Ballet In The Dirt- Major League Baseball In 1960

[PhillieFever]

National League Pitching Leaders
August 2nd, 1961

[PhillieFever]

MLB Rookies Of The Month For July 1961

[PhillieFever]

MLB Pitchers Of The Month For July 1961

[PhillieFever]

MLB Batters Of The Month For July 1961

[PhillieFever]

Sports Presents
The MLB Game Of The Week
At
Candlestick Park, San Francisco, Ca.

With five losses in their last six games including yesterday's ugly 15-1 defeat at the hands of the second place Braves, the first place Giants entered today's game in desperate need of a win, and thanks to a clutch tie breaking three run 5th inning homer by Felipe Alou, along with some spectacular relief pitching from Billy O'Dell and Jim Duffalo, that's exactly what they got, triumphing over the visiting Braves 6-4.
Handed a 1-0 first inning advantage courtesy of a Jim Davenport solo homer, Giants starter Sam Jones could not hold the lead, allowing three third inning runs on RBI singles from Frank Thomas and Hank Aaron and a bases loaded walk to Joe Adcock, but in the bottom of the inning the Giants tied the game at 3-3, taking advantage of two Braves miscues, a wild pitch by starting pitcher Bob Buhl, and a fielding error by 2B Frank Bolling.
Still tied at three in the 5th, the Giants got back to back one out singles from Orlando Cepeda and Willie Mays before Felipe Alou stepped to the plate and put the Giants ahead to stay, with a three run homer off of Bob Buhl, putting him on the hook for his 7th loss in his last 8 starts. In the 6th, the Braves closed the gap to 6-4 on a solo homer from Joe Adcock, his 26th of the season and 4th in the last two days, but save for a Lee Maye single two batters later, the Braves would not get another hit the rest of the way, and the Giants took the ballgame 6-4. With the win, the Giants upped their lead in the league to three and a half games over both Milwaukee and Los Angeles, and four and a half over St. Louis in the closely contested National League
Box Score

[PhillieFever]

Sunday August 6th, 1961

Streaking White Sox Get Back Into Race

The Chicago White Sox continued their resurgent play this week, running their winning streak to an impressive 12 games before dropping a 7-5 decision to the Indians on Thursday ending the streak. After an off day on Friday, they came right back to defeat the Senators on Saturday by the score of 4-3, giving them a record of 26-6 since July 1st and moving them to within 5 and a half games of first place Detroit. Leading the charge of late has been 25 year old RF Floyd Robinson, who is batting .571 with 3 homers and 8 RBI over his last 5 games.

Rookie Halo Wins 4th Straight

20 year old Angels rookie pitcher Dean Chance has put on quite a show of late, going 4-0 in his last 4 starts with 15 strikeouts and a sparkling ERA of 0.89 in 30.1 innings pitched. In his last start, a 6-3 triumph over the Red Sox, Chance went 7 strong innings, allowing 3 runs(2 earned) on 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 4.

Cincinnati Heating Up

Since stumbling to a 5-9 record after the break and falling into 6th place, manager Fred Hutchinson's Cincinnati Reds have come storming back, going 8-2 in their last 10 to remain alive in the very competitive Senior Circuit. As of the end of the end of the day on Saturday, the National League had six of eight teams still alive, with only the Cubs and Phillies out of contention.

Sox Aparicio Out

Chicago White Sox all-star SS Luis Aparicio could be out of the lineup for up to two weeks with a badly bruised knee suffered in a collision with Indians CF Jimmy Piersall who was attempting to break up a double play. Piersall was not injured on the play.

Tigers Kaline Out

After making a diving first inning ending catch off of the bat of Washington's Gene Green, Tigers RF Al Kaline was forced to leave the game with an injury to his neck. Following the game, Tigers GM Rick Ferrell announced that Kaline could be out for 2-3 weeks with what he termed as a bruised neck.

Adcock Clouts 3 Against Giants

Braves 1B Joe Adcock swung a big stick on Friday, homering three times in 5 at-bats while knocking in 7 runs in a 14-1 pounding of the Giants at Candlestick Park. Adcock, who homered again in Saturday's game now has 26 homers for the year, tying him for 5th in the league with the Giants Orlando Cepeda.

Pinson Up To .386

Following a 1 for 6 day against the Cubs on July 30th, Reds CF Vada Pinson saw his average dip to .376, the lowest it's been since May 20th. Over his last 5 games however Pinson has again caught fire, going 12 for his last 21 with a double, 3 homers, and 9 RBI, upping his average to a Major League best .386. This is of interest because since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941, there has been just one player to end the season with a batting average above the .380 mark. That player? Williams of course who hit .388 in 1957

Koufax Claims Strikeout Lead

With his 11 strikeout performance in a 4-0 shutout of the Cubs on Friday, 25 year old Dodgers lefty Sandy Koufax took over the Major League lead in strikeouts with 178, six better than White Sox flamethrower Juan Pizarro, who leads the A.L. with 172

O's Lose 5th Straight

Since losing their grip of the top spot in the American League late last month, the Baltimore Orioles have begun to slide, losing 7 of their last 9 games including their last 5 straight to fall three and a half games behind first place Detroit, and just two games ahead of third place Chicago. Their pitching, which has been such a strong suit for them all season has suddenly begun to show some cracks, having allowed 56 runs over the 2-7 stretch.

