[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 1961
Yep, EC's Is Havin' Some Fun in '61

Yep, it was good year for baseball, featuring a home run race between two Yankees, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle... both were chasing Babe Ruth's magical number 60 that year... Maris set a new record with 61 homers in 1961... Mantle fell short with 54... New York set a new MLB record with 240 roundtrippers... the Yankees won the pennant by 8 games over the Detroit Tigers... Cincinnati captured the National League title, finishing 4 games better than the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In the 1961 World Series it was the Yanks led by Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Bill Skowron, Elston Howard and Whitey Ford, challenged by the Reds, featuring Frank Robinson, Gordy Coleman, Gene Freese, Wally Post, Joey Jay, Jim O'Toole and Bob Purkey.

Cincy first baseman Gordy Coleman was one of my favorite Mobile Bears in the Southern Association... he starred with the Bears in 1956, then spent 2 years in the military... back in Mobile in 1959 he won the triple crown in the Southern Association (30 homers, 110 RBIs and a .353 BA)... Coleman was promoted to Cincinnati in 1960.

Cincy was managed by Freddie Hutchinson and New York by Ralph Houk... the Yankees won the World Series in 5 games.

Game One at Yankee Stadium:
Whitey Ford blanked Cincinnati 2-0 on 2 hits, outpitching Jim O'Toole... Elston Howard and Bill Skowron homered.

Game Two at Yankee Stadium:
Superb pitching by Joey Jay enabled the Reds to even the Series at one game apiece... Jay stopped sthe Yankees 6-2 on 4 hits... Ralph Terry was the losing pitcher... Gordy Coleman homered for Cincy and Yogi Berra for the Yanks.

Game Three at Crosley Field:
New York won a 3-2 thriller on a home run by Roger Maris in the top of the 9th to go up 2-1 in the Series... he only got 2 hits in the series... this was a duel between young Bill Stafford and Bob Purkey... the Yankees got lucky in the 7th to tie score... neither Frank Robinson in right field and second baseman Elio Chacon could handle a blooper by Yogi Berra... they collided and Tony Kubek scored.

Game Four at Crosley Field:
The Yankees really took command of the Series with a 3-1 lead in games... it was in this game that Ford broke Babe Ruth's scoreless innings mark in the World Series... Ruth held the record with 29 and two-thirds scoreless innings... Ford only worked 5 innings, running the record to 32 consecutive scoreless innings... New York shut Cincinnati out 7-0... Ford hurt his ankle and was replaced by Jim Coates in the 6th frame and he blanked the Reds the rest of the way.

Game Five at Crosley Field:
The sputtering Yankee offense finally came alive in fifth game of the Series... they had been held in check by the Cincinnati staff in the first three games... even without the injured Berra and Mantle, New York busted loose and boomed 15 hits and routed Cincy 13-5... subs Hector Lopez and Johnny Blanchard came through for the Yankees... both homered... Lopez drove in 5 runs, Bill Skowron 3 and Blanchard 2... this was New York's 19th World Series title in 39 years.

Ralph Houk was only the third rookie skipper to win the World Series... in 1924 Bucky Harris led the Washington Senators to the World Series crown as a 26-year-old player-manager... in 1946 Eddy Dyer and the St. Louis Cardinals won an epic World Series with the Boston Red Sox in 7 games, decided by Enos Slaughter scoring from first base on a single.