The1961 World Series was thechampionship series ofMajor League Baseball's (MLB)1961 season. The 58th edition of the World Series, it was abest-of-seven playoff that matched theAmerican League (AL) championNew York Yankees against theNational League (NL) championCincinnati Reds. The Yankees won in five games to earn their 19th championship in 39 seasons. Yankees pitcherWhitey Ford was named theWorld Series Most Valuable Player, winning two games over 14 scorelessinnings, including a complete game shutout in Game 1.

This World Series was surrounded byCold War political puns pitting the "Reds" against the "Yanks." The louder buzz concerned the "M&M Boys", Yankees hittersRoger Maris andMickey Mantle, who had spent the season pursuingBabe Ruth's single-season home run record of 60 set in 1927; Mantle finished with 54 while Maris set the record of 61 on the last day of the season.

The Yankees were under the leadership of first-year managerRalph Houk, a long-time Yankee backup catcher who had succeededCasey Stengel. The Yankees won the AL pennant, finishing eight games better than theDetroit Tigers. The Yankees also set an MLB record for most home runs in a season with 240. Along with Maris and Mantle, four other Yankees,Yogi Berra,Elston Howard,Bill Skowron, andJohnny Blanchard, hit more than 20 home runs. The pitching staff was led by theCy Young Award-winner Ford (25–4, 3.21earned run average).

The underdog Reds, skippered byFred Hutchinson, finished four games ahead of theLos Angeles Dodgers in the NL and boasted four 20-plus home run hitters of their own: NL MVPFrank Robinson,Gordy Coleman,Gene Freese andWally Post. The second-base, shortstop, and catcher positions were platooned, while center fielderVada Pinson led the league in hits with 208 and finished second in batting with a .343 average.Joey Jay (21–10, 3.53) led the staff, along withJim O'Toole andBob Purkey.

Ford left the sixth inning of Game 4 due to an injured ankle. He set the record for consecutive scoreless innings during World Series play with 32, when, during the third inning he passed the previous record holder, Babe Ruth, who had pitched29+2⁄3 consecutive scoreless innings for theBoston Red Sox in1916 and1918. Ford would extend that record to33+2⁄3 in the 1962 World Series.

The 1961 five-game series was the shortest since1954, when the New York Giants swept the Cleveland Indians in four games. The Yankees and the Reds would meet again 15 years later in the1976 World Series, which the Reds would win in a four-game sweep.

ALNew York Yankees (4) vs. NLCincinnati Reds (1)

AtYankee Stadium,Whitey Ford tossed his third straight World Series shutout. A fourth-inning home run into the lower right-field stands byElston Howard was all Ford would need.Moose Skowron added a sixth-inning shot into the lower left-field to make it 2–0. The two-hour, 11-minute game featured only two hits by the Reds, a first-inning single byEddie Kasko and another in the fifth byWally Post. The only other Reds baserunner wasFrank Robinson, who walked in the seventh. Ford had six strikeouts.Jim O'Toole allowed six hits in seven innings.

Ford was also aided by two excellent defensive plays by third basemanClete Boyer. In the second inning, Boyer backhanded a ground ball by Reds third basemanGene Freese close to the bag, wheeled, and threw him out from his knees. In the eighth, Boyer dove to his left onto his stomach after aDick Gernert ground and also threw Gernert out from his knees.

The Reds came charging back to win Game 2 and even the series on the superb pitching ofJoey Jay. Reds first basemanGordy Coleman and Yankees' left-fielderYogi Berra traded two-run homers in the fourth. Coleman hit his into the right-center field bleachers afterFrank Robinson reached on an error by Yankees' third-basemanClete Boyer. AfterRoger Maris led off the bottom half of the inning with a walk, Berra tied the score with a drive into the lower right-field stands.

From there, Jay would give up only two more hits, a Berra single in the sixth and aTony Kubek single in the eighth. The Reds went ahead for good with two outs in the fifth whenElio Chacón sprinted home from third on anElston Howard passed ball that didn't get much further than 15 feet (4.6 m) away. They added one run in the fifth and two in the eighth. Yankee starterRalph Terry would give up one more run in the sixth on aWally Post double and a run- scoring single by eighth-place hitterJohnny Edwards, before being lifted in the seventh for pinch-hitterHéctor López.

