1960s Timeline

Jan. 23, 1962 - Bob Feller and Jackie Robinson were elected today to the Hall of Fame. Feller, who pitched for the Cleveland Indians from 1936 through 1956, was an overwhelming first-ballot choice. Feller joined the Indians at the age of 17 and won 266 games, despite missing 4 years during his prime for World War II service. Robinson, the first Negro to play in the major leagues, was a Brooklyn Dodger infielder from 1947 through 1956. He reached his peak in 1949, when he was

Jan. 22, 1962 - Johnny Podres (far right), who had the best winning percentage among National League pitchers with an 18-5 record for .783 last season, today signed for close to $30,000 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. General Manager E.J. (Buzzie) Bavasi reported that the southpaw received a sizable salary increase for 1962. Podres was said to have received $25,000 last season. “In many respects, 1961 was Podres’ best year even if he didn’t get a chance at some world series her

Jan. 20, 1962 - Don Drysdale’s signed contract for the 1962 season was received today by the Los Angeles Dodgers, who said his salary would be about the same as last season. Drysdale won only 13 games last season and lost 10. He is believed to have received $23,000. The 25-year-old Drysdale struck out 182 batters last year to put him third in the National League behind his teammates, Sandy Koufax and Stan Williams. He has a three-year strikeout total of 670, the best league m

Jan. 20, 1962 - Henry Aaron (pictured) and Eddie Mathews, the one-two punch of the Milwaukee Braves, signed their 1962 contracts today. “I don’t know of any two sluggers who have been as devastating over the years as these two,” said John McHale, president of the Braves. McHale, however, would not say whether the two players received raises. Reportedly, their salaries are between $55,000 and $60,000. Mathews, 30, smashed his 270th home run last season — his 10th campaign in t

Jan. 18, 1962 - Warren Spahn, the highest-salaried pitcher in baseball history, signed for his 18th season with the Braves today. The 40-year-old left-hander is believed to have received a token increase over his 1961 figure of $75,000. Last season, Spahn led the National League with an earned-run average of 3.01, had the most complete games, and the longest winning streak — 10 games — and tied Joey Jay of Cincinnati for the most victories (21) and the most shutouts (4). Spah

Jan. 17, 1962 - The New York Yankees beat the Green Bay Packers by 1 percentage point in a poll to determine the top professional sports team of 1961. The Boston Celtics finished third, with the Cincinnati Reds fourth. The poll of 45 of the nation’s top sports editors and writers was conducted by Ten at the Top, an independent polling organization. The Yankees, who won the American League pennant and then the world series from the Reds, wound up with a percentage of 92. The P

Jan. 16, 1962 - While downstairs at Toots Shor’s the “poor people” were having lunch today, Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford (pictured with Roy Hamey, Yankees general manager), a couple of upper-bracket ballplayers, were upstairs affixing their signatures to contracts assuring them of slightly more than $100,000 in salary between them in 1962. Berra, who hit 22 homers and had 61 runs batted in last year, received a raise of $2,000. The 32-year-old Ford received an increase of $13,0

Jan. 7, 1962 - A better bat, not a livelier ball, helped Roger Maris to his record total of 61 home runs last year. The 27-year-old Yankee outfielder expressed this belief today while attending the Sporting Goods Fair at the Hotel New Yorker. “The bats we use nowadays are comparatively light, with slender handles. You can ‘whip’ them with greater facility and speed. Last year, I met a fellow who had one of the bats used by Ruth, when he was blasting home runs out of American

Jan. 5, 1962 - Stan Musial took a pay cut to about $70,000 today as he signed his 21st contract with the St. Louis Cardinals. “I think this will be my last year as a baseball player, and I’ll try to end up with a good year,” he said. “You can’t go on forever, you know.” Musial, who started at $65 a month in 1938 and worked up to $100,000 in 1958, signed his first Cardinal contract in 1941. But he played only 12 games for the Redbirds that year. He did not play in 1945 because

Jan. 2, 1962 - As the world champion New York Yankees look forward to launching another spring-training campaign next month, Manager Ralph Houk finds himself equipped with a well-balanced array of minor league talent. At shortstop, there are two diamond stars in the rough. Houk is banking on one of them to fill the spiked shoes temporarily vacated by the talented Tony Kubek (pictured left), now in the Army. One is Tom Tresh, a switch-hitter. His rival for the shortstop spot i

