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. 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 - Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle will appear in starring roles in “Safe at Home,” an independent feature, to be filmed by Naud-Hamilburg Productions starting next month at the New York Yankees’ training camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The Columbia release has an original screenplay by Tom Naud and Steve Rich. The film is about a Florida boy who lies to his Little League teammates, telling them he knows Mantle and Maris and will bring them to their team banquet. His

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. 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. 12, 1961 - The world champion Yankees may be faced with a record payroll that could go well over $700,000. But their salary troubles with one problem child could be over within a matter of a few hours. Mickey Mantle (pictured with Joe DiMaggio in 1951), generally recognized as the highest salaried player in the American League, is expected to sign his 1962 contract in the Yankee offices today for $85,000. That would make him the highest paid Bomber since Joe DiMaggio dre

Nov. 15, 1961 - Yankee outfielder Roger Maris, whose 61 home runs last season were the most ever hit by a major league player in a championship campaign, was voted the American League’s most valuable player for 1961. The 27-year-old Midwesterner, who makes his home just outside Kansas City, bagged the prized award for the second year in a row. In the poll of the Baseball Writers Association of America, Maris scored 202 points to 198 points for his teammate Mickey Mantle. Mick

Nov. 8, 1961 - Whitey Ford, the bellwether of the Yankee pitching staff for more than 10 years, gained the Cy Young award as the outstanding pitcher for 1961. The poll of the committee of the Baseball Writers Association showed 9 votes for Ford, 6 for Warren Spahn, 40-year-old southpaw of the Milwaukee Braves, and 2 for Frank Lary, crack right-hander of the Detroit Tigers. When asked to explain his remarkable success, the affable Whitey replied, “you’d have to say righteous l

Nov. 4, 1961 - Roger Maris today got back the ball he hit for his 61st home run last season, but he avoided a red-carpet welcome planned for him by a local Sacramento businessman. Sam Gordon, a restaurant owner, bought the baseball from Sal Durante, who recovered it at Yankee Stadium on Oct. 1. Gordon paid Durante $5,000 for the ball. He also paid for a honeymoon trip for Durante and his bride. Gordon also paid for Maris’s round-trip airplane fare from Kansas City. He had arr

Oct. 30, 1961 - Sal Durante (right), the 19-year-old Brooklyn truck driver who caught Roger Maris’s 61st home run, arrived in Sacramento today with both the ball and his new bride (left), Rose Calabrese, 17, a secretary. A Sacramento restaurant owner, Sam Gordon, greeted the newlyweds at the airport and said he would give Durante a $5,000 check Saturday for the ball. Mr. Gordon will then present the ball to Maris. Durante and his bride will have an all-expenses-paid honeymoon

Oct. 9, 1961 - Whitey Ford (pictured right with Johnny Blanchard and Roger Maris), a double pitching victor for the Yankees, was named the outstanding performer in the world series today by Sport Magazine and received the magazine's seventh annual award of a Chevrolet Corvette sports car. The left-handed Ford shut out the Reds, 2-0, in the series opener and was the winner in the Yankees' 7-0 triumph in the fourth game yesterday. Ford also broke Babe Ruth's 1916-18 series reco

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

Oct. 9, 1961 - The Yankees defeated the Cincinnati Reds today, 13-5, and won the world series for the 19th time in 26 attempts. Eight Cincinnati pitchers gave a total of fifteen hits. A five-run first inning started the Yankees to their fourth victory in the five games that this series lasted. Ralph Houk's Bombers routed Joey Jay after he had retired only two batters. This was the Jay whose four-hitter in the second game brought Cincinnati its only victory in the series. So,

Oct. 8, 1961 - The Yankees defeated the Reds, 7-0, today and moved within a game of winning the 1961 world series. Babe Ruth's 43-year-old pitching record of 29 and two-thirds scoreless innings fell along with the Reds. The record was broken by the skillful Whitey Ford (pictured). Ford was able to pitch only five innings before leaving with a bruised toe. But he departed with a world series mark of 32 consecutive scoreless innings. Should the Reds escape another defeat, the s

Oct. 7, 1961 - Two majestic home runs — a pinch homer by John Blanchard in the eighth inning and a drive by Roger Maris in the ninth for his first hit of the series — swept the Yankees back in business today. The two shots, along with two innings of stout-hearted relief pitching by Luis Arroyo, enabled Ralph Houk's Bombers to bring down the Reds, 3-2, as the third game of the series brought the big show to Crosley Field before a gathering of 23,589. The victory gave the Ameri

Oct. 4, 1961 - Virtually every time Yogi Berra picks up a bat or draws a deep breath during a world series, he breaks a record, usually his own. The Yankee catcher-outfielder has played in 69 world series games, more than any other player in history. Going into this series, he held 17 records, including most hits (68), most RBIs (39), and most runs scored (39). #MLB #baseball #yankees #yankeestadium #yankeesbaseball #yankeesfan #yankeeswin #yankeesnation #yankeesstadium #yank