By Marty Appel<\/p>\n
In the 1961 All-Star Game (actually, two all-star games were played), the\u00a0National League roster included Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Frank\u00a0Robinson, Ernie Banks, Stan Musial, Sandy Koufax, Warren Spahn, Orlando Cepeda,\u00a0Don Drysdale and Eddie Mathews – 11 future Hall of Famers on the 28-man roster.<\/p>\n
They won the first game (the one where Stu Miller was blown off the mound at\u00a0Candlestick Park), and tied the second one at Fenway Park (where no one called for\u00a0revising the format so that the winning league would open the World Series).<\/p>\n
Make no mistake, the \u201961 American League all-star rosters had ten future Hall of\u00a0Famers and was hardly a shabby lot. But for sheer maximization of the N.L.\u2019s\u00a0dominance in that era, particularly in holding a big edge in the signing of superstar\u00a0African-American players, 1961 seemed like the defining moment.<\/p>\n
African-Americans on the A.L. roster: Elston Howard, period.
\nAnd yet\u2026.
\nThe 1961 season belonged to the American League.<\/p>\n
It was, historically, the first year of expansion, and it was only done in the A.L,\u00a0where Los Angeles and Washington were added to the league (with the \u2018original\u2019\u00a0Washington franchise moved to Minneapolis-St. Paul). The new Washington team\u00a0corresponded with the \u201cNew Frontier\u201d in the nation\u2019s capital, with a young president,\u00a0John F. Kennedy, moving into the White House. The 16-team format went back to the\u00a0turn of the century, and most living fans knew no other way.<\/p>\n
This meant that for 1961, there were ten A.L. teams playing 162 games, and\u00a0eight N.L. teams playing 154. There was some immediate concern over what the\u00a0additional eight games might mean for baseball\u2019s record books, but with the original\u00a0announcement, the idea of the A.L. moving to the west coast was the big news. Making\u00a0it even more exciting was that Gene Autry, the beloved film, television and recording\u00a0star, was one of the owners of the Los Angeles franchise.<\/p>\n
Further bringing attention to the A.L. was a new manager in New York, where\u00a0Ralph Houk replaced Casey Stengel after a 12-year run for Stengel which produced ten\u00a0pennants.<\/p>\n
But for those who cared about baseball\u2019s sacred records, suddenly, the doors\u00a0would open to 50 new players in the American League; players who would otherwise be\u00a0minor leaguers if not for expansion. Would the seasoned A.L. hitters beat up on the\u00a0otherwise minor league pitchers? How about the Angels\u2019 home park for 1961 – which\u00a0was the minor league bandbox Wrigley Field, site of the Home Run Derby television\u00a0series.<\/p>\n
As it turned out, both leagues enjoyed big home run years, with the A.L.\u00a0averaging 0.95 homers per game, and the National League 0.97. The A.L. total was a\u00a0league record of 1,534, the N.L.\u2019s 1,238, owing to the extra games played by the \u201cJunior\u00a0Circuit.\u201d<\/p>\n
But then there was the Home Run Chase of 1961, pitting New York Yankees\u00a0teammates Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris not only against each other, but against the\u00a0sacred record of 60 held by Babe Ruth since 1927.<\/p>\n
In 1960, Mantle won the league\u2019s home run title, edging first-year Yankee Maris\u00a040-39. With the announcement of expansion, baseball preview magazines immediately\u00a0focused on the peril Ruth was in, as though increasing the leading total by 20 was to be\u00a0expected. \u201c61 Homers in \u201961?\u201d was an intriguing headline that several publications used.<\/p>\n
The race, which by mid-summer seemed as though it was going to produce a\u00a0new champion, even attracted the fledgling use of computer science to determine if the\u00a0record would fall. On August 30, \u201can I.B.M. 1401 computer\u201d nicknamed \u201cCasey\u201d,\u00a0predicted that Maris had a \u201c55 out of 100\u201d chance of breaking the record, but Mantle had\u00a0only a \u201c2 out of 100\u201d chance. The findings were revealed on The Today Show, and\u00a0updated throughout September as Maris soared and an injured Mantle faded.<\/p>\n