Dec. 18, 1961 - Ping Bodie (pictured left in 1920), the slugging outfielder who was a former roommate of Babe Ruth (right), died of cancer today in San Francisco. He was 74. In 1910, playing with the San Francisco Seals, he hit the then-fantastic total of 30 home runs, and quickly broke into the big leagues with the White Sox in 1911. Though he was Babe Ruth’s roommate after he became a Yankee, he always denied it. “It isn’t so,” he would say. “I room with his suitcase.” His

Dec. 16, 1961 - The return of National League baseball to New York moved a little closer today when the Mets announced their 1961 home dates. Following the opening of their season in St. Louis on April 10, the Mets, with Casey Stengel as manager, will play the Pirates at the Polo Grounds (pictured) on April 13. New Yorkers haven’t seen the Pirates since they appeared in the 1960 world series against the Yankees. That series marked Stengel’s farewell as manager of the Bombers.

Dec. 15, 1961 - Roger Maris, baseball’s home run king, normally quiet and unemotional, appeared deeply moved today when told he had been named The Associated Press male athlete of the year for 1961. “It’s got to mean a lot when they rank you ahead of every athlete in the world,” he said. “There are some mighty good ones on that list.” The Yankee slugger, who hit 61 homers, was the overwhelming choice in the voting by 253 sportswriters in the annual A.P. poll. Paul Hornung of

Dec. 15, 1961 - William “Dummy” Hoy (pictured throwing out the first pitch at Game 3 of this year’s World Series), the oldest former major league baseball player, died today in Cincinnati’s Christ Hospital at the age of 99. William Ellsworth Hoy, a deaf-mute from birth, was born in Houckstown, Ohio, in 1862. He began his major league career in 1888 with Washington, then in the National League. He had his best year in 1898 with the Louisville Colonels, when he hit .318. When a

Dec. 8, 1961 - The New York Mets today acquired another slightly aged though still highly capable player they expect to give their club stability when it makes its debut in the National League next year. Richie Ashburn, a former batting champion who for years ranked with Willie Mays and Duke Snider among the league’s top defensive center fielders, was bought from the Chicago Cubs. A native of Tilden, Neb., Ashburn came to the majors with the Phillies in 1948 and for years was

Nov. 30, 1961 - New York stations WOR-TV and WOR radio said today they had reached “major portions of agreement” in negotiations to broadcast baseball games to be played next year by the New York #Mets, the new National League club. WOR-TV previously established itself as the home of National League baseball in New York, carrying Brooklyn #Dodgers games starting in 1950 and New York #Giants games in 1951 until both teams moved to California following the 1957 season. From 195

Nov. 27, 1961 - The Chicago White Sox traded Orestes (Minnie) Minoso, their Cuban outfield star, to the St. Louis Cardinals for Joe Cunningham, a first baseman-outfielder. Minoso, who will be 39 on Wednesday, has been in the majors 12 seasons and has batted under .300 only twice. The second of these under-.300 years was 1961, when he hit .280. However, he batted in 82 runs. Cunningham, 30, has been with the Cardinals 6 years. He had his best year in 1959 when he batted .345,

Nov. 23, 1961 - New York Mets manager Casey Stengel said today he couldn’t see what all the fuss was about the spitball. “If the pitchers think it will help them, I say let them use it,” said Casey. “Heaven knows, my pitchers will need all the help they can get.” Casey was referring to the odd assortment of hurlers the Mets were able to select from the National League grab bag last month. “Ralph Houk says it’s a dangerous pitch,” continued Casey. “Well, I hit against the best

Nov. 22, 1961 - Frank Robinson (pictured at his wedding last month), crack outfielder of the Cincinnati Reds, today was named the winner of the National League’s most valuable player award for 1961. Unlike the American League vote, which saw only 4 points separate Roger Maris, the winner, from Mickey Mantle, the runner-up, the Reds’ star, whose slashing bat played a major role in bringing the first pennant in 21 years to Cincinnati, scored an overwhelming victory. The committ

Nov. 16, 1961 - The New York Mets gave a $1,000 check to Ray Gotto, a cartoonist, for submitting the prize-winning emblem for the new National League club. Gotto’s emblem depicts the New York City skyline, showing a church, the Williamsburg Savings Bank, the Woolworth Tower, the Empire State Building, and the U.N. The emblem is in the form of a baseball, and the buildings are colored in the former Brooklyn Dodger blue. The orange-colored letters “N.Y.” are the same style, col