Yanks Mantle Extends Hit Streak to 14

With 2 hits in Saturday's 1-0 loss to the Twins, Yankees slugger Mickey Mantle extended his hitting streak to 14 games, a season high. Mantle was last held hitless on July 19th in a 2-0 victory over the Senators. During the streak Mickey has gone 21 for 53(.396) with 2 doubles, 6 homers, 17 RBI, and 11 runs scored. Unfortunately for Yankees fans, the club has gone just 5-9 during the streak and have all but fallen out of contention.

MLB Standings

[PhillieFever]

MLB Players Of The Week
W/E August 6th, 1961

[PhillieFever]

Sports Presents
The MLB Game Of The Week
At
Griffith Stadium, Washington, DC

Hoping to salvage what's left of what has been for them a nightmare of a season, the 5th place New York Yankees entered today's game with seven wins in their last nine games, including yesterday's 4-2 extra inning victory in game one of a three game series with the Senators here in the nation's capital.
In today's ballgame, the Yanks and Senators again went into extra innings, and again the Yankees were victorious, taking the game 8-5 on a three run home run by Roger Maris in the top of the 14th inning.
As the game began, neither team's starter was very effective, and after three innings of play, the game was tied 3-3. In the 5th, it was Washington who took the lead, going ahead by the score of 4-3 on a one out RBI double by former Yankee Dale Long. In the 9th, a Mickey Mantle RBI single capped off a two run inning for New York, who after trailing for most of the game suddenly found themselves three outs from victory, but it wasn't to be, and following a totally ineffective stint by pitcher Tex Clevenger who loaded the bases without retiring a batter, his replacement Luis Arroyo walked the first batter he faced, allowing the Senators to tie the game at 5-5 while giving them a golden opportunity to win the game, but that also wasn't to be, and Arroyo escaped the inning by getting a force out at the plate and then striking out the next two batters he faced, forcing extra innings. During the extra frames, neither team could get anything going until in the top of the 14th, Yankee SS Tony Kubek ripped a triple to start the inning, and then following an intentional walk to Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris stepped to the plate and lined a home run over the right field wall giving New York the eventual 8-5 win.

Box Score

[PhillieFever]

Sunday August 13th, 1961

Birds Barber Twirls No Hitter

23 year old Orioles lefty Steve Barber twirled the first big league no hitter in nearly three years on Wednesday with a 2-0 victory over the Athletics in front of 19,523 fans at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium. Barber, who ran his record to an amazing 15-2 was just one walk away from a perfect game and retired the last 21 Athletics batters in order. His lone blemish was a third inning leadoff walk to A's 2B Ozzie Virgil. The Orioles, who managed just four hits themselves off of A's pitcher Lew Krausse Jr. scored their runs on a 1st inning RBI ground out by Jackie Brandt and a 5th inning RBI single by Russ Snyder. Barber's no hitter was the first since Orioles pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm no hit the Yankees 1-0 on September 20th, 1958.

Wood And Bell Suspended For Brawl

As part of baseball's new tougher policy on fighting, American league president Joe Cronin suspended both Tigers 2B Jake Wood and Indians pitcher Gary Bell for 5 games each following their fight during Sunday's 7-2 Tigers victory. The brawl was ignited when Bell nailed Wood in the back with a fastball immediately following a 3 run 1st inning homer by the Tigers Rocky Colavito.

Tigers Purchase Kline

Hoping to improve their pitching for the stretch drive, the Detroit Tigers have purchased the contract of 29 year old pitcher Ron Kline from the Los Angeles Angels for the price of $25,000 in cash. In 24 starts with the Angels, Kline had a record of 11-8 with a 4.86 ERA in 170.1 innings pitched.

Tigers Cash Injured

Tigers 1B Norm Cash suffered a badly bruised elbow during Friday's 11-4 victory over the Twins, and he could be out for as much as a week. So far this season, Cash is batting .374 with 36 homers and 91 RBI, making him one of the favorites for AL MVP honors.

White Sox Lollar Has Streak Snapped At 20

Chicago White Sox catcher Sherm Lollar turned plenty of heads last week, when with a base hit in Friday's game with the Athletics, he extended his hitting streak to an impressive 20 games. The next day however it was all over, as the A's held Lollar hitless in four at bats in the Sox 6-2 win.

Cubs Lose Banks For Up To A Week

Due to a strained ligament in his throwing elbow, the Cubs could be without all-star SS Ernie Banks for about a week if all goes well with his rehab, and maybe longer if it doesn't. Banks injured his arm making a routine throw in Friday's 5-4 Cubs victory over the Braves.