Luis Arroyo took over in the eighth and walked Robinson, gave up an infield single to Coleman on a roller between third and the mound, and then threw wild to first, with Robinson scoring; Coleman was thrown out trying for third. The next batter, Wally Post, reached safely when Berra misplayed his fly for a three-base error. With Post on third,Gene Freese was intentionally walked for the second time in the game and Edwards followed with his second hit, a bloop double to left, scoring Post. Jay would seal the victory for the Reds by retiring six of the remaining seven batters, allowing only a walk toClete Boyer in the ninth.

The series shifted to Cincinnati for three games, with the pressure on the Yankees after a split in New York. After falling to a perceived inferior team (thePittsburgh Pirates) in the seven-game walk-off1960 World Series, a loss that cost long-time managerCasey Stengel his job, fans and media were wondering if it could happen again: the Yankees had only scored four runs and gotten 10 hits in the first two games, and their vaunted "M&M Boys" were struggling.

Cincinnati hosted its first World Series in 21 years atCrosley Field. 99-year-oldDummy Hoy, a former Red and the oldest living former Major League player at the time, threw out the first pitch.^[6] He would die two months later following a stroke, five months short of his 100th birthday.

Game 3 pitted New York's 23-year-old right-handerBill Stafford against Reds' veteran knuckleballerBob Purkey. Stafford pitched well for6+2⁄3 innings. Purkey also had outstanding control and kept the Yankee hitters off balance, but New York triumphed on a Maris home run in the ninth. While the Yankees' offense still was stagnant, it was just good enough.

Cincinnati struck first with a run in the bottom of the third whenElio Chacón beat out a bunt and took second when Stafford threw wildly to first.Eddie Kasko fouled out toBill Skowron andVada Pinson grounded out to send Chacón to third beforeFrank Robinson hit a double off the left-field wall to make it 1–0.

In the seventh, the Yankees got a big break to tie the game.Tony Kubek led off with a single to center, then took second on aJohnny Edwards passed ball. AfterMickey Mantle struck out,Yogi Berra blooped a ball into short right field that neither second baseman Chacón nor right fielder Robinson called before the two collided, allowing the ball to drop and Kubek to score. The Reds regained the lead in their half of the inning when Edwards doubled into the right-field corner and eventually scored on a Kasko single to left.Bud Daley came in to relieve Stafford and retired Pinson on a flyout to right to end the inning.

The Reds' lead was short-lived, as the Yankees tied the score in the eighth. With two outs,Johnny Blanchard (pinch-hitting for Daley), smacked a Purkey knuckler into the right-field bleachers. The Reds went quietly in the bottom of the inning, the score tied at 2–2.

In the ninth, Maris recorded the first of his only two hits in the Series, but this one went into the right-field bleachers for a go-ahead home run. With ace relieverLuis Arroyo on the mound for the Yankees in the ninth, the Reds had one last shot. AfterGene Freese struck out,Leo Cárdenas, batting forJohnny Edwards, doubled off the left-center field scoreboard.Dick Gernert, pinch-hitting for Purkey, grounded to short, Cardenas holding. The third pinch-hitter in the inning,Gus Bell, ended the Reds' comeback attempt by grounding back to the mound, Arroyo to Skowron, to end the thriller and give the Yankees a two games to one Series lead.

Whitey Ford started Game 4 for the Yankees in an attempt to continue his post-season shutout streak, but more importantly to give the Bombers a 3–1 lead in the Series. He accomplished both. Ford retired the first nine batters of the game; whenElio Chacón grounded out toBobby Richardson at second base for the final out in the third, Ford brokeBabe Ruth's record of29+2⁄3 consecutive scoreless innings. Ford remained in the game until the end of the fifth, when an apparent ankle injury forced him to leave, his new record at 32 consecutive scoreless innings.Jim Coates entered the game in the sixth and pitched four scoreless innings.

The Yankees scored the game's first run in the fourth.Roger Maris led off with a walk and went to third on a single to left-center byMickey Mantle.Elston Howard grounded into a double play, Maris scoring. The Yankees added another run in the fifth on a walk to Ford, aBobby Richardson single to right-center and a run-scoring single by inTony Kubek.

