1961 Minnesota Twins season

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

WTCN-TV
Radio830 WCCO AM
(Bob Wolff, Ray Scott, Halsey Hall)
← 1960 Seasons 1962 →

The 1961 Minnesota Twins season was the 61st in franchise history and its first in Minneapolis–Saint Paul after it transferred from Washington 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 the American League, which had expanded from eight to ten teams during the 1960–61 offseason. The Twins played their home games at Metropolitan Stadium, where they set a franchise record for home attendance.[1]

Offseason

After 60 seasons in Washington, the Senators franchise moved to the Minneapolis–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 the Twins. As one of the conditions to allow the team to move, there would be a new Senators franchise in Washington in 1961, an expansion team that joined the league along with the Los Angeles Angels.

Opening Day

The

second edition of the Senators, 5–3, before 24,606 at Metropolitan Stadium.[3]

Starting lineup, April 11, 1961

  2 Zoilo Versalles    SS
  7 Lenny Green CF
  3 Harmon Killebrew    1B
23 Jim Lemon LF
  4 Bob Allison RF
10 Earl Battey C
  1 Reno Bertoia 3B
  9 Billy Gardner 2B
14 Pedro Ramos P[2]

Regular season

The move to Minnesota immediately paid dividends at the turnstiles, where they drew 1,256,723 fans, the third highest total in the American 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 in 1960 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 owner Calvin Griffith directed manager Cookie 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 coach Sam Mele.[5]

In a home

grand 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 and Warren Hacker). In the second game, Twins slugger Harmon Killebrew hit an inside-the-park home run
—the only one he would hit in his 573-homer career.

Two Twins made the All-Star Game: first baseman Harmon Killebrew (both games) and pitcher Camilo Pascual (second game).

On August 20, pitchers Jack Kralick and Al Schroll each hit a home run against the Los Angeles Angels—the sixth and final pitching duo to do so in the same game. On September 27, Schroll took a no-hitter into the ninth inning before giving up four runs on two walks and two hits.[6]

RBIs
, 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. Catcher Earl Battey won his second Gold Glove Award.[8]

Season standings

American League
W
L
 Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 109 53 0.673 — 65–16 44–37
Detroit Tigers 101 61 0.623 8 50–31 51–30
Baltimore Orioles 95 67 0.586 14 48–33 47–34
Chicago White Sox 86 76 0.531 23 53–28 33–48
Cleveland Indians 78 83 0.484 30½ 40–41 38–42
Boston Red Sox 76 86 0.469 33 50–31 26–55
Minnesota Twins 70 90 0.438 38 36–44 34–46
Los Angeles Angels 70 91 0.435 38½ 46–36 24–55
Kansas City Athletics 61 100 0.379 47½ 33–47 28–53
Washington Senators 61 100 0.379 47½ 33–46 28–54

Record vs. opponents

1961 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Team BAL BOS CHW CLE DET KCA LAA MIN NYY WSH
Baltimore — 11–7 11–7 9–9 9–9 13–5 8–10 11–7 9–9–1 14–4
Boston 7–11 — 9–9 5–13 8–10 10–8 11–7–1 11–7 5–13 10–8
Chicago 7–11 9–9 — 12–6 6–12 14–4 10–8 9–9–1 6–12 13–5
Cleveland 9–9 13–5 6–12 — 6–12 8–9 10–8 10–8 4–14 12–6
Detroit 9–9 10–8 12–6 12–6 — 12–6–1 14–4 11–7 8–10 13–5
Kansas City 5–13 8–10 4–14 9–8 6–12–1 — 9–9 7–11 4–14 9–9
Los Angeles 10–8 7–11–1 8–10 8–10 4–14 9–9 — 8–9 6–12 10–8
Minnesota 7–11 7–11 9–9–1 8–10 7–11 11–7 9–8 — 4–14 8–9
New York 9–9–1 13–5 12–6 14–4 10–8 14–4 12–6 14–4 — 11–7
Washington 4–14 8–10 5–13 6–12 5–13 9–9 8–10 9–8 7–11 —


