Sept. 26, 1961 - The Cincinnati Reds clinched the 1961 National League pennant today. It took them virtually all day to do it, but what's a day to a club that's been waiting 21 years for a league championship? First, the Reds beat the Cubs, 6-3, before 3,327 at Wrigley Field. That assured them of at least a tie for the pennant. Then Manager Fred Hutchinson and his athletes left by chartered plane for Cincinnati, needing only a Dodger defeat at the hands of the Pirates -- last year's champions -- to gain outright possession of the flag. The Dodgers stayed alive temporarily by beating Pittsburgh in the first game of a doubleheader. But the Pirates won the second game, 8-0, and Cincinnati now has its first pennant since 1940.
