1960s Timeline

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Sept. 30, 1961 - For a crowd of 29,182, it was a pleasant enough afternoon at Yankee Stadium today. It was a barren day, however, for the fans who had clustered in the right wing of the grandstand and the right-field bleachers in hopes of catching Roger Maris's 61st home run. Roger drew another blank, while the Yanks polished off the Red Sox, 3-1, in the next-to-last game of the regular season. Maris, still stalled at 60, has only one more game, tomorrow afternoon against Bos

Sept. 29, 1961 - Casey Stengel, 71, agreed today to a one-year contract as manager of the New York Mets, the new National League club scheduled to begin its first season of play in 1962. The announcement was made by George M. Weiss, the president of the Mets and formerly the Yankees' general manager. Both he and Casey were retired by the Yanks at the end of last season to make room for younger men. Casey's first job with the Mets will be to meet with executives and scouts to

Sept. 28, 1961 - Mickey Mantle was hospitalized today with an abscess in the upper right hip and will miss the Yankees' final three games of the regular season. However, he is expected to play in the world series next week. The other half of the Bombers' homer-hitting M Squad, Roger Maris, will be back in the lineup tonight against the Red Sox for the opener of a three-game series. Maris, rested for two full days, will be making his final effort to pile up more home runs than

Sept. 26, 1961 - Roger Maris today became the first major league player to hit 60 home runs in a season since Babe Ruth achieved that total in 1927. Maris connected in the third inning of a game that the Yankees took from the Orioles at the Stadium, 3-2, before a crowd of 19,401. Under Commissioner Ford C. Frick's ruling, Maris will not be credited with a tie for the Ruthian record because his No. 60 was not made within the 154-game limit that prevailed in Ruth's day. The Yan

Sept. 23, 1961 - Although Roger Maris did not break Babe Ruth's home run record within the 154-game limit, he will probably earn more money, from endorsements, public appearances, and other commercial fees, than any other athlete in history. According to Frank Scott, Maris's business manager, Maris's near-record feat should earn him more than $100,000 in the next year. If Maris had broken the record, Scott believes the slugger could have earned $500,000. At least two companie

Sept. 23, 1961 - Mickey Mantle, who had almost become the forgotten man in 1961's home run derby, crashed back into contention today. Appearing in the Yankee starting line-up for the first time since Sept. 17, Mantle hit his 54th homer. The blow, struck off Red Sox rookie Don Schwall, came in the first inning and paved the way for an 8-3 Bomber triumph. It also put Mantle within five homers of the fellow who had been overshadowing him for the past two weeks. Roger Maris, who

Sept. 22, 1961 - Taking advantage of an open date on the schedule, Manager Ralph Houk (right) today turned his attention to the Yankee pitching staff. The job is to rotate it properly so that it will come to the opening of the World Series on Oct. 4 at peak efficiency. The skipper made it clear several days ago that he planned to call on his top three, Whitey Ford (left), Ralph Terry, and Bill Stafford, and to repeat the sequence beginning with the fourth game. The task is to

Sept. 21, 1961 - Roger Maris (right) will avail himself of every opportunity to add to his total of 59 home runs. There are seven games left on the Yankees' schedule. Manager Ralph Houk (center) and the other Yankee players would like to see Maris play in every one of them, or at least until he has hit homer No. 61. Now that the pennant flag is theirs, the Yankees are beginning to talk openly about the Reds and such Cincinnati standouts as Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson, Joey Ja

Sept. 21, 1961 - Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick today clarified his position on Babe Ruth's home run record and his policy if Roger Maris surpasses the Babe's mark of 60 before the season ends. If Maris equals or tops that figure in the Yankees' remaining seven games, the feat will go into the record book as a season mark for a 162-game schedule, Frick said, but it would not be considered as having broken the Ruth record. The Babe's name will remain in the book for his havi

Sept. 20, 1961 - The Yankees today clinched their 26th American League pennant by beating the Orioles, 4-2. But for Roger Maris (pictured with Johnny Blanchard), it was a day of frustration. After hitting his 59th home run of the season, Maris went to bat in the ninth with a chance to tie Babe Ruth's record of 60 homers in a 154-game season. Maris tapped Hoyt Wilhelm's third pitch to first base and was tagged for the final out of the inning. Ruth's record, on the books since

