The Yankees of the 1961 baseball season , now under the leadership of director Ralph Houk , were even more awe-inspiring than the former year ’s edition , win 109 games and the American League crown by 8 games .
The Bombers set a new team record with their 240 home runs , a statistic aided greatly by the league ’s enlargement to ten squad ( the Los Angeles Angels and the Washington Senators had been add ) and an increase to a 162 - game schedule .
The eight extra plot and irrigate - down pitching enabled Roger Maris to break Babe Ruth ’s individual - season record of 60 domicile runs . Maris , again the 1961 American Leagues MVP , had waged a summer - long assault on a mark deemed so sacred that commissioner Ford Frick issued a decree : If Maris did n’t shatter the record during the first 154 game , the exploit would have an asterisk assigned to it . Maris hit his 59th homer in game 154 , match the mark five game later on , then broke the record on the last day of the season at Yankee Stadium with a homing pigeon against Boston ’s Tracy Stallard .
Mickey Mantle also flirted with Ruth ’s record , but a September accidental injury stalled him at 54 . Bill Skowron , Elston Howard , Yogi Berra , and Johnny Blanchard each belt out 20 or more homers for New York .
Cy Young Award - winner Whitey Ford claimed a circuit - topping 25 of 29 decisions while screwball reliever Luis Arroyo pull ahead 15 games and save a league - head 29 for New York .
In any other twelvemonth , the Tigers ' 101 wins would have been waft - caliber . Notable season were ferment in by Norm Cash ( 41 homer , a conference - high .361 norm ) , Al Kaline ( .324 ) , Rocky Colavito ( 45 homer , 140 run batted in ) , and mound Frank Lary ( 23 wins ) . Dick Donovan spearhead the majors with his 2.40 earned run average for Washington , which tied with Kansas City for last place . Don Schwall of Boston ( 15 - 7 , 3.22 ERA ) was Rookie of the Year .
The Reds acquire the National League pennant by 4 games over the Dodgers with warm performances by 25 - class - erstwhile Frank Robinson ( the 1961 National League MVP with 37 kor , 124 RBI , and a .323 norm ) , Vada Pinson ( .343 ) , Joey Jay ( a league - high 21 wins ) , and Jim O’Toole ( 19 victories ) .
Wally Moon hit .328 ( fourthly - good in the league ) and Johnny Podres posted a circumference - top .783 winning percent for 2d - place Los Angeles . Although Willie Mays belted four home run in one game while teammate Orlando Cepeda led the league with 46 homers and 142 RBI , the Giants could n’t get past third . For the fifth straight year , 40 - twelvemonth - old Warren Spahn of the fourth - place Braves racked up enough win to rank at the top ; this sentence , his 21 victory agree those of Cincinnati ’s Jay . Spahn also took the ERA title at 3.01 . Roberto Clemente of sixth - place Pittsburgh led the conference in bat with a .351 norm . Billy Williams of Chicago ( .278 , 25 homers , 86 RBI ) was named 1961 Rookie of the Year .
The arm of the Reds could n’t stave off the Yankees ' latest edition of Murderer ’s Row . Ford ’s shutout in game four broke Ruth ’s 29 - 2/3 consecutive scoreless - frame record in Series turn . The ace twirler ran his bar to 32 inning before pull up stakes the sixth with an mortise joint accidental injury .
The Yankees offensive collapse open in secret plan five with 15 hits in the 13 - 5 trouncing of the Reds . New York had won convincingly despite the fact that the M&M boy – Mantle and Maris – drove in just two runs between them for the entire 1961 World Series . Most of the hurt was triggered by 2d baseman Bobby Richardson , who set a five - game Series disk with nine hits , and Moose Skowron , who batted .353 .
keep to the next page to find major headline and summaries of the top stories of the 1961 baseball season .
To learn more about baseball, see:
1961 Baseball Season Headlines
During the 1961 baseball time of year , Hank Aaron led the Braves to their 9th naval division title in as many years , while Roger Maris hit 61 domicile runs to better Babe Ruth ’s single - season record . Here are some of the headline from the 1961 baseball season :
1961 Cincinnati Reds Cruise to National League Flag
Although no match for the Yankees in the 1961 World Series , the Reds won the fleur-de-lis by a well-fixed four - secret plan margin . The next twelvemonth , the Reds actually had a higher winning percentage yet could end no upright than third place .
Warren Spahn Wins 21 at Age 40
Age 40 in 1961 , Warren Spahn win 21 game , tying for first place in victories in the National League ; in 1963 , after turning 42 years previous , he won 23 game . His phenomenal enduringness caused Stan Musial to note that he doubted Spahn would ever get into the Hall of Fame because it seemed Spahn would never halt pitching .
Joe Cunningham Nabs Liner in Stick
St. Louis leave fielder Joe Cunningham spear a liner off Orlando Cepeda ’s bat in a 1961 game against the Giants at Candlestick Park . A few weeks subsequently , the Stick , in its second yr of universe , introduce a national video interview to its notorious idle words when Stu Miller was blown off the cumulus in an All - Star Game . Cunningham , a nondescript thespian for a XII years , was in reality a darn good striker : He batted .345 in 1959 to wind up second in the batten race . In 1961 , he hit .286 .
