In Pursuit of the Babe

1961 New York YankeesHome Field: Yankee Stadium
World ChampionsHit: #2 R; #4 BA
W - 109 L - 53Pitch: #2 OR, ERA
Manager: Ralph HoukDef: #1 FA

1961 will be forever remembered as the year Roger Maris eclipsed Babe Ruth's single season mark with 61 homers. This year's Bronx Bombers hit 240 homers, more than any team had ever hit previously. Joining Maris in the chase was teammate Mickey Mantle, a Yankee for the previous decade. Mantle, a long time Yankee, was the media and fan favorite to surpass Ruth. In the end, he hit 54 himself.

While Maris and Mantle pursued immortality, the team was trying to erase the memories of last season's heartbreaking World Series loss against Pittsburgh. Long time skipper Casey Stengel had been replaced at the helm by Ralph Houk. In addition to the M&M Boys, as they were dubbed, New York featured four other 20 homer men including an aging Yogi Berra and first sacker Moose Skowron.

Pitching, though often overlooked because of the offense, was again a Yankee strong suit. Whitey Ford, at 25-4, led the league in wins and won baseball's Cy Young Award. He was joined by Ralph Terry at 16-3. Reliever Luis Arroyo saved 29 and posted a 15-5 mark.

The Yankees won 109 games in the first ever 162 game schedule. New York outdistanced Detroit by eight games to win their sixth pennant in seven years and advanced to meet Cincinnati in the World Series. After splitting the first two at Yankee Stadium, New York rolled into Cincinnati and won three straight to claim another World Championship.


Pos Player Bats AB H R HR RBI BA    AL Rank
C Elston Howard R 446 155 64 21 77 .348  
1B Bill Skowron R 561 150 76 28 89 .267  
2B Bobby Richardson R 662 173 80 3 49 .261  
SS Tony Kubek L 617 170 84 8 46 .276  
3B Clete Boyer R 504 113 61 11 55 .224  
LF Yogi Berra L 395 107 62 22 61 .271  
CF Mickey Mantle B 514 163 132 54 128 .317    #1t R; #2 HR; #5 RBI
RF Roger Maris L 590 159 132 61 142 .269    #1 HR, RBI; #1t R
                   
C-OF Johnny Blanchard L 243 74 38 21 54 .305  
OF Hector Lopez R 243 54 27 3 22 .222  
OF Bob Cerv R 118 32 17 6 20 .271  
3B-2B Billy Gardner R 99 21 11 1 2 .212  
                 
Total: Team   5559 1461 827 240 782 .263  
  League Average   54904 14037 7342 1534 6842 .256  


Pitcher Throw G IP W L ERA PCT    AL Rank  
  Whitey Ford L 39 283 25 4 3.21 .862    #1 W, #2 K
  Ralph Terry R 31 188 16 3 3.16 .842    #5 W
  Bill Stafford R 36 195 14 9 2.68 .609    #2 ERA
  Roland Sheldon R 35 163 11 5 3.59 .688  
  Jim Coates R 43 141 11 5 3.45 .688  
  Bud Daley L 23 130 8 9 3.95 .471  
  Luis Arroyo L 65 119 15 5 2.19 .750    #1 SV
  Bob Turley R 15 72 3 5 5.75 .375  
                 
Total: Team       109 53 3.46    
  League Average           4.02    

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