Notable transactions

Roster

1961 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

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

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Earl Battey 133 460 139 .302 17 55
1B Harmon Killebrew 150 541 156 .288 46 122
2B Billy Martin 108 374 92 .246 6 36
SS Zoilo Versalles 129 510 143 .280 7 53
3B Bill Tuttle 113 370 91 .246 5 38
LF Jim Lemon 129 423 109 .258 14 52
CF Lenny Green 156 600 171 .285 9 50
RF Bob Allison 159 556 136 .245 29 105

Other batters

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

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Billy Gardner 45 154 36 .234 1 11
José Valdivielso 76 149 29 .195 1 9
Hal Naragon 57 139 42 .302 2 11
Dan Dobbek 72 125 21 .168 4 14
Ted Lepcio 47 112 19 .170 7 19
Reno Bertoia 39 104 22 .212 1 8
Don Mincher 35 101 19 .188 5 11
Joe Altobelli 41 95 21 .221 3 14
Julio Bécquer 57 84 20 .238 5 18
Elmer Valo 33 32 5 .156 0 4
Ron Henry 20 28 4 .143 0 3
Rich Rollins 13 17 5 .294 0 3
Jake Jacobs 4 8 2 .250 0 0
Pete Whisenant 10 6 0 .000 0 0
Billy Consolo 11 5 0 .000 0 0
Jim Snyder 3 5 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Pedro Ramos 42 264.1 11 20 3.95 174
Camilo Pascual 35 252.1 15 16 3.46 221
Jack Kralick 33 242.0 13 11 3.61 137
Jim Kaat 36 200.2 9 17 3.90 122
Bert Cueto 7 21.1 1 3 7.17 5

Other pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Don Lee 37 115.0 3 6 3.52 65
Al Schroll 11 50.0 4 4 5.22 24
Bert Cueto 7 21.1 1 3 7.17 5
Ed Palmquist 9 21.0 1 1 9.43 13
Gerry Arrigo 7 9.2 0 1 10.24 6

Relief pitchers

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

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Ray Moore 46 4 4 14 3.67 45
Bill Pleis 37 4 2 2 4.95 32
Chuck Stobbs 24 2 3 2 7.46 17
Ted Sadowski 15 0 2 0 6.82 12
Paul Giel 12 1 0 0 9.78 14
Lee Stange 7 1 0 0 2.92 10
Gary Dotter 2 0 0 0 9.00 2
Julio Bécquer 1 0 0 0 20.25 0
Fred Bruckbauer 1 0 0 0 inf 0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA
Syracuse Chiefs
 International League Gene Verble and Frank Verdi
AA Nashville Vols Southern Association Spencer "Red" Robbins
A
 Charlotte Hornets Sally League Ellis Clary
B
 Wilson Tobs Carolina League Jack McKeon
D
 Fort Walton Beach Jets Alabama–Florida League Vern Morgan
D
 Wytheville Twins Appalachian League Red Norwood
D
 Erie Sailors New York–Penn League Harry Warner

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Wilson

Notes

  1. Baseball Reference: Minnesota Twins attendance, stadia and park factors
  2. ^ a b Retrosheet box score: 1961-04-11
  3. ^ Retrosheet box score:1961-04-21
  4. ^ 1960 Senators at Baseball-Reference
  5. ISBN 978-0-7603-3684-7
  6. ^ "Minnesota Twins". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 18, 2016.[permanent dead link]
  7. ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  8. ^ "Minnesota Twins". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved December 15, 2015.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ Faye Throneberry at Baseball Reference
  10. ^ Jackie Collum at Baseball Reference
  11. ^ Billy Martin at Baseball Reference
  12. ^ Bill Tuttle at Baseball Reference

References

  • 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
    .
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1961_Minnesota_Twins_season&oldid=1194330169"