Hank Aaron Leads Proud Braves
The Braves were still in Milwaukee in 1961 and showed no signs of moving , as Hank Aaron spearheaded the lodge to its 9th first - division finish in the nine class it had been in Wisconsin . Aaron hit .327 that year with 39 doubles ( tops in the cringle ) , 34 home running play , and 120 RBI . The Braves ' skein continued through the 1965 season , the club ’s last yr in Milwaukee .
Orlando Cepeda No. 1 at First
The Giants had an enviable problem in the early 1960s : They had two great first basemen in Orlando Cepeda and Willie McCovey . ( In 1961 , Cepeda add up 46 family run and 142 run batted in . ) The Giants came up with a solution : They waited until Cepeda ’s value had been subjugate by an injury and then traded him .
Charles Finley Lacks Horse Sense
By the close of the 1961 time of year , A ’s followers had already begun trust that new owner Charley Finley had about as much baseball common sense as his mascot . The A ’s tied the expanding upon Senators for last spot in the American League that year .
Roger Maris: 61 HRs a Nightmare
Roger Maris later revealed to writer Joe Reichler that his baseball vocation would have been a mountain more fun if he had never hit those 61 home runs in 1961 . About all that breaking Babe Ruth ’s disc bring him , he sound out , was headaches . The controversy of the acquirement centre on the fact that Ruth had nailed 60 home runs playing in 151 of his squad ’s 155 games while Maris had 161 of 163 games to collect dingers .
Find more 1961 baseball season headlines and summaries on the next pageboy .
More 1961 Baseball Season Headlines
Below are more highlight of the 1961 baseball season , include the batting accomplishments of Norm Cash , who had a once - in - a - lifetime yr , and Frank Robinson ’s 1961 National League MVP profits .
Brooks Robinson Can’t Help 1961 O’s
Brooks Robinson was the infield fulcrum on a squad that in 1961 was a preseason favored to acquire the American League pennant ( he hit .287 that season ) . When it acquire manifest in September that Baltimore was out of the race , manager Paul Richards was replaced by Lum Harris . A o.k. airplane pilot , I. A. Richards did not deal again in the majors until 1976 .
Frank Robinson Slugs Way to 1961 National League MVP
Frank Robinson led the National League in one category in 1961 – slugging , with a .611 average – yet run away with the award for Most Valuable Player . The emergence of Gordy Coleman allow Reds skipper Fred Hutchinson to move Robinson from first base back to his normal post in right field ; consequently , Cincy vault from sixth billet in 1960 to a pennon in 1961 , its first fleur-de-lis since 1940 .
Norm Cash Boasts Best BA of ’60s
The extraordinary 1961 season of Norm Cash was overshadowed by the household run effort of Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle , but historians are now beginning to recognize its genuine significance . That class , Cash had the eminent batting average ( .361 ) of any instrumentalist during the 1960s and the high-pitched on - substructure percentage ( .488 ) since 1957 . Cash proceed on to social club 377 dwelling trial in his 17 - year vocation yet , oddly , never came within 75 points of his .361 Gospel According to Mark . In 1962 , his norm plummeted to .243 . The 118 - point fall - off is the worst ever by a batting champion .
Willie Mays Thrills 1961 Giants Fans
Willie Mays order high in every major slugging section in 1961 . He topped the National League with 129 running scored , came in second gear with 40 home runs , and placed third with 334 full substructure , 123 RBI , and 81 walks . Oddly , never once in his 22 - year career did Mays lead the National League in RBI .
Vada Pinson, Frank Robinson Rev Up 1961 Reds
Vada Pinson and Frank Robinson were the noisome loss leader for the Reds in 1961 . Pinson posted a .343 norm that season , direct the National League with 208 hits . Robinson led the circuit with a .611 slugging norm that year , with 37 homers and 124 run batted in .
Lew Burdette Wins 18
Lew Burdette was a master at never working any hard than he had to . give one run , he ’d pitch a skunk . Given nine runs , he ’d gain 9 - 6 . The end result was that he always finished among the leaders in runs surrendered . In 1956 , however , with his team in a down - to - the - conducting wire flag race , he pass the National League with a 2.71 ERA . In 1961 , he extend the conference in frame ( 272 ) and went 18 - 11 .
Chairman Goes 25-4
By the early 1960s , Whitey Ford had acquired the soubriquet " The Chairman of the Board . " It was somewhat misleading . Ford and Mickey Mantle were probably the Yankees ' two leading free smell in that era . On the field , though , Ford was all business ; his 25 - 4 record in 1961 was the best performance by a Yankees pitcher prior to 1978 . Ford paced the American League in wins , win per centum . ( .862 ) , starts ( 39 ) , and innings huckster ( 283 ) .
To find highlights of key issue and detail from the 1961 time of year , continue to the next page .
1961 Baseball Season Highlights
All eyes were on New York during the 1961 baseball time of year as the Yankees wow audiences everywhere . The squad succeed 109 game and had 240 home run . Below , you will find the highlights from the 1961 baseball season :
determine out the next division for more highlights of the 1961 baseball game season .
More 1961 Baseball Season Highlights
During the 1961 baseball season , Roger Maris chased Babe Ruth ’s record and exhaust him – but only after roleplay more games – while Roberto Clemente earned a Gold Glove . Check out more highlight from the 1961 baseball time of year below :
