1960s Timeline

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2 days ago

Mickey Mantle Receives Two Awards

Jan. 28, 1963 - Mickey Mantle (pictured with Johnny Carson) tonight was named the nation’s “most courageous athlete” and America’s “outstanding athlete” by the Philadelphia Sports Writers association. The New York Yankees’ outfielder was the first athlete in the 59-year history of the association to be a double winner in the 3 awards it makes annually. Mantle was hailed for his ranking as one of baseball’s greatest players in the face of a long and courageous fight against a

Jan 15

Ex-Yankee ‘Moose’ Skowron Declares Himself a Proud Dodger

Jan. 15, 1963 - Bill (Moose) Skowron (pictured), who says he’ll wear his new Dodger uniform with as much pride as he did Yankee pinstripes for nine years, met the press this morning at Dodger Stadium. “If I’d had my choice to be traded to another club, I couldn’t do better than join the Dodger organization. Yogi Berra told me as much after the deal was made, and he was right.” The free-swinging veteran described himself as “a whaler” at the plate whose philosophy is, “Thou [t

Dec 11, 2022

Mets Acquire Stallard and Green in Trade with Red Sox

Dec. 11, 1962 - The New York Mets today acquired Tracy Stallard, a right-handed pitcher who threw a historic home run ball (pictured); Pumpsie Green, an infielder who took a not-so-historical trip, and another player from the Boston Red Sox for infielder Felix Mantilla. Mantilla, who batted .275 for the Mets last season with 11 home runs and 59 runs batted in, appears destined for a utility role with the Red Sox. On Oct. 1, 1961, Stallard served the pitch that Roger Maris wal

Dec 7, 2022

Bobo Newsom is Dead

Dec. 7, 1962 - Bobo Newsom (pictured in 1932), a big right-handed pitcher who spent 24 years in the major leagues, died today in an Orlando hospital of a liver ailment. He was 55 years old. The colorful pitcher, whose true name was Louis Norman Newsom, broke into the majors with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1929. Gifted with a rare sense of humor, Newsom adopted the nickname of Bobo himself, then generously applied it to all others he addressed. Bobo never used the pronoun “I.” He

Nov 26, 2022

Yankees Trade Moose Skowron to Dodgers for Stan Williams

Nov. 26, 1962 - The New York Yankees moved into the spotlight today as the minor league convention opened in Rochester by swinging one of their most important player deals in years. The world champions traded Bill Skowron (pictured left with Roger Maris), their top-flight first baseman for eight seasons, to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Stan Williams, a 26-year-old right-handed pitcher. “As you know,” said Yankees general manager Roy Hamey, “we have been trying hard to land a s

Nov 25, 2022

Ralph Houk Released from Hospital

Nov. 25, 1962 - Ralph Houk, the manager of the New York Yankees, recovered today from an attack of acute indigestion and was discharged from Lenox Hill Hospital. Houk immediately left for Rochester to join other Yankee officials at the minor league baseball meetings. Houk was taken to the hospital Saturday night after he had passed out in Leone’s Ristorante shortly after he had finished eating dinner with his wife, Bette, and a son, Robert. Dr. Sidney Gaynor, the Yankees’ tea

Nov 20, 2022

Mantle is American League MVP

Nov. 20, 1962 - Mickey Mantle, beaten by narrow margins the last two years in controversial contests for the American League’s annual most-valuable-player award, today won one that probably came as a surprise even to him. The renowned 31-year-old slugger of the world champion Yankees, shackled for almost a third of the season with injuries, nevertheless scored a decisive victory for the league’s 1962 award with a total of 234 points. Bobby Richardson, the Yankees’ crack secon

Nov 3, 2022

Broadcaster Red Barber Signs Two-Year Contract with Yankees

Nov. 3, 1962 - Red Barber (pictured in 1955) has signed a new two-year contract for radio and television reporting on the New York Yankees. The contract covers play-by-play reporting and pre-game and post-game programs. The Yankees’ announcing staff, heretofore a trio consisting of Mel Allen, Phil Rizzuto, and Mr. Barber, will expand next season to include Jerry Coleman, a former player on the club. In the past, Mr. Coleman has done some pre-game telecasts when the Yankees we

Oct 30, 2022

Angels’ Bill Rigney is A.L. Manager of the Year

Oct. 30, 1962 - Bill Rigney, who helped raise the Los Angeles Angels from infancy to a pennant contender in two years, was named the American League manager of the year today by UPI. The 41-year-old former Giant infielder and manager was credited with a major role in one of the most remarkable construction jobs in baseball history — the job of building the Angels from scratch into a pennant threat. Rigney took over as manager of a club that did not even have any players on De

Oct 30, 2022

Maury Wills Honored in Adopted Hometown of Spokane

Oct. 30, 1962 - Maury Wills, who signed a baseball contract out of high school 12 years ago on the strength of a powerful arm and swift legs, has returned to his adopted hometown of Spokane, Washington, with the major league base-stealing record. Today he was named the Spokane’s outstanding citizen. After receiving a standing ovation from the Chamber of Commerce, but before receiving the surprise award, Wills said: “I survived that lump on my hip for the last month of the sea

