The1961 Major League Baseball expansion resulted in the formation of two newMajor League Baseball (MLB) franchises in theAmerican League (AL). Anew club was started in Washington, D.C., andtook the existing name of the Senators, as theprevious team of the same name moved toMinneapolis–Saint Paul for the start of the1961 season and became theMinnesota Twins. The second new franchise was granted to an ownership group led byGene Autry for a team inLos Angeles who named themselves theAngels. The two new teams each paid a fee of $2.1 million and became the 17th and 18th franchises in MLB.
The expansion was part of an initiative in response to the perceived threat of a proposed third major league, theContinental League. In 1962, theNational League (NL) alsoadded two new teams, theHouston Colt .45s (later renamed the Astros) and theNew York Mets.
For a 50-year period from 1903 to 1952, MLB's 16-team structure remained intact. No franchises were relocated during this period, although five markets,Boston,Chicago,New York City,Philadelphia, andSt. Louis, had two or more teams. According to authors Andy McCue and Eric Thompson, "By 1953, ... Population had moved from the northeast quadrant to the vibrant cities of the West and South. The less financially successful clubs in two-team cities were finding it increasingly difficult to compete."[1]
The situation changed as theBoston Braves moved toMilwaukee in 1953, theSt. Louis Browns relocated toBaltimore a year later, and thePhiladelphia Athletics moved toKansas City in 1955. Then, before the 1958 season, the two New York City teams in the NL moved to theWest Coast with theDodgers moving toLos Angeles and theGiants moving toSan Francisco.[1] New York City sought a replacement NL franchise, and by December 1958 MLB had created an Expansion Committee.[1] Despite the formation of the group, MLB displayed little intention of adding a New York team.[2]
The relocation of the Dodgers and Giants led to a proposal for a third major league: theContinental League, which would have started by 1961 with franchises in markets MLB had previously ignored. In addition, MLB faced pressure from theU.S. Congress, which indicated that efforts to prevent future expansion would potentially endanger the sport'sexemption from antitrust laws.[3] Congress voted on a bill aimed at repealing the exemption, but it failed to pass. However, MLB moved to expand after a rival league became a possibility.[2] The potential threat posed by the Continental League ended in August 1960, when the NL proposed expanding to include four of the new organization's clubs. The AL then became interested in the idea of expansion. Expansion Committee chairmanDel Webb initially backed the addition of aHouston-based franchise, but the NL spoiled the idea when it announced the addition of teamsin that city andNew York for 1962.[1]
For many years, Los Angeles had been rumored to be a potential site for an AL franchise. At the time of the expansion, the Los Angeles area was the second-most populated in the U.S., and several sports teams had already moved into the city, including the NL's Dodgers. ActorGene Autry led a group that paid $2.1 million for the right to place an MLB team in Los Angeles.[4] Autry, who owned radio stations, had been seeking to acquire a contract to broadcast baseball games when he traveled to MLB'sWinter Meetings. After the Meetings, on December 6, 1960, his group received franchise rights. The Los Angeles team was initially scheduled to begin play in 1962, but a relocation plan elsewhere in the AL resulted in the start date being moved up to 1961.[5] The club was nicknamed the Angels, after aPacific Coast League team that had previously played in the city. To secure the name rights, Autry paid a $350,000 fee to Dodgers ownerWalter O'Malley, who had purchased the minor league Angels before relocating the Dodgers to Los Angeles.[6]
Initially, leading figures in Minneapolis–St. Paul, Minnesota, had sought an expansion franchise.[7] However, Senators ownerCalvin Griffith believed his team could not prosper in the capital city of Washington, D.C., and sought to relocate to Minnesota. The Senators had played in Washington, D.C., starting in 1901, and had won the1924 World Series. Starting in the 1940s, however, the club had slipped towards the bottom of the AL standings for most seasons.[8] In October 1960, the AL permitted the Senators to move in time for next year's season, and gave Washington, D.C., an expansion team.[7] The former Senators changed their name to the Minnesota Twins, and the new expansion team took the Senators name.[9] The decision was partially in response to pressure from Congress, which had wanted a replacement for the former Senators. As with the Angels' ownership group, the new Senators' owners paid a $2.1 million fee for the right to an MLB franchise.[10] The two new teams became the 17th and 18th clubs in MLB.[3] Furthermore, the American League season itself was expanded from 154 games per team to 162.[11]
