Baseball...numbers, stories and analysis

1961…the Expansion Era begins*

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, only to be replaced by...the Washington Senators. The regular season was expanded to 162 games for the Junior Circuit

The National League, who would expand into Houston and New York in 1962, played a shorter season, at 154 games. They too would expand their season to the now standard 162 games that year.

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 would eventually be 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 newspaper for several years)

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.

Maris became the first player with 50 or more homers with a batting average below .270.

Having Mantle’s protection in the lineup was also a big part, as Maris was not intentionally walked during the season, while Mantle was given 9.

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.

Maris and Mantle combined for 114 homers, while the National League Champion Cincinnati Reds hit 112 as a team.

Many members of that 1961 Yankees team believe that their team was one of the greatest in the game’s history. They beat the Reds handily in the Series in five games.

The Yankees outfield for a majority of that season was Maris in right, Mantle in center, and Yogi Berra in left. As potent an offensive outfield as any. Prior to the 1961 season, these three would combine for 6 AL MVP Awards. 3 from Berra, 2 from Mantle (who would win his third in 1962) and 1 from Maris (who won in 1960 before winning his second consecutive in 1961.

Otherwise during the season:

Yankees reliever Luis Arroyo established a new record for ‘saves’ with 29. That record would fall in 1966. He would also set a record with 15 relief wins, also since broken.

St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Bill White tied a pretty impressive hitting record. Over the course of 2 days, beginning on July 17^th, during back-to-back doubleheaders. White amassed 14 hits. This tied the all-time record set by the immortal Ty Cobb. Cobb passed away on July 17^th as White was beginning his record tying run.

Cincinnati Reds outfielder Frank Robinson would win the National League Most Valuable Player Award. He would win the American League Most Valuable Player Award in 1966, the only man to win the award in both leagues.

In Boston, outfielder Carl Yastrzemski made his debut. He would eventually play in 3,308 games for the Red Sox.

Carroll Hardy would pinch-hit for Yastrzemski during the season. Hardy is also the only player to have pinch-hit for Ted Williams, who retired after the 1960 season. And Hardy hit his first major-league home run as a pinch-hitter for Roger Maris.

The 4^th of July doubleheader in Minnesota was a sight to behold.

With one out bottom of the ninth of the first game, White Sox pitcher gave up a single to Bob Allison and is replaced. Jim Lemon makes an out. Reliever Russ Kemmerer gives up a single to Earl Battey and is replaced. Reliever Frank Baumann walks Lenny Green to load the bases and is relieved. With two out, and Bill Tuttle due up, Al Lopez of Chicago brings in Warren Hacker. Twins skipper Sam Mele sends Julio Becquer to pinch-hit. Becquer hits a walk-off Grand Salm, the first ever four pitcher grand slam in history.

In the second game, which was a little quieter, Twins slugger Harmon Killebrew hit an inside-the-park home run, the only one of his 573 career homers.

On August 20^th, two different Twins pitcher homered off of two different Angels’ pitchers. Jack Kralick hit one off of Jim Donohue and Al Schroll hit one off of Art Fowler.

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher John Buzhardt beat the Giants 4-3 on July 28^th. He would win his next game against the Phillies in the second game of a doubleheader on August 20^th. In the meanwhile, the Phillies would lose 23 consecutive games, and 28 of their previous 30 games.

Los Angeles Dodger speedster Sandy Koufax (just kidding) was thrown out attempting to steal home against the Milwaukee Braves. It was his only stolen base attempt of his career.

On the mound, though, Koufax did strike out 243 batters, setting a new National league record for left-handed pitchers, set by Rube Marquard in 1911.

Speaking of the Braves, lefty Warren Spahn won his 300^th career game, on his way to 363. He also pitched a no-hitter against the San Francisco Giants in April.

With the expanded schedule in the AL (and the help of rainouts) Rocky Colavito of the Tigers and Brooks Robinson of the Orioles both set an American League record by playing in 163 games. (Cesar Tovar would play in 164 for the 1967 Twins)

San Francisco Giants legend Willie Mays joined an exclusive club by hitting 4 home runs in a game, and by hitting his 300^th career homer. He also hit four homers in a game at Milwaukee.