Sept. 17, 1961 - What was Roger Maris thinking as he rounded the basepaths following his game-winning homer in the 12th inning at Tiger Stadium today? "Honestly," the slugger said afterward, "my first thought was that these were two runs that put us ahead of the Tigers. When I stepped on home plate, I thought about having hit my 58th homer. Now, here in the dressing room, I'm thinking about what a great thrill it is to know that I'm second to Babe Ruth." By that, Maris meant

Sept. 17, 1961 - Roger Maris hit his 58th home run of the season today. He did it in the 12th inning of the Yankees' game in Detroit after missing a homer by a foot in the 7th. But Roger's blast in the 12th had No. 58 written all over it. It crashed against the lower facing of the upper deck in right center 400 feet away. It put him within two of the Babe Ruth record of 60, and it gave the Yankees a 6-4 victory. Since this was the Yankees' 151st game, Roger now has three game

Sept. 17, 1961 - Despite hitting his 57th home run yesterday, Roger Maris's chances of breaking Babe Ruth's home-run record are extremely slim, according to Casey the Computer. The electronic brain programmed by the Statistical Tabulating Corporation to figure the chances of Maris and Mickey Mantle reaching the 61 mark in 154 games now says that Roger's chances are only 5 out of 100 - 20 to 1 against him. Mantle's chances are a string of zeroes. At present, the computer predi

Sept. 16, 1961 - Roger Maris was not exactly jumping for joy in the Yankees' dressing room immediately following today's losing game at Tiger Stadium. But at least he was talking again. It was a change from last night and early today, when Maris was irate over what he described as bad national press and abusive fans in Detroit. The 27-year-old Maris, appearing tired and speaking in almost a whisper, said that today's 57th homer was hit off a Frank Lary fastball. He said the f

Sept. 16, 1961 - Roger Maris, stalled for a week, finally regained his stroke today and connected for his 57th homer of the year. The blow, which could spark a belated record push, put the Yankee slugger within 3 of Babe Ruth's 1927 mark of 60. Maris is now two games ahead of Ruth's record-setting pace. Apart from Maris's clout and one by Elston Howard that raised the Yankees' new major league season record to 225 - they had broken the old team mark of 221 with 3 last night -

Sept. 6, 1961 - The celebrated M Squad slammed only one homer today - Roger Maris's 54th of the season. But three other Yanks knocked a total of four baseballs into the stands during an 8-0 romp over the Senators at the Stadium. John Blanchard connected twice, Bill Skowron clouted No. 24, and Bob Hale hit a solo shot. The Bombers lifted their team home run total to 210, a league record, and moved to within 11 of the major league mark shared by the Giants and Reds. Maris and M

Sept. 5, 1961 - Mickey Mantle's 53rd homer was the first salvo of a Yankee attack that crushed the Washington Senators today, 6-1. Mantle's wallop in the second inning created a 1-1 deadlock, which Elston Howard demolished with his 16th homer off the base of the upper deck in the fifth. Yankee hurler Jim Coates's 10th triumph coincided with New York's 6th in a row. Since Detroit was beaten twice last night, the Yankees widened their American League lead to seven and a half ga

Aug. 28, 1961 - New York Yankees afternoon games at home on weekdays have not been broadcast this season on WCBS-AM, but all contests have been carried by WCBS-FM. This has been frustrating for Yankee rooters dependent upon old-fashioned AM radio sets. Sam J. Slate, general manager of WCBS, announced today that forthcoming games will be broadcast on both AM and FM "because of the tremendous listener interest" in the race by Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle to break Babe Ruth's h

July 13, 1961 - Thanks largely to soaring home runs by Roger Maris (pictured right after today's game) and Mickey Mantle, the Yankees regained the top of the American League standings today. The big bombers of Ralph Houk's club connected for No. 34 and No. 30, respectively, to pace a four-run first-inning assault on Early Wynn that paved the way to a 6-2 triumph over the White Sox in Chicago. The Maris homer put Roger 14 games and 15 days ahead of Babe Ruth's record pace. Whe