1961 in baseball

Headline event of the year

Champions

Major League Baseball

Other champions

Awards and honors

MLB statistical leaders
Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax
  American League National League
TypeNameStatNameStat
AVGNorm Cash DET.361Roberto Clemente PIT.351
HRRoger Maris NY61Orlando Cepeda SF46
RBIRoger Maris NY142Orlando Cepeda SF142
WinsWhitey Ford NY25Warren Spahn MIL
Joey Jay CIN		21
ERADick Donovan WSH2.40Warren Spahn MIL3.02
SOCamilo Pascual MIN221Sandy Koufax LAD269
SVLuis Arroyo NY29Roy Face PIT
Stu Miller SF		17
SBLuis Aparicio CHW53Maury Wills LAD35

Major league baseball final standings

Events

January
President John F. Kennedy throws out first ball in Washington, D.C. at Griffith Stadium on April 10, 1961

February
  • February 7 – Boston Red Sox outfielder Jackie Jensen makes a return to the major leagues by signing a $40,000 contract. Jensen had retired in 1960 due to a fear of flying. Jensen will hit .263 with 13 home runs in 1961.

March

April

May
  • May 8 – New York's expansion National League club announces that the team nickname will be "Mets," a natural shortening of the corporate name ("New York Metropolitan Baseball Club, Inc.")
  • May 9 – The Baltimore Orioles' Jim Gentile hits a grand slam in both the first and second innings in a game against the Minnesota Twins, and finishes with nine RBI in the game.
  • May 31 – Boston Red Sox outfielder Carroll Hardy pinch-hits for rookie Carl Yastrzemski. On September 20, 1960, Hardy pinch hit for Ted Williams, making him the only player to go in for both future Hall of Famers. Hardy also hit his first major league home run pinch-hitting for Roger Maris when both were at Cleveland (May 18, 1958).

June

July

August

September

October

November

December
  • December 2 – MLB clubs vote to curb bonuses. All first-year players not on major rosters, except one minor leaguer, can be drafted by any other club for $8,000. Clubs are expected to be unwilling to pay large bonuses for players who will be subject to a draft for just $8,000.

Births

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Deaths

January–March
  • January 5 – Fred Luderus, 75, Philadelphia Phillies first baseman of the 1910s, captain of the 1915 NL champions
  • January 8 – Schoolboy Rowe, 50, three-time All-Star pitcher who won 158 games, mainly with the Detroit Tigers (1933–1942) and Philadelphia Phillies (1943 and 1946–1949); member of Detroit's 1935 World Series champions
  • January 17 – Bud Tinning, 54, pitcher who worked in 99 games for the 1932–1934 Chicago Cubs and 1935 St. Louis Cardinals; led National League in winning percentage in 1933 (.684)
  • January 26 – George Hogreiver, 91, outfielder in 123 games for the 1896 Cincinnati Reds and the 1901 Milwaukee Brewers
  • January 28 – Red Oldham, 67, pitcher for the Detroit Tigers and Pittsburgh Pirates who worked in 176 games over seven seasons between 1914 and 1926; member of 1925 World Series champion Pirates
  • January 30 – Aaron Ward, 64, second baseman on the New York Yankees' first championship team in 1923; played in 1,059 games for the Yankees (1917–1926), Chicago White Sox (1927) and Cleveland Indians (1928)
  • February 2 – Red Holt, 66, first baseman in 25 games for the 1925 Philadelphia Athletics
  • February 3 – Dana Fillingim, 67, pitcher who appeared in 200 MLB games between 1915 and 1925, 187 of them for the Boston Braves
  • February 4 – Parke Carroll, 56, former newspaper sports editor who became a baseball executive; business manager of the Kansas City Athletics from 1955 to 1958 and general manager in 1959 and 1960
  • February 15 – Joe Bean, 86, shortstop who played 50 games for the 1902 New York Giants
  • February 16 – Dazzy Vance, 69, Hall of Fame pitcher who led the National League in strikeouts seven years in a row, captured 197 MLB victories (190 for Brooklyn) and won the 1924 MVP award
  • February 17 – Doc Johnston, 73, first baseman in 1,056 games over 11 seasons between 1909 and 1922 as a member of the Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Naps and Indians, Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Athletics
  • February 19 – Epp Sell, 63, pitcher who appeared in 12 games for the 1922–1923 St. Louis Cardinals
  • February 19 – Red Smith, 61, shortstop who played 20 games for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1925
  • February 20 – Otto "Oom Paul" Krueger, 84, shortstop and third baseman in 507 games between 1899 and 1905 for Cleveland, St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, all of the National League
  • February 23 – Davey Crockett, 85, first baseman who played 28 games for the 1901 Detroit Tigers
  • March 13 – Joe Berry, 88, catcher for the Philadelphia Phillies for one game in 1902
  • March 28 – Powel Crosley Jr., 74, industrialist, inventor and entrepreneur; owner of the Cincinnati Reds from 1934 until his death
  • March 28 – Jim Hackett, 83, first baseman and pitcher who played in 105 games for the 1902–1903 St. Louis Cardinals