A draft was held on December 14, 1960, to stock the new teams with players from the existing AL clubs. All teams were required to make seven players draftable from their regular rosters, along with eight more from their expanded rosters of 40 players, with the number of players that could be selected from one franchise capped at seven. The Angels and Senators were limited to 28 picks each, and were forced to pay $75,000 per pick. There were also requirements to choose certain numbers of players for each position.[12]
The Angels won the first overall pick in the expansion draft via coin toss and used it to selectNew York YankeespitcherEli Grba.[13] The Senators followed by taking another Yankees pitcher,Bobby Shantz, with their first choice.[14] Later in the draft, both teams violated the rules prohibiting existing clubs from losing more than seven players from their normal rosters; by the 43rd pick, theCleveland Indians andDetroit Tigers had each seen eight of their players chosen, and another rule mandating that the Angels and Senators not take more than four players from any one team was also ignored. Angels managerBill Rigney later said that the teams had not been notified about the rules by the AL.[1]
Despite an effort by AL presidentJoe Cronin that required both teams to relinquish earlier selections and choose different players, imbalances still existed in player selections; seven of the eight AL teams had had five or more players drafted by the Angels or Senators. In response, player trades between the expansion teams were mandated by Cronin. In the last of these trades, futureCy Young Award-winning pitcherDean Chance was sent to the Angels by Washington.[1][15]
In 1961,Wrigley Field (unaffiliated with thestadium of the same name in Chicago), a former minor league stadium, served as the home of the Angels;[16] for the next four seasons, they sharedDodger Stadium with the Dodgers. Los Angeles won 70 games in its first season, exceeding expectations. The following season, they held first place in the AL as late as July 4, ending the year with 86 victories. However, the team's performance declined in future years, as its strategy of acquiring "recognizable names" led to aging talent whose output fell before the Angels' minor league system could replace them.[3] The Angels moved intoAnaheim Stadium in 1966,[17] and won their first World Series in2002, while known as the Anaheim Angels.[18]
The Senators experienced a lack of strong fan interest in their inaugural season, drawing under 600,000 fans for the year. The team annually posted about 90 defeats in most future years, and did not win more games than it lost until 1969, when Washington ended the season with an 86–76 win–loss record. The original owner of the club left early in the Senators' existence, and a second shift occurred shortly after stockbrokers James Johnson and James Lemon purchased the team from Elwood Quesada. In September 1971, then-owner Bob Short announced that the Senators would move to the Dallas area after the season; the team's last game in Washington was forfeited due to "unruly behavior" by Senators fans.[19] It would not be until2005 when MLB returned to Washington by relocating the NL'sMontreal Expos, established in1969, and renaming them theWashington Nationals.[20] The Nationals would win their first World Series in2019,[21] while theTexas Rangers would claim their first Series win in2023.[22]
The 1961 expansion was the first in a series of moves that resulted in MLB nearly doubling in size to 30 franchises. As part of MLB's effort to prevent the formation of the Continental League, the NLadded theNew York Mets andHouston Colt .45s (who later changed their nickname to the Astros) for the 1962 season.[3][23]Another expansion draft was made to stock the new teams for the 1962 season.[24] Four new clubs joined the AL and NL in 1969, inSan Diego,Kansas City,Montreal, andSeattle (although the team moved toMilwaukee the following year). Further two-team expansions took place in 1977, 1993, and 1998.[3][25] The expansions had the effect of placing MLB teams across the continent; before 1961, only four teams (the Dodgers, Giants,Kansas City Athletics, andSt. Louis Cardinals) were based west of theMississippi.[26][27]
