In Pursuit of the Babe


	1961 New York Yankees		Home Field: Yankee Stadium
	World Champions		Hit: #2 R; #4 BA
	W - 109 L - 53		Pitch: #2 OR, ERA
	Manager: Ralph Houk		Def: #1 FA

1961 will be forever remembered as the year Roger Maris eclipsed Babe Ruth's single season mark with 61 homers. This year's Bronx Bombers hit 240 homers, more than any team had ever hit previously. Joining Maris in the chase was teammate Mickey Mantle, a Yankee for the previous decade. Mantle, a long time Yankee, was the media and fan favorite to surpass Ruth. In the end, he hit 54 himself.

While Maris and Mantle pursued immortality, the team was trying to erase the memories of last season's heartbreaking World Series loss against Pittsburgh. Long time skipper Casey Stengel had been replaced at the helm by Ralph Houk. In addition to the M&M Boys, as they were dubbed, New York featured four other 20 homer men including an aging Yogi Berra and first sacker Moose Skowron.

Pitching, though often overlooked because of the offense, was again a Yankee strong suit. Whitey Ford, at 25-4, led the league in wins and won baseball's Cy Young Award. He was joined by Ralph Terry at 16-3. Reliever Luis Arroyo saved 29 and posted a 15-5 mark.

The Yankees won 109 games in the first ever 162 game schedule. New York outdistanced Detroit by eight games to win their sixth pennant in seven years and advanced to meet Cincinnati in the World Series. After splitting the first two at Yankee Stadium, New York rolled into Cincinnati and won three straight to claim another World Championship.

Pos	Player	Bats	AB	H	R	HR	RBI	BA	AL Rank
C	Elston Howard	R	446	155	64	21	77	.348
1B	Bill Skowron	R	561	150	76	28	89	.267
2B	Bobby Richardson	R	662	173	80	3	49	.261
SS	Tony Kubek	L	617	170	84	8	46	.276
3B	Clete Boyer	R	504	113	61	11	55	.224
LF	Yogi Berra	L	395	107	62	22	61	.271
CF	Mickey Mantle	B	514	163	132	54	128	.317	#1t R; #2 HR; #5 RBI
RF	Roger Maris	L	590	159	132	61	142	.269	#1 HR, RBI; #1t R

C-OF	Johnny Blanchard	L	243	74	38	21	54	.305
OF	Hector Lopez	R	243	54	27	3	22	.222
OF	Bob Cerv	R	118	32	17	6	20	.271
3B-2B	Billy Gardner	R	99	21	11	1	2	.212

Total:	Team		5559	1461	827	240	782	.263
	League Average		54904	14037	7342	1534	6842	.256

	Pitcher	Throw	G	IP	W	L	ERA	PCT	AL Rank
	Whitey Ford	L	39	283	25	4	3.21	.862	#1 W, #2 K
	Ralph Terry	R	31	188	16	3	3.16	.842	#5 W
	Bill Stafford	R	36	195	14	9	2.68	.609	#2 ERA
	Roland Sheldon	R	35	163	11	5	3.59	.688
	Jim Coates	R	43	141	11	5	3.45	.688
	Bud Daley	L	23	130	8	9	3.95	.471
	Luis Arroyo	L	65	119	15	5	2.19	.750	#1 SV
	Bob Turley	R	15	72	3	5	5.75	.375

Total:	Team				109	53	3.46
	League Average						4.02

Courtesy of Mike & Maria