The1961Minnesota Twins season was the 61st in franchise history and its first inMinneapolis–Saint Paul after it transferred fromWashington following a six-decade tenure in late October 1960. The maiden edition of the Twins finished 1961 with a record of 70–90, good for seventh place in theAmerican League, which had expanded from eight to ten teams during the 1960–61 offseason. The Twins played their home games atMetropolitan Stadium, where they set a franchise record for home attendance.^[1]

After 60 seasons inWashington, the Senators franchise moved to theMinneapolis–Saint Paul area – or, more precisely,Bloomington, Minnesota – in 1961. In honor of the cities' nickname, "The Twin Cities", the franchise changed the team's name to theTwins. As one of the conditions to allow the team to move, there would be anew Senators franchise in Washington in 1961, anexpansion team that joined the league along with theLos Angeles Angels.

TheTwins won their first-ever game, whenPedro Ramos shut out theNew York Yankees inYankee Stadium on April 11. In beating the defendingAmerican League champs 6–0, Ramos out-dueled New York aceWhitey Ford, allowing just three hits and a walk. Ramos drove in two runs with a single himself.Bob Allison hit the firsthome run in Minnesota big-league history with a solo shot off Ford in theseventh inning, andReno Bertoia followed with another homer, atwo-run blast, an inning later offRalph Terry.^[2] On April 21, the Twins lost their home opener to theexpansion team that replaced them in the nation's capital, thesecond edition of the Senators, 5–3, before 24,606 at Metropolitan Stadium.^[3]

The move to Minnesota immediately paid dividends at the turnstiles, where they drew 1,256,723 fans, the third highest total in theAmerican League. The previous year in Washington, the Senators drew just 743,404 fans, worst in the league.^[4] However, the team's record went in the other direction, as they dropped from 73–81 and fifth place in1960 to 70–90 and seventh place under the new 162-game AL schedule.

In early June, after a losing streak that reached eleven games, Twins ownerCalvin Griffith directed managerCookie Lavagetto to take a week-long sabbatical. Two weeks after his return, Lavagetto was fired by Griffith. Cookie had been managing the club since the 1957 season. He was replaced by his first base coachSam Mele.^[5]

In a homeFourth of Julydouble-header against Chicago, the Twins'Julio Bécquer hit apinch hitgrand slam home run that was the first of its kind in major league history—each run was credited to a different Chicago pitcher (Billy Pierce,Russ Kemmerer,Frank Baumann andWarren Hacker). In the second game, Twins sluggerHarmon Killebrew hit aninside-the-park home run—the only one he would hit in his 573-homer career.

Two Twins made theAll-Star Game: first basemanHarmon Killebrew (both games) and pitcherCamilo Pascual (second game).

On August 20, pitchersJack Kralick andAl Schroll each hit a home run against theLos Angeles Angels^[6]—the sixth and final pitching duo to do so in the same game.^{[citation needed]} On September 27,Schroll took ano-hitter into the ninth inning before giving up four runs on two walks and two hits.^[7]

Pedro Ramos was the first pitcher to lead the American League in losses for four years in a row.^[8] BothHarmon Killebrew andBob Allison topped 100 inRBIs, walks and strikeouts.

Harmon Killebrew led the team with 46 home runs, 122 runs batted in, and 94 runs scored.Camilo Pascual led the Twins with 15 wins and a 3.46 ERA. CatcherEarl Battey won his secondGold Glove Award.^[9]

• December 14, 1960:Faye Throneberry was drafted from the Twins by theLos Angeles Angels in the1960 MLB expansion draft.^[10]
• Prior to 1961 season:Jackie Collum was acquired by the Twins from theLos Angeles Dodgers.^[11]
• June 1, 1961:Billy Consolo was traded by the Twins to theMilwaukee Braves forBilly Martin.^[12]
• June 1, 1961:Reno Bertoia,Paul Giel and a player to be named later were traded by the Twins to theKansas City Athletics forBill Tuttle and a player to be named later. The Athletics completed the deal by returning Paul Giel to the Twins in exchange for cash on June 10.^[13]

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Wilson

• Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com
• Team info from www.baseball-almanac.com
• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997).The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America.ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.

• Minnesota Twins seasons
• 1961 Major League Baseball season
• 1961 in sports in Minnesota

• Use mdy dates from November 2013
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from September 2024
• Articles with hCards