1961
The 1961 season was
an historic season for many reasons. For the first time, expansion was
introduced, and the American League placed a team on the West Coast. The
Washington Senators moved west to Minneapolis
The National
League, who would expand into Texas and New York
Of course, there
were the home runs. The New York Yankees hit 240 homers that year, 51 more than
the second place team, the newly formed Los Angeles Angels. Babe Ruth's single
season home run record was in jeopardy, and eventually eclipsed by Roger Maris.
However, there were five other players that hit 40 or more dingers in the
American League.
1961 should have
been Mickey Mantle's year.
Mickey Mantle, the
alliterative magical sounding name of the New York Yankee's center fielder.
Hard partying, hard playing switch hitter that was the golden boy of the
American League. Ted Williams retired at the end of the 1960 season, and that
left Mantle as the biggest offensive star in the league. By this time, he had
played in eight of the previous ten World Series, and there was no reason to
believe that streak wouldn't continue. He was the Commerce Comet. He was The
Mick.
Of course, you
probably already know of the legendary summer of 1961, where Mantle and Maris
(The M&M Boys) both were on pace to break Babe Ruth's single season record.
And the controversies that ensued forthwith.
That Maris and Mantle both had the opportunity to play in more
games than Ruth had in 1927, the commissioner of baseball, Ford Frick, decreed
that if the record was broken after 154 games, the record would be notated with
an asterisk. (Frick, it should be noted was a close personal friend of Babe
Ruth, and was Ruth's ghost writer for a column in a New York
Mantle was the
favorite to win the race to 60, as he had previously topped the 50 homer
plateau earlier in his career, hitting 52 in 1956. Added to the chase that
Mantle was perceived as a better hitter than Maris, carrying a career batting
average of .307 into the season against Maris' .258. But how quickly they
forget that Maris was the American League MVP in 1960, with a slash line of
39/112/.283 and .283/.371/.581.
As the summer wore
on, the teammates neck and neck, until Mantle allegedly received an infection
from a B12 injection into his hip, and missed some playing time. Hindsight will
allow one to say that without that missed time, Mantle would have broken Ruth's
record. Reality will tell you that Mantle actually missed 9 games that season,
and finished with 54 home runs. He would have had to hit 8 home runs in those 9
missed games to have beaten Roger Maris and his total of 61 home runs.
But, there were
some other highly intriguing players that year who put together some impressive
statistics. More than likely, the addition of 2 new expansion teams diluted the
pitching across the Junior Circuit, but to point out some statistics of note:
Jim Gentile 46 141 .302 .423 .646
Harmon Killebrew 46 122 .288 .405 .606
Rocky Colavito 45 140 .290 .402 .580
Norm Cash 41 132 .361 .487 .662
Roger Maris 61 141 .269 .372 .620
Mickey Mantle 54 128 .317 .448 .687
There are some
pretty substantial numbers there. The Yankees, as if you didn't already know,
easily won the American league pennant by 8 games over the Detroit Tigers.
Interestingly enough, the Tigers outscored the Yankees 841 to 827, out hit the
Yankees in batting average and hits .266
and 1481 to .263 and 1461. They even had a better on base
percentage, .347 to .330. So the Tigers
were no pushovers by any means.
So, in applying my
formula, the raw numbers are as follows:
1961
|
Mike#
|
Roger
Maris
|
2.5447
|
Mickey
Mantle
|
2.4797
|
Norm Cash
|
2.4726
|
Rocky
Colavito
|
2.3626
|
Jim
Gentile
|
2.2833
|
Harmon
Killebrew
|
2.1483
|
Al Kaline
|
2.0861
|
Elston
Howard
|
2.0579
|
John
Romano
|
1.9956
|
Floyd
Robinson
|
1.9200
|
(I used a 400 plate appearance cut off, which is why Elston Howard
made this list, but he didn't have enough plate appearances to qualify for the
leader boards)
3 Yankees and 3
Tigers on the top 10 list. Figuring these players against the league average,
and we get this:
1961
|
Mike#
|
vs LGUE
|
Roger
Maris
|
2.5447
|
1.7873
|
Mickey
Mantle
|
2.4797
|
1.7416
|
Norm Cash
|
2.4726
|
1.7366
|
Rocky
Colavito
|
2.3626
|
1.6594
|
Jim
Gentile
|
2.2833
|
1.6037
|
Harmon
Killebrew
|
2.1483
|
1.5088
|
Al Kaline
|
2.0861
|
1.4652
|
Elston
Howard
|
2.0579
|
1.4453
|
John
Romano
|
1.9956
|
1.4016
|
Floyd
Robinson
|
1.9200
|
1.3485
|
Now before the big
reveal, let's look again at the slash numbers, in regards to the league
leaders. Average leader was Norm Cash, RBI leader were Maris and Jim Gentile,
with Colavito 1 behind. Slugging leader was Mantle, On Base Percentage leader
was Cash (Maris was 15th in the league) So in reality, the MVP award was wide
open to an extent, but the total package that was Roger Maris in 1961 won out.
The average against
their teams number, the truly Most Valuable Player in the American League for
1961
1961
|
Mike#
|
vs LGUE
|
vs TEAM
|
Jim
Gentile
|
2.2833
|
1.6037
|
1.7196
|
Roger
Maris
|
2.5447
|
1.7873
|
1.6645
|
Mickey
Mantle
|
2.4797
|
1.7416
|
1.6220
|
Norm Cash
|
2.4726
|
1.7366
|
1.5434
|
Harmon
Killebrew
|
2.1483
|
1.5088
|
1.5383
|
Gene
Green
|
1.8774
|
1.3186
|
1.5257
|
Rocky
Colavito
|
2.3626
|
1.6594
|
1.4748
|
Jackie
Brandt
|
1.8917
|
1.3286
|
1.4247
|
John
Romano
|
1.9956
|
1.4016
|
1.3883
|
Elston
Howard
|
2.0579
|
1.4453
|
1.3461
|
Jim
Gentile, first baseman for the Baltimore Orioles was the player that performed
better for his team than any other player in 1961. Sure Maris and Mantle
captivated the country with their exploits, but Gentile had as good, if not better
season than the M&M Boys. The Orioles finished in third place, winning a
respectable 95 games, with an outfield that featured two future legendary mangers
in their outfield, Hall of Fame manager Dick Williams, and Whitey Herzog.
Yep.
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