In Baltimore, first-baseman Jim Gentile became the 4th in the American League to hit 2 Grand Slams in the same game. In fact, Gentile’s slams came in consecutive innings, the 1^st, and the 2^nd.

He tied a record with 5 Grand Slams in a season (since broken). And he was responsible for 20% of his team’s runs batted in on the season.

Diamond Jim Gentile, a left-handed hitting first-baseman had the misfortune of having his greatest season in the midst of other historic performances. His 46 homers and 140 runs batted in established Orioles team records. He was an All-Star 3 times, finished 2^nd in Rookie of the Year voting in 1960 and 3^rd in MVP voting in 1961.

Well, it turns out that there was an error in calculating RBI totals, and Roger Maris was credited with one that should have been discounted as he reached base by an error on that play. Research from Retrosheet found and proved the error, which eventually took one officially away from Maris, and placed Maris and Gentile in a tie for the league lead.

Now, for the 1961 season, Gentile had an incentive bonus in his contract that would pay him a $5,000 bonus if he managed to lead the league in runs batted in. After discovery of the error, and the adjustment to the historical record by the league, the Baltimore Orioles made good on the contract, and in 2011, they awarded Gentile with his fifty years delayed bonus check.

As a rookie with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1957, he started at first base in the last game played at Ebbets Field. Dodger legend Gil Hodges started the game at third base. Gentile was pulled in the fifth for Pee Wee Reese, with Hodges moving to first and Reese playing third. The Dodger shortstop was Don Zimmer.

Sure, Maris and Mantle captivated the country with their exploits, but Gentile had as good, a 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.

There were some standouts in the minor leagues as well…

Aaron Pointer of the Salisbury Braves of the Western Carolina League hit .402 for the season. He was the only professional player to top the .400 mark.

In the sixth inning of a game on August 6^th, Bruce Haroldson of the Lewiston Broncs in the Northwest League came in to pitch. He threw 1 pitch to Ray Youngdahl of the Tri-Cities Braves, which was turned into a triple play.

In a strange game on August 11^th, the Vancouver Mounties staged an unprecedented display of baserunning prowess by stealing nine bases in the eight inning against the Salt Lake Bees. Ed “The Glider” Charles singled, then stole three bases (including home). Billy Consolo walked and stole two bases.

Howie Goss walked and stole two bases (including home), Dennis Menke and Eddie Haas both walked and stole a base each.

Howie Bedell of the Louisville Colonels in the American Association compiled a 43-game hitting streak, which tied a record for that league, set by Eddie Marshall of the Milwaukee Brewers in 1935. He would finish second in the league in batting, with a .327 mark.

That tidbit sent me looking.

In major league history, only eight times has a player amassed a hitting streak of 30 or more games and led the league in hitting.

Ty Cobb did it twice (1911 &1917) Stan Musial (1950), Rico Carty (1970), George Brett (1980) and Albert Pujols (2003).

In 1922, both Rogers Hornsby and George Sisler accomplished the feat, the only time that both league leaders did both.

On the face, because of the prolific numbers put up by the American League sluggers, it would appear that the AL was the hitters league, especially when you factor in the expansion factor, which added two teams to the league, spreading the pitching thin. In theory, anyway. Logic would maintain that with 2 new teams, the addition of 10 or so pitchers to each team, who would have otherwise been pitching in the minors, would lead to more offensive outputs across the league.

But the addition of fifteen to twenty new offensive players to each roster would also impact the league’s hitting if one follows the same logic. And adding seven more games to the league offers more opportunities to increase output on both sides.

In a perfect season, the pitching and hitting would both be on par, balancing each other out in parity. And in some season, those are close.

But let’s look at the offensive averages for each league:

	HR	Runs	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLUG
AL	153	734	684	.256	.329	.395
NL	150	700	653	.262	.327	.402

And now the pitching averages:

	Hits/9	k/9	WHIP	ERA
AL	8.8	5.2	1.382	4.02
NL	9.0	5.4	1.363	4.03

So, while the AL did score more runs, they hit for a lower batting average and slugging percentage than the NL. Statistically, the AL held a 0.04% advantage over the National League offensively. Pitching was even closer, with the NL having a 0.01% advantage.

Overall, using my formula, the AL as a whole, held a scant.02% advantage, which is the closest gap between the leagues that I have encountered.