Tough Day For Jack

Phillies relief specialist Jack Baldschun had a day he would like to forget on Sunday, losing both ends of a doubleheader to the Cardinals on breakdowns in the 9th inning. In game one, Baldschun entered a 4-4 game in the and didn't retire a batter before allowing a game winning RBI single to the Cards Ken Boyer. In game two, Baldschun entered the game in the 9th with a 3-2 lead but again couldn't get the job done, allowing back to back RBI singles to Julian Javier and Red Schoendienst, handing the Cards the win.

MLB Standings

[PhillieFever]

MLB Players Of The Week
W/E August 13, 1961

[PhillieFever]

Due to work on the beta team for OOTP 12, I haven't been able to play much, but once beta is over, I'll be back in business.

[Jeff1787]

Good!! Plus, I'm looking forward to OOTP 12.

[PhillieFever]

Originally Posted by Jeff1787

Good!! Plus, I'm looking forward to OOTP 12.

My plan is to transfer the dynasty to OOTP 12 for the 1962 season, hopefully it'll be possible to implement the new historical features to an existing OOTP 11 game.

[PhillieFever]

Sunday August 20th, 1961

Orioles Close Gap On Tigers

With 11 wins in their last 14 games including a four game sweep of the Tigers in Detroit, the Baltimore Orioles have closed to within a half game of first place Detroit, who after dropping 5 straight earlier in the week have bounced back to win their last two to hold onto the top spot.

Buzhardt Leads Phils to 1st Win Over Braves

Pitcher John Buzhardt allowed just 3 runs on 5 hits while walking 3 and striking out 4 to lead the Phillies to a 4-3 triumph over the Milwaukee Braves on Saturday, giving the Phillies their first win over the Braves in 14 tries this season.

Berra Turns On The Power

Yankees OF Yogi Berra slammed three homers on Friday and another on Saturday to lead New York to wins of 10-1 and 3-2 in the first two games of their weekend series with the Indians. The victories give the Yanks 12 wins in their last 16 games, moving them to within a game and a half of 4th place Minnesota.

Twins Ramos First Hurler To 20 Wins

With his complete game 9-4 victory over Dean Chance and the Angels on Saturday, Minnesota Twins hurler Pedro Ramos became the first pitcher to reach the 20 win mark this season. In 26 starts so far this year, Ramos has a record of 20-5 with 137 strikeouts and a 3.68 ERA.

Giants Hold Serve In Tight NL

Although not setting the world on fire, the first place Giants continue to hold the rest of the league at bay thanks to the phenomenal play of CF Willie Mays, who's .339 batting average, 37 homers, and 97 RBI are all team highs. On the mound, 22 year old Mike McCormick has been the star, putting together a record of 19-6 with 158 K's and a fine ERA of 2.48

Cubs Williams Mired In Slump

Thought to be one of the rising young stars in the National League, 23 year old Cubs Left Fielder Billy Williams has been lost at the plate of late. Over his last 11 games, Williams has hit just .140(6 for 43), dropping his season average from .263 to .251

Phillies Roberts Nearing The End?

Once a perennial 20 game winner who has racked up an impressive 234 career victories, the Phillies Robin Roberts is having a nightmare of a season. Bothered by nagging injuries for most of the year, the once fearsome fireballer has now lost 9 straight games, dropping his record to an ugly 2-12 with an even worse 6.91 earned run average.

Pirates Hoak Injured

The fiery leader of the Pirates infield, Don "Tiger" Hoak will be out of action for at least two weeks after breaking his finger in the Pirates 20 inning victory over the Phillies last Sunday. In his place, the Bucs have been using 34 year old veteran Johnny Logan.

Reds - Phillies Close Deal

The Cincinnati Reds have purchased the contract of 32 year old catcher Darrell Johnson from the Phillies for an undisclosed amount of cash. To make room for Johnson, the Reds have released OF Pete Whisenant.

MLB Standings

[Syd Thrift]

Whoa, whoa, wait!! What new historical features?

[Jeff1787]

Maybe this is what he means:

"Historical leagues benefit from improved AI and real life transactions and as-played lineups as optional features. Thanks to OOTP's sophisticated game engine, you'll be able to enjoy the most realistic historical simulation results possible."

I copied it from the official newsletter...

Also, I think they are adding real coaches and WAR as a new statistic.

[PhillieFever]

Exactly. Real life transactions, real lineups, as played schedules, real life managers with tendencies and the option of using the reserve clause financial system. Plus there's improved in game AI, much better trading engine, and a few other things.

[Syd Thrift]

The reserve clause alone just sold it for me. :2gladhepreordered:

[captaincarl]

I think that I will splurge and pick it up as well after reading about this.

Some of those features are in a computer version of a baseball game but I'm not going to say the company. I still think that OOTP is the better game, though.

[PhillieFever]

Markus, Andreas, and the beta team are all working hard to make this the best OOTP ever. The improvement from 11 to 12 is much more dramatic than it was from 10 to 11. I hate to sound like a salesman, but once this game is finished it's going to be spectacular.