Oct 24, 2022

Yankees Earn Nearly $10,000 Apiece for World Series Win

Oct. 24, 1962 - Victory in the World Series was worth $9,883 each to New York Yankees Manager Ralph Houk (left with Alvin Dark) and the 33 players, coaches, and trainers who were voted a full share, it was disclosed today by Charles Segar, secretary-treasurer of baseball. The 29 San Francisco Giants who are to receive a full share will be paid $7,291 each, the largest cut ever earned by members of a losing team. The Yankees’ split was the third highest in history for a winnin

Oct 22, 2022

Phillies’ Gene Mauch is National League Manager of the Year

Oct. 22, 1962 - Gene Mauch, whose seventh-place Philadelphia Phillies were the hottest team in baseball in the last two months of the season, was named National League manager of the year today in polls of baseball writers conducted by the AP and UPI. Manager Alvin Dark of the Giants finished second in the voting, and the Dodgers’ Walter Alston was third. Mauch’s team won 30 of its last 44 games and finished with a record of 81-80, an improvement of 30-and-a-half games over i

Oct 17, 2022

Dodgers Rehire Alston as Manager

Oct. 17, 1962 - The Los Angeles Dodgers rehired Manager Walter Alston (pictured left with Sandy Koufax and Johnny Podres) today. And Alston, refusing to believe reports that he had been undermined by Leo Durocher, said he would like to retain the colorful coach. Alston, the dean of National League managers, will be returning for his 10th season as the Dodger field leader. Alston was manager the only two years the Dodgers ever won the world championship — in 1955 at Brooklyn a

Oct 17, 2022

Final Two Outs of the 1962 World Series (George Kell Radio Call)

Oct. 16, 1962 - Ralph Houk’s Bombers, behind the 4-hit pitching of their ace right-hander, Ralph Terry, turned back the Giants, 1-0, in the seventh game of the 1962 World Series. It is the Yankees’ 20th world championship. #yankees #sfgiants #worldseries #mlb #mlbpostseason #mlbplayoffs

Oct 16, 2022

Giants’ McCovey: “I Would Have Been a Hero”

Oct. 16, 1962 - “One foot higher, and I guess I would have been a hero,” said the San Francisco Giants’ Willie McCovey (right) in the dressing room after today’s 1-0 loss to the Yankees. McCovey’s ninth-inning line drive with two men on base was snared by Bobby Richardson for the final out of the World Series. “I thought I had a hit,” said McCovey. “I knew I hit it good.” Earlier, McCovey had poled the game’s longest shot, a 410-foot triple to center field in the seventh inni

Oct 16, 2022

Yankee Ralph Terry: “I Am a Very Lucky Fellow”

Oct. 16, 1962 - “I am a very lucky fellow, and I certainly thank God for a second opportunity,” said Ralph Terry today after he had pitched the Yankees to a 1-0 victory over the Giants in the deciding game of the World Series. “You don’t often get another chance to prove yourself, in baseball or in life,” added the 26-year-old part-time pitcher and full-time philosopher. Two years ago, after the seventh game of another World Series, Terry was a shattered man. Bill Mazeroski h

Oct 16, 2022

🚨Yankees Take Tension-Filled Seventh Game, 1-0, Win World Series in San Francisco

Oct. 16, 1962 - Baseball’s longest season ended today with the New York Yankees still the world champions. Ralph Houk’s Bombers, behind the 4-hit pitching of their ace right-hander, Ralph Terry, turned back the Giants, 1-0, in the seventh game of the 1962 World Series. It is the Yankees’ 20th world championship. Only 7 times since 1921 have the Yanks been defeated in a World Series. But they came mighty close to losing an eighth time today. For in the last of the ninth, as a

Oct 15, 2022

Southpaw Billy Pierce Excels as Giants Even Series with Yankees, 3-3

Oct. 15, 1962 - The World Series got rolling again today, and it rolled right over the Yankees. The San Francisco Giants, behind the brilliant three-hit pitching of their ace left-hander, Billy Pierce, beat Ralph Houk’s Bombers, 5-2, in the long-delayed sixth game. With this triumph, achieved before a crowd of 43,948, Al Dark’s San Franciscans, given up for dead countless times this season, are very much alive. The series is deadlocked at three victories apiece. The seventh a

Oct 13, 2022

Yankees and Giants Waiting Out the Rain

Oct. 13, 1962 - Time hung heavily on the hands of the Yankees today as they waited impatiently for the weather to permit resumption of their interrupted World Series with the Giants. Lashing rain kept the Bombers hotel-bound for the second straight day and, as several of them put it, “We’re going stir crazy. We might just as well be on Alcatraz.” Mickey Mantle (pictured before Game 2 with Willie Mays) was asked whether he thought the long layoff would dull his batting eye. “T

Oct 12, 2022

Dodger General Manager Excoriates Durocher for Disloyalty

Oct. 12, 1962 - Emil “Buzzie” Bavasi, general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, today charged Coach Leo Durocher (right) with being disloyal to Manager Walter Alston (left). He said there was no longer room for both men on the same club. Bavasi based his claim on a statement attributed to Durocher at a Dodger party in which Leo allegedly said: “We would have won the pennant if I had been managing.” Neither Bavasi nor Walter O’Malley, owner of the Dodgers, was present at the