1960s Timeline

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

Oct. 25, 1961 - Joey Jay was named the National League pitcher of the year today by UPI’s board of baseball experts. The 26-year-old 21-game winner of the Reds beat Warren Spahn of the Braves, 19 votes to 16. Jay, a 6-foot-4-inch righty, helped pitch the Reds to their first pennant since 1940. He capped his fine campaign by scoring the Reds’ only victory over the New York Yankees in the World Series. #MLB #baseball #baseballcap #baseballlife #baseballislife #baseballplayer #b

Oct. 9, 1961 - Fred Hutchinson (pictured right with Ralph Houk), the manager of the routed Reds, said after today's game that the Yankees won the series two days ago, in the third game. Hutchinson said, in the silent Reds dressing room: "The turning point came in the ninth inning of Saturday's game. That homer by Roger Maris, the one that beat Bob Purkey, 3-2, was the key to the beginning of the end. We never were the same after that. We had no spark, got no lift, and went no

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

Sept. 22, 1961 - One Cincinnati baserunner reached third today as the Reds were blanked, 6-0, by Billy O'Dell of the Giants at Crosley Field. It was conduct unbecoming a team that hopes shortly to qualify as a world series opponent of Maris, Mantle & Co., sometimes referred to as the New York Yankees. The Reds' lead over the second-place Dodgers was cut to four games. Any combination of Cincinnati victories and Los Angeles defeats totaling four will give the Reds their first

Sept. 18, 1961 - Home runs by Ed Bouchee, Don Zimmer, and George Altman brought the Cubs a 5-3 victory over Los Angeles today and dropped the Dodgers 4 games behind the league-leading Reds in the National League. Don Cardwell (pictured), a lefty who had lost 6 straight decisions to the Dodgers, earned his 14th victory. The Dodgers, who had won four straight, have eleven games to play, two more than Cincinnati. Any combination of Cincinnati victories and L.A. losses totaling s

Sept. 4, 1961 - Don Drysdale pitched a two-hitter and scored his first success against San Francisco in a year today as the Dodgers defeated the Giants, 4-0, in Los Angeles. The Dodgers pulled to within two games of the league-leading Cincinnati Reds. Duke Snider drove in two of the runs with the 380th homer of his career. He moved into 10th place among the league's leaders in runs batted in with a career total of 1,224. Drysdale would have had a one-hitter if Felipe Alou had

Aug. 27, 1961 - The Cincinnati Reds beat the Los Angeles Dodgers twice today, 6-5 and 8-3, removing temporarily (and possibly for good) much of the tension from the National League pennant race. The twin triumphs - one a suspenseful, come-from-behind victory, the other a freewheeling rollercoaster before 30,195 fans at Crosley Field - catapulted the Reds to a three-and-a-half game lead over the second-place Dodgers. Loyal Reds fans are shouting that there will be a world seri

Aug. 22, 1961 - The slogans, placards, and banners that are heard and seen throughout pennant-starved Cincinnati these days may help jam 29,383 frantic fans into Crosley Field, as they did today. However, as the league-leading Reds learned while dropping both ends of a doubleheader to the third-place Giants, 12-2 and 5-3, there never has been a slogan that fanned a batter, a placard that pivoted for a double play, or a banner that came up with a game-winning hit. "Rally 'roun

Aug. 17, 1961 - The Cincinnati Reds headed home today from Los Angeles with high hearts and a one-game lead in the National League. The Reds swept the three-game series by demolishing the Dodgers in a double-shutout contest, 6-0 and 8-0, last night. Gloom as thick as smog settled over the Coliseum where 71,140 - a National League night-game record - saw the games. The disdain in which the Reds held the Dodgers was best shown in last night's first game after an inside pitch by

July 30, 1961 - Don Drysdale, with help from Ron Perranoski in the ninth, pitched the Dodgers to a 7-3 victory over the Pirates today. The Reds, who split a doubleheader with the Cubs, now trail the Dodgers in the National League standings by half a game. Tommy Davis paced the Los Angeles attack, smashing his 15th home run and two singles. #MLB #baseball #sports #dodgers #laddogers #reds #pirates

July 29, 1961 - Home runs by Ernie Banks (pictured), Billy Williams and Ron Santo powered the Cubs to a 7-6 victory today that tumbled the Reds out of the National League lead. The loss, coupled with Los Angeles' 5-4 victory over Pittsburgh, dropped the Reds into second place. It marked the first time since June 16 that Cincinnati has not been in first place. #MLB #baseball #sports #cubs #reds #dodgers #ladodgers

July 26, 1961 - Gus Bell and Frank Robinson (pictured) slammed eighth-inning home runs as the Reds rallied and defeated the Braves, 3-2, today. Robinson is the National League's home run leader with 30 round-trippers. Both runs for the Braves were scored by Hank Aaron, who hit his 25th homer in the sixth. The victory enabled the Reds to hold their one-game lead over the Dodgers in the National League. #MLB #baseball #sports #reds #cincinnatireds #dodgers #braves

July 22, 1961 - The six-hit pitching of Jack Sanford, backed by a hitting spree headed by Jim Davenport's homer, gave San Francisco an 8-3 victory today over the Reds. Only Frank Robinson, who hit a homer in the ninth, and Don Blasingame could do much with Sanford's offerings. The loss was the National League leaders' sixth in a row. The Dodgers now trail the Reds by a single game, and the Giants are six games back. #MLB #baseball #sports #giants #sfgiants #reds

July 20, 1961 - Four home runs and the seven-hit pitching of Sandy Koufax gave the Dodgers a 10-1 victory over Cincinnati today and moved them to within a game and a half of the league-leading Reds. It was the fifth straight defeat for the Reds and the first complete-game victory for Koufax since June 20. Joey Jay, taken out after the fifth inning, was blasted for home runs by Duke Snider, Willie Davis, Wally Moon and Norm Larker. Each homer cleared the center-field wall at a

July 19, 1961 - The Los Angeles Dodgers reduced Cincinnati's league lead to two and a half games today as they handed the slumping Reds their fourth straight defeat, 8-3. Johnny Podres, holding the Reds to nine hits and lifting his won-lost record to 11-2, pitched his first complete game since July 28, 1957. Bob Purkey, entering the game with an 11-4 record, was the loser. #MLB #baseball #sports #dodgers #dodgerblue #ladodgers #reds

July 13, 1961 - Frank Robinson (pictured right with Vada Pinson) hit his 24th home run in the seventh today and drove in the winning run in the ninth as the Reds beat the Cubs, 4-3. It was only the fifth victory for the National League leaders in 13 games with the 7th-place Cubs. Robinson has driven in 11 runs in the Reds' last 4 games. Jim O'Toole was the winning pitcher. #MLB #baseball #sports #reds #cubs

July 10, 1961 - Don Drysdale, a pitcher for the Dodgers, was fined $100 today and suspended for five days by the National League's president, Warren C. Giles, for throwing at a hitter. Drysdale was ejected from yesterday's Los Angeles-Cincinnati game when he hit Frank Robinson after having been warned for throwing too close to the batter. The rule on throwing at a batter calls for a penalty "if in the umpire's judgment, a pitcher deliberately throws at a batter's person." Rob

July 8, 1961 - Johnny Podres (pictured), a left-hander, scored his ninth victory today as the Dodgers halted Cincinnati's winning streak at eight games by defeating the league-leading Reds, 10-1, before 49,797 fans in Los Angeles. The loss cut Cincinnati's lead over the second-place Dodgers to four games. Ron Fairly and Johnny Roseboro drove in three runs apiece for Los Angeles. Podres, who has lost only twice, pitched his third complete game of the season, allowing seven hit