April–June
  • April 8 – Fred Brickell, 54, outfielder who appeared in 501 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies between 1926 and 1933; father of Fritz Brickell
  • April 10 – Branch Rickey Jr., 47, vice president and farm system director of the Pirates since 1951; former farm director and assistant general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers; son of the Hall of Fame baseball executive
  • April 15 – Nick Cullop, 73, pitcher for the Cleveland Naps, New York Yankees and St. Louis Browns, who also won 22 games for the 1915 Kansas City Packers in the outlaw Federal League
  • April 15 – Jess Doyle, 63, pitcher in 55 big-league games between 1925 and 1931, all but one of them for the Detroit Tigers
  • April 15 – Cy Falkenberg, 81, pitcher who won 130 games over a 12-season career in the American, National and Federal leagues between 1903 and 1917, including 23 for the 1913 Cleveland Naps
  • April 23 – Jack Barry, 73, shortstop of the Philadelphia Athletics' "$100,000 infield", coach since 1921 at Holy Cross, where he won the 1952 College World Series and posted the highest career winning percentage (.806) in collegiate history
  • April 27 – Frank Gibson, 70, catcher and first baseman in 471 games for the 1913 Detroit Tigers and the 1921–1927 Boston Braves
  • April 28 – Tommy Connolly, 90, Hall of Fame umpire from 1898 to 1931 who worked the first American League game ever, as well as the first contests at Comiskey Park, Shibe Park, Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium
  • May 8 – Weldon Wyckoff, 70, Philadelphia Athletics right-hander who pitched for the 1913 World Series champions, the 1914 American League champions, and the 1915 A's, who fell all the way into the AL basement with a 43–109 record; Wyckoff went 10–22 for that team; he also appeared briefly for 1916 Athletics and 1916–1918 Boston Red Sox
  • May 13 – Al Humphrey, 75, outfielder in eight games for the 1911 Brooklyn Dodgers
  • May 13 – Binky Jones, 61, shortstop who played in ten games for the 1924 Brooklyn Robins
  • May 17 – Otto Knabe, 76, second baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies from 1907–1913; also played briefly for Pittsburgh and Chicago of the National League; player-manager for the Baltimore Terrapins of the "outlaw" Federal League
  • May 17 – Barney Slaughter, 76, pitcher in eight games for the 1910 Phillies
  • May 21 – Ben Koehler, 84, outfielder and native of Germany who appeared in 208 games for the 1905–1906 St. Louis Browns
  • May 22 – Mike Regan, 73, pitcher who appeared in 55 games for the Cincinnati Reds between 1917 and 1919
  • June 4 – Iron Davis, 71, pitcher in 36 games for the New York Highlanders and Boston Braves between 1912 and 1915; threw a no-hit, no-run game against the Philadelphia Phillies on September 9, 1914, the first no-hitter at two-year-old Fenway Park, the Braves' occasional home field that season
  • June 5 – Syd Smith, 77, catcher who appeared in 146 games between 1908 and 1915 for the Philadelphia Athletics, St. Louis Browns, Cleveland Naps and Pittsburgh Pirates
  • June 11 – Frank Woodward, 67, pitcher in 42 games for the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Washington Senators and Chicago White Sox between 1918 and 1923
  • June 18 – Eddie Gaedel, 36, 3 ft 7 in (1.09 m) player who, as part of a Bill Veeck stunt promotion, made one official MLB appearance as a pinch hitter for the St. Louis Browns on August 19, 1951
  • June 21 – Al "Big Dutch" Bergman, 71, second baseman who appeared in eight games for 1916 Cleveland Indians

