 143 .276 3 30
SS Woodie Held 146 509 136 .267 23 78
3B Bubba Phillips 143 546 144 .264 18 72
LF Tito Francona 155 592 178 .301 16 85
CF Jimmy Piersall 121 484 156 .322 6 40
RF Willie Kirkland 146 525 136 .259 27 95

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
Mike de la Hoz 61 173 45 .260 3 23
Chuck Essegian 60 166 48 .289 12 35
Don Dillard 74 147 40 .272 7 17
Valmy Thomas 27 86 18 .209 2 6
Ken Aspromonte 22 70 16 .229 0 5
Bob Nieman 39 65 23 .354 2 10
Walt Bond 38 52 9 .173 2 7
Ty Cline 12 43 9 .209 0 1
Jack Kubiszyn 25 42 9 .214 0 0
Bob Hale 42 36 6 .167 0 6
Hal Jones 12 35 6 .171 2 4
Al Luplow 5 18 1 .056 0 0
Joe Morgan 4 10 2 .200 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
Mudcat Grant 35 244.2 15 9 3.86 146
Gary Bell 34 228.1 12 16 4.10 163
Jim Perry 35 223.2 10 17 4.71 90
Wynn Hawkins 30 133.0 7 9 4.06 51
Sam McDowell 1 6.1 0 0 0.00 5

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
Barry Latman 45 176.2 13 5 4.02 108
Dick Stigman 22 64.1 2 5 4.62 48
Johnny Antonelli 11 48.0 0 4 6.56 23

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
Frank Funk 56 11 11 11 3.31 64
Bob Allen 48 3 2 3 3.75 42
Bobby Locke 37 4 4 2 4.53 37
Joe Schaffernoth 15 0 1 0 4.76 9
Bill Dailey 12 1 0 0 0.95 7
Russ Heman 6 0 0 1 3.60 4
Steve Hamilton 2 0 0 0 3.00 4

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Salt Lake City Bees Pacific Coast League Herman Franks and Fred Fitzsimmons
A Reading Indians Eastern League Ray Mueller
B Burlington Indians Carolina League Bill Herring and Walt Novick
D Selma Cloverleafs Alabama–Florida League Walt Novick and Joe Morlan
D Dubuque Packers Midwest League Pinky May

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Selma[8]

References

  1. ^ Marty Keough page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Jim King page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ a b Paul Casanova page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Bob Nieman page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Tommy John page at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Jim Piersall page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ 1961 Opening Day Lineup at Baseball-Reference
  8. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

External links

1961 MLB season by team
Cleveland Guardians
Categories