History of the World Series – 1961
History of the World Series – 1961
The American League champion New York Yankees still were smarting from their stunning Series loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960. Furthermore, the Yankees were coming off a 109-victory season that featured the home-run pyrotechnics of Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle and the pitching wizardry of Whitey Ford.
The Reds clearly were overmatched. And before long they were overwhelmed.
New York, which had dismissed Casey Stengel after the ’60 Series, was under the guidance of Ralph Houk, former reserve catcher and coach for the Yankees. Houk inherited a wealth of talent, exemplified by veteran pitcher Ford.
Ford, 25-4 record in ’61, was in classic form in the Series opener. He stymied the Reds on two hits, both singles, as New York won, 2-0, at Yankee Stadium. Jim O’Toole pitched effectively for Cincinnati but fell victim to the Yankees’ specialty, the home run. New York, which had crushed 240 homers (a major-league record), broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning when Elston Howard slammed an O’Toole delivery into the right-field stands. Two innings later, Bill Skowron homered to left.
Joey Jay, a .500 career pitcher for the Milwaukee Braves but a 21-game winner for the Reds in ’61 after being obtained in a trade the previous December, shut down the Yankees, 6-2, on four hits in Game 2 to give Cincinnati some short-lived hope. Gordy Coleman staked Jay to a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning when he homered with Frank Robinson on base. The Yankees got the runs back in their half of the inning when Maris walked and Yogi Berra homered. Cincinnati went ahead the next inning on catcher Howard’s passed ball, which followed singles by Elio Chacon and Eddie Kasko. A run-scoring single by Johnny Edwards in the sixth extended the Reds’ lead to 4-2 and a throwing error by Yankees reliever Luis Arroyo and an RBI double by Edwards netted Jay and the Reds their final two runs in the eighth inning.
Game 3 was a thriller — and, for the Reds, a killer. In the first World Series game played in Cincinnati since 1940, the Reds guarded a 2-1 lead into the eighth inning. Skowron started the Yankees’ eighth by tapping back to pitcher Bob Purkey, who was working on a four-hitter — Clete Boyer then fouled out, bringing Cincinnati within four outs of the Series lead. The next scheduled batter was New York reliever Bud Daley. John Blanchard, a catcher/outfielder who had contributed mightily to the Yankees’ long-ball onslaught in ’61 by smashing 21 home runs in only 243 at-bats, pinch-hit for Daley and hammered the bail into the right-field bleachers.
Maris, hitless in 10 Series at-bats after walloping a record 61 home runs (Mantle added 54), led off the ninth against Purkey with a homer into the same sector and suddenly Houk’s Yankees were ahead.
Reds pinch-hitter Leo Cardenas added to the drama by hitting a one-out double off Yankee relief ace Arroyo in Cincinnati’s half of the inning. But Arroyo, who had a masterful season (15-5, 2.19 earned-run average), induced pinch-hitters Dick Gernert and Gus Bell to ground out, ending the game. The Yankees were 3-2 winners and Maris’ homer, in Reds Manager Fred Hutchinson’s estimation, was “the most damaging blow of the Series.”
Ford, working on a Series scoreless-inning streak of 27, had his sights set on Babe Ruth’s pitching record of 29 consecutive-shutout innings in the fall classic when he took the mound for Game 4. No problem. The lefthander worked five shutout innings before departing in the sixth with an ankle injury. By then the Yankees had built a four-run lead, with Boyer’s two-run double in the sixth the key. Hector Lopez, who had replaced an ailing Mantle earlier in the game (a hip injury limited Mantle to six Series at-bats), stroked a two-run single in the seventh inning and the Yanks rolled to a 7-0 triumph. Jim Coates pitched four innings of one-hit relief for New York.
Game 5 was a laugher. The Yankees struck for five first-inning runs, with Blanchard launching the scoring with a two-run homer. In the fourth, the Yanks scored five more times as Skowron rapped a two-run single and Lopez drilled a three-run homer. By day’s end, it was 13-5. The Yankees were champions again.
New York second baseman Bobby Richardson didn’t drive in 12 runs in this Series; in fact, he failed to collect an RBI. Richardson was pesky as usual, though, tying the record for a five-game Series with nine hits. And while Maris and the injured Mantle managed only three hits and two RBIs in 25 at-bats, Blanchard and Lopez stepped in and went 7-for-19 with 10 runs driven in. Lopez had a staggering seven RBIs despite making only nine official trips to the plate.
And for all their power, the Yankees exhibited some dazzling pitching in the World Series. For example, Ford and relievers Daley and Coates worked 25 innings and did not allow an earned run. The Yankees were back.