In the sixth, O'Toole was relieved byJim Brosnan who got into a jam. With one out, Howard doubled to right-center. AfterYogi Berra was intentionally walked, Skowron loaded the bases by beating out a slow roller to third.Clete Boyer then doubled to left to plate two runs. The Yankees put on the safety squeeze, only to have Ford bunt right to Reds first basemanGordy Coleman who tagged first base. Boyer had moved to third and Skowron had come halfway home before stopping. Coleman then raced across the diamond and tagged Skowron, who was trapped between third and home, for an unassisted double play.

The Yankees would add three more runs in the seventh to put the game away. New York's seven-run output equaled what the Bronx Bombers were able to put up combined in their first three games as solid Reds starting pitching, combined with a wounded Mantle, kept the New York offense sputtering. That would change in Game 5.

Future Hall-of-FamersYogi Berra andMickey Mantle sat out Game 5, Berra with a stiff shoulder, Mantle still suffering from a hip abscess. But substitutesHéctor López andJohnny Blanchard more than made up for the absence of the two stars. Lopez drove in five runs with a triple, a home run and a sacrifice bunt, and Blanchard had three hits, including a double and a homer.

In the first four games, the Yankees scored a total of nine runs off Cincinnati's starting pitchers. In Game 5, New York scored five in the first inning. Reds starterJoey Jay, with 14 regular-season complete games, would uncharacteristically get just two outs before being relieved. AfterBobby Richardson singled to start the game, Jay retiredTony Kubek andRoger Maris on fly balls. But the flood gates opened when Blanchard hit a two-run homer into the right-field bleachers.Elston Howard was awarded a ground-rule double when his blast went through an opening in the left-center field scoreboard.Bill Skowron followed with a long single off the left-field fence, scoring Howard.Jim Maloney entered the game and was greeted with a Lopez triple that scored Skowron.Clete Boyer continued the assault doubling off the scoreboard, scoring Lopez. The ninth batter of the inning, Yankee pitcherRalph Terry struck out to end the inning but not until five Yankees had touched home plate.

New York added to its lead in the second on a Kubek single and a Maris double just inside the left-field line. The Reds cut the lead in half in the bottom of the third and chased Terry in the process.Don Blasingame led off with a single to center,Eddie Kasko singled to left andVada Pinson hit a fly moving Blasingame to third.Frank Robinson then took Terry deep with a three-run shot over the right-center field fence.Bud Daley replaced Terry and shut the door on the Reds.

The Yankee offense added to its lead with five runs in the fourth, the big blows were a two-run single by Skowron and a three-run home run to dead center by Lopez. The Reds got a little closer after scoring two runs in the bottom of the fifth (on a two-runWally Post home run) to cut it to 11–5. Then Yankees finished the rout by added two more runs in the sixth on sacrifices by Lopez (on a squeeze play) and Daley (on a fly ball).

This was the final World Series game ever played atCrosley Field, and the last postseason game in Cincinnati until the team moved toRiverfront Stadium in 1970.

Houk became only the third skipper in history to win the World Series in his first season.

1961 World Series(4–1):New York Yankees (A.L.) overCincinnati Reds (N.L.)

The Yankees returned to the World Seriesthe following year, and defeated theSan Francisco Giants in seven games for their twentieth championship.

The Reds returned to the World Series in1970 and1972, but lost both to theBaltimore Orioles andOakland Athletics in five and seven games respectively. They would win the championship again in1975 over theBoston Red Sox in seven games to end a 35-year drought after being seven outs away from elimination in Game 7.

The Reds and Yankees would meet again in the World Series in1976, where the Reds returned the favor and swept the Yankees to repeat as champions.

• Cohen, Richard M.; Neft, David S. (1990).The World Series: Complete Play-By-Play of Every Game, 1903–1989. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 287–291.ISBN 0-312-03960-3.
• Reichler, Joseph (1982).The Baseball Encyclopedia (5th ed.). Macmillan Publishing. p. 2169.ISBN 0-02-579010-2.

• 1961 World Series atWorldSeries.com viaMLB.com
• 1961 World Series atBaseball Almanac
• 1961 World Series atBaseball-Reference.com
• The 1961 Post-Season Games (box scores and play-by-play) atRetrosheet
• History of the World Series - 1961 atThe Sporting News. Archived fromthe original in May 2006.
• The History of the Cincinnati Reds at redshistory.com

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