July–September
  • July 3 – Bill Finneran, 83, umpire in National League (1911–1912 and 1923) and Federal League (1915)
  • July 16 – Mike Mitchell, 81, outfielder who played 1,124 games for the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Senators between 1907 and 1914
  • July 17 – Ty Cobb, 74, Hall of Fame center fielder widely recognized during his lifetime as the greatest player in the sport's history, and holder of more records than any other player, including highest lifetime batting average (.367) and most career hits (4,191), runs (2,245), steals (892), games (3,033) and at bats (11,429)
  • July 17 – Ed Reulbach, 78, pitcher who starred for the Chicago Cubs from 1905 to 1913, winning 182 career games
  • July 18 – Hod Eller, 67, pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds from 1917–1921, including a 1919 World Series game which saw him strike out 6 in a row
  • July 23 – John Grim, 93, catcher, second baseman and first baseman who played in 708 MLB games in the National League and American Association between 1888 and 1899
  • July 25 – Carlton Molesworth, 85, pitcher in only four games for Washington of the National League in 1895 who went on to a long career as a minor-league manager and scout
  • July 31 – Bud Weiser, 70, outfielder in 41 games for 1915–1916 Philadelphia Phillies
  • August 2 – Harry Gardner, 74, pitcher in 14 games for the 1911–1912 Pittsburgh Pirates
  • August 2 – Walter Morris, 81, shortstop in 23 games for the 1908 St. Louis Cardinals, later a longtime minor-league manager and executive who helped to organize 12 different leagues
  • August 3 – Tom Downey, 77, played from 1909 to 1915 for the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and the Buffalo Bisons (Federal League)
  • August 12 – Harry Colliflower, 92, pitcher and outfielder for the 1899 Cleveland Spiders who spent one year, 1910, as an American League umpire
  • August 18 – John Leary, 70, shortstop in 219 games for the 1914–1915 St. Louis Browns
  • August 29 – Bill Schwartz, 77, first baseman in 24 games for the 1904 Cleveland Naps
  • September 9 – Jesse Barnes, 69, pitcher who won 152 games for the Boston Braves, New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers between 1915 and 1927, including a no-hitter on May 7, 1922, against the Philadelphia Phillies
  • September 9 – Rube Oldring, 77, outfielder who played mainly for the Philadelphia Athletics, including four pennant winners (1910, 1911, 1913, 1914)
  • September 23 – Ted Jourdan, 66, first baseman who played in 75 games for the Chicago White Sox (1916–1918 and 1920)

October–December
  • October 4 – Roy Golden, 73, pitcher who twirled in 37 games for the 1910–1911 St. Louis Cardinals
  • October 17 – Harry Felix, 86, pitcher in ten games for the New York Giants and Philadelphia Phillies in 1901 and 1902
  • October 21 – Harry Gleason, 86, infielder/outfielder who played from 1901 through 1905 for the Boston Americans and St. Louis Browns
  • November 1 – Tom Hughes, 77, pitcher for the New York Highlanders (1906–1907 and 1909–1910) and Boston Braves (1914–1918); threw a no-hit, no-run game against Pittsburgh on June 16, 1916
  • November 3 – Freddie Maguire, 62, second baseman who played in 618 games for New York Giants, Chicago Cubs and Boston Braves over six seasons between 1922 and 1931
  • November 6 – Roy Hartzell, 80, outfielder, third baseman and shortstop who appeared in 1,290 games for the St. Louis Browns and New York Highlanders/Yankees between 1906 and 1916
  • November 17 – Benny Kauff, 71, "the Ty Cobb of the Feds," outfielder who won back-to-back batting (.370 and .342) and stolen base (75 and 55) titles in the 1914–1915 Federal League, then considered an "outlaw" circuit but now recognized as a major league; also played for New York Highlanders of the American League and New York Giants of the National; banned from baseball by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis after he was tried and found innocent on charges of car theft in 1920
  • November 23 – Nick Carter, 82, pitcher in 14 games for the 1908 Philadelphia Athletics
  • November 27 - Bob Harmon, 74, pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates from 1909 to 1918; won 23 games for 1911 Cardinals
  • November 28 – Earl Moore, 84, pitcher who won 163 games between 1901 and 1914 in the American, National and Federal leagues; posted a 20–8 won–lost mark for the 1903 Cleveland Naps, and led the American League in ERA (1.74); also won 22 games for the 1910 Philadelphia Phillies
  • December 5 – Judge Emil Fuchs, 83, cash-strapped owner of the Boston Braves from 1922 to July 31, 1935; managed the Braves himself to a last-place 56–98 record in 1929; one of his final acts as owner was the ill-fated 1935 purchase of Babe Ruth, who batted only .181 with six home runs in 28 games, and retired on May 30
  • December 8 – Lou Koupal, 62, pitcher who worked in 101 games over six seasons between 1925 and 1937 for four big-league clubs
  • December 15 – Dummy Hoy, 99, center fielder who scored over 100 runs nine times, and the game's most accomplished deaf player; he threw out the first ball of the 1961 World Series' third game on October 7
  • December 17 – Ping Bodie, 74, outfielder in 1,050 games for the Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Athletics and New York Yankees between 1911 and 1921; one of first Italian-Americans to play in the major leagues
  • December 25 – Don Savage, 42, third baseman who played in 105 games for the 1944–1945 Yankees
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