A quick look at the top team performances for each league, beginning with pitching:

National League	American League
Giants	Tigers
Dodgers	Yankees
Cardinals	White Sox

And offensively:

Reds	Yankees
Giants	Orioles
Dodgers	Tigers

And the ‘power rankings’ would be:

Yankees	World Champions
Tigers	2^nd in AL
Reds	National League Champions
Orioles	3^rd in AL
Giants	3^rd in NL

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. In fact, they were the third American League team to win 100 games, but not win the pennant.

Let’s move on to the individual performances beginning with the National League pitchers. The initial top ten performers were:

Pitcher	Team	W-L	ERA	Svs
Warren Spahn	Braves	21-13	3.02	0
Joey Jay	Reds	21-10	3.53	0
Jim O’Toole	Reds	19-9	3.60	2
Stu Miller	Giants	14-5	2.66	17
Johnny Podres	Dodgers	18-5	3.74	0
Joe Gibbon	Pirates	1310	3.32	0
Bill Henry	Reds	2-1	2.19	16
Sandy Koufax	Dodgers	18-13	3.52	1
Jim Brosnan	Reds	10-4	3.04	16
Bob Purkey	Reds	16-12	3.73	1

And as compared to their team’s averages, we get this list:

Warren Spahn	Above
Barney Schultz	Cubs	7-6	2.70	7
Art Mahaffey	Phillies	11-19	4.10	0
Don Cardwell	Cubs	15-14	3.82	0
Joe Gibbon	Above
Joey Jay	Above
Stu Miller	Above
Johnny Podres	Above
Jim O’Toole	Above
Bob Gibson	Cardinals	13-12	3.24	1

And our finalized top ten pitching performers would then be:

Warren Spahn	2^nd in Cy Young, 10^th in MVP vote (tie)
Joey Jay	5^th in MVP vote
Jim O’Toole	10^th in MVP vote (tie)
Stu Miller	12^th in MVP vote
Johnny Podres	14^th in MVP vote
Joe Gibbon	No votes
Barney Schultz	No votes
Sandy Koufax	18^th in MVP vote
Bill Henry	No votes
Bob Gibson	No votes

Remember, during this time, there was only one Cy Young Award handed out, and it was won by Whitey Ford of the Yankees.

Speaking of…here is the American League initial top ten performances:

Whitey Ford	Yankees	25-4	3.21	0
Luis Arroyo	Yankees	15-5	2.19	29
Frank Lary	Tigers	23-9	3.24	0
Terry Fox	Tigers	5-2	1.41	12
Dick Donovan	Senators	10-10	2.40	0
Milt Pappas	Orioles	13-9	3.04	1
Ralph Terry	Yankees	16-3	3.15	0
Don Schwall	Red Sox	15-7	3.22	0
Bill Stafford	Yankees	14-9	2.68	2
Hoyt Wilhelm	Orioles	9-7	2.30	18

Then, as compared to their team’s performances, we get this list:

Dick Donovan	Above
Camilo Pascual	Twins	15-16	3.46	0
Don Schwall	Above
Jim Archer	A’s	9-15	3.20	5
Jack Kralick	Twins	13-11	3.61	0
Tom Morgan	Angels	8-2	2.36	10
Bennie Daniels	Senators	12-11	3.44	0
Bill Monboquette	Red Sox	14-14	3.39	0
Frank Lary	Above
Terry Fox	Above

And then we reach this final top ten list of American league pitching performances:

Dick Donovan	17^th in MVP vote (tied)
Don Schwall	AL Rookie of the Year 14^th in MVP (tied)
Frank Lary	3^rd in Cy Young, 7^th in MVP vote
Terry Fox	No votes
Whitey Ford	Cy Young Award winner, 5^th in MVP vote
Luis Arroyo	6^th in MVP vote
Milt Pappas	No votes
Camilo Pascual	No votes
Ralph Terry	No votes
Tom Morgan	21^st in MVP vote (tied)

Before we get to the offense, I have earlier mentioned a benchmark for a great season, which is 3/4/5. 300+batting average/ .400+on base percentage/ .500+ slugging percentage.

In 1961, six players reached that mark, three in each league.