In the end, Maris did hit 61. But Major League Baseball, (with former Ruth ghost-writer Ford Frick as Commissioner), long wed to promoting its legendary heroes ahead\u00a0of new players, took the wind out of this great promotional opportunity by decreeing that\u00a0a player had to do it in 154 games (for the integrity of the record), and that he would get\u00a0a separate listing for doing it in the extra eight games. As a result, after game 154\u00a0(when Maris had 59), a lot of enthusiasm was lost. The Yankees only drew 23,154 for\u00a0that final regular season game when baseball history was indeed made.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Maris\u2019s 61 was followed by Mantle\u2019s 54, and the Yankees hit a team\u00a0record 240, with six players topping 20 homers, and three players listed on the roster as\u00a0catchers – Yogi Berra, Elston Howard and John Blanchard, combining for 60.<\/p>\n
Aside from what Maris and Mantle were accomplishing, four other players hit\u00a0more than 40 home runs, including Harmon Killebrew of Minnesota (46), Jim Gentile of\u00a0Baltimore (46, including five grand slams), Rocky Colavito of Detroit (45) and Norm Cash\u00a0of Detroit (41), with Cash also winning the batting title (.361). This was especially\u00a0noteworthy in that over a 17-year career, it was his only season over .300.<\/p>\n
Additionally, despite the 1961 Yankees being considered one of the great all-time\u00a0teams, there was actually a pennant race going on. At the end of August, they were only\u00a01.5 games ahead of second-place Detroit, and the Tigers came to New York for a three-game series leading into Labor Day. The Yankees swept the three games (two with\u00a0walkoff hits), drew 171,503 for the three dates and then continued with another ten\u00a0victories in a row to pretty much wrap up the pennant for Houk. Whitey Ford, used in a\u00a0regular, every fourth day rotation for the first time, went 25-4 to win the Cy Young Award.<\/p>\n
The National League, meanwhile, had a surprise in store at the top of the\u00a0standings.<\/p>\n
The Cincinnati Reds had finished sixth in 1960 and had not won a pennant since\u00a01940. Its owner, Powell Crosley, died during spring training. The much-respected Fred\u00a0Hutchinson was the manager, but former pitchers seldom fared well as managers. Most\u00a0experts picked the Los Angeles Dodgers or the San Francisco Giants to win.<\/p>\n
But the Reds, led by MVP Frank Robinson, and by a young pitching staff that\u00a0featured Bob Purkey, Joey Jay, Jim O\u2019Toole and Jim Maloney, found their footing and\u00a0started rolling up victories. They went into first place on June 16, faltered briefly, but\u00a0swept a three-game series in Los Angeles in mid-August to put some distance between\u00a0themselves and the Dodgers. They won the last pennant of an eight-team league by\u00a0four games, before losing the World Series to the Yankees in five games.<\/p>\n
The season was without Boston\u2019s Ted Williams, who retired after 1960, but\u00a0featured the debut of his successor, Carl Yastrzemski. Milwaukee\u2019s Warren Spahn won\u00a020 for the tenth time, (including the season\u2019s only no-hitter) and became the first new\u00a0member of the 300-win club since Lefty Grove in 1941. The Chicago Cubs tried to go\u00a0without a manager, using a rotating \u201ccollege of coaches,\u201d (a failed experiment), but still\u00a0finished ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies, who managed a 23-game losing streak.\u00a0Roberto Clemente won his first of four batting titles, hitting .351.<\/p>\n
It was a transitional season for baseball, and it turned out to be a fun one. The\u00a0home run race brought many new fans to the game, as Mantle and Maris became\u00a0household names, appearing on Life magazine covers and on the nightly network\u00a0newscasts. Old players like Spahn and Musial still turned heads, but the new guard of\u00a0great National League black players were all coming into their own as superstars. It was\u00a0a season that held fan attention each day and grew the game into a decade of great\u00a0achievements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1961 Season By Marty Appel In the 1961 All-Star Game (actually, two all-star games were played), the\u00a0National League roster included Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Frank\u00a0Robinson, Ernie Banks, Stan Musial, Sandy Koufax, Warren Spahn, Orlando Cepeda,\u00a0Don Drysdale and Eddie… Continue Reading