They were:

Norm Cash	.361	.487	.662
Jim Gentile	.302	.423	.646
Mickey Mantle	.317	3448	.687
Eddie Mathews	.306	.402	.535
Wally Moon	.328	.434	.505
Frank Robinson	.323	.404	.611

So, the initial top ten National League batters were:

Player	Team	HR	RBI	AVG	RC/G
Frank Robinson	Reds	37	124	.323	1.33
Willie Mays	Giants	40	123	.308	1.38
Orlando Cepeda	Giants	46	142	.311	1.32
Hank Aaron	Braves	34	120	.327	1.30
Dick Stuart	Pirates	35	117	.301	1.20
Ken Boyer	Cardinals	24	95	.329	1.18
Roberto Clemente	Pirates	23	89	.351	1.14
Wally Moon	Dodgers	17	88	.328	1.12
Vada Pinson	Reds	16	87	.343	1.12
Eddie Mathews	Braves	32	91	.306	1.07

Then, compared to their team averages, we get the following list:

Hank Aaron	Above
Frank Robinson	Above
Willie Mays	Above
Orlando Cepeda	Above
Dick Stuart	Above
Roberto Clemente	Above
George Altman	Cubs	27	96	.303	1.06
Ken Boyer	Above
Don Demeter	Dodgers/Phillies	21	70	.251	0.88
Eddie Mathews	Above

Which brings our final ranking for National League hitters to this:

Frank Robinson	National League MVP
Willie Mays	6^th in MVP vote
Hank Aaron	8^th in MVP vote
Orlando Cepeda	2^nd in MVP vote
Dick Stuart	22^nd in MVP vote (tied)
Ken Boyer	7^th in MVP vote
Roberto Clemente	4^th in MVP vote
Wally Moon	13^th in MVP vote
Eddie Mathews	17^th in MVP vote
George Altman	14^th in MVP vote (tied)

Now, over to the headline grabbing American League, where our initial top ten list is as follows:

Mickey Mantle	Yankees	54	128	.317	1.34
Norm Cash	Tigers	41	132	.361	1.32
Jim Gentile	Orioles	46	141	.302	1.29
Rocky Colavito	Tigers	45	140	.290	1.37
Roger Maris	Yankees	61	141	.269	1.32
Harmon Killebrew	Twins	46	122	.288	1.13
Al Kaline	Tigers	19	82	.324	1.17
Elston Howard	Yankees	21	77	.348	0.93
Roy Sievers	White Sox	27	92	.295	1.00
Al Smith	White Sox	28	93	.278	1.04

Then, compared to their team performances, we have:

Jim Gentile	Above
Mickey Mantle	Above
Norm Cash	Above
Gene Green	Senators	18	62	.280	0.87
Harmon Killebrew	Above
Roger Maris	Above
Rocky Colavito	Above
Lee Thomas	Yankees/White Sox	24	70	.285	0.93
Elston Howard	Above
Gene Woodling	Senators	10	57	.313	0.78

And that brings our final top ten American League batters to this:

Mickey Mantle	2^nd in MVP vote
Jim Gentile	3^rd in MVP vote
Norm Cash	4^th in MVP vote
Rocky Colavito	8^th in MVP vote
Roger Maris	American League MVP
Harmon Killebrew	11^th in MVP vote
Elston Howard	10^th in MVP vote
Al Kaline	9^th in MVP vote
Gene Green	No votes
Roy Sievers	No vote

Mickey Mantle, it should be noted, was the second to hit fifty or more homers in a season, and not lead the league. (Jimmie Foxx hit 50 in 1938, behind Hank Greenberg’s 58) And that Roger Maris still holds the American League record for homers in a season.

Eight players hit 40 or more homers during the season (Maris, Mantle, Killebrew, Cepeda, Gentile, Colavito, Cash and Mays). This would be the record for the most times players topped the forty-homer mark until the offensive explosion in 1998, when it would be done thirteen times.

In the American League's post-season awards voting, it should be noted that four of the top six vote getters were Yankees. Maris (1st), Mantle (2nd), Ford (5th) and Arroyo (6th). In fact, eight of the top ten vote getters were either Yankees or Tigers. Only Jim Gentile wasn't on either team. he finished third in the vote.

For the final tally in each league, although the two halves were statistically close, the offensive players dominated the final rankings.

In the National League, the top five players were: