1961 Los Angeles Dodgers season

1961 Los Angeles Dodgers
LeagueNational League
BallparkLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum
CityLos Angeles
OwnersWalter O'Malley, James & Dearie Mulvey
PresidentWalter O'Malley
General managersBuzzie Bavasi
ManagersWalter Alston
TelevisionKTTV (11)
RadioKFI
Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett
KWKW
René Cárdenas, Jaime Jarrín, Miguel Alonzo
← 1960 Seasons 1962 →

The 1961 Los Angeles Dodgers finished in second place in the National League with a record of 89–65, four games behind the Cincinnati Reds. 1961 was the fourth season for the Dodgers in Los Angeles. It was also the Dodgers final season of playing their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, since they moved to their new stadium the following season.

Offseason

Regular season

On April 17, 1961, Duke Snider hit his 370th career home run, which at the time moved him into 7th place on the all-time career home runs list.[6] Later in the same game, Snider suffered a broken elbow, and he was knocked out for a good part of the season when he was hit by a pitch from Bob Gibson of the Cardinals.

Season standings

National League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cincinnati Reds 93 61 .604 — 47‍–‍30 46‍–‍31
Los Angeles Dodgers 89 65 .578 4 45‍–‍32 44‍–‍33
San Francisco Giants 85 69 .552 8 45‍–‍32 40‍–‍37
Milwaukee Braves 83 71 .539 10 45‍–‍32 38‍–‍39
St. Louis Cardinals 80 74 .519 13 48‍–‍29 32‍–‍45
Pittsburgh Pirates 75 79 .487 18 38‍–‍39 37‍–‍40
Chicago Cubs 64 90 .416 29 40‍–‍37 24‍–‍53
Philadelphia Phillies 47 107 .305 46 22‍–‍55 25‍–‍52

Record vs. opponents

1961 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team CHC CIN LAD MIL PHI PIT SF STL
Chicago — 12–10 7–15 9–13–1 13–9 11–11 5–17 7–15–1
Cincinnati 10–12 — 12–10 15–7 19–3 11–11 12–10 14–8
Los Angeles 15–7 10–12 — 12–10 17–5 13–9 10–12 12–10
Milwaukee 13–9–1 7–15 10–12 — 16–6 12–10 11–11 14–8
Philadelphia 9–13 3–19 5–17 6–16 — 7–15 8–14–1 9–13
Pittsburgh 11–11 11–11 9–13 10–12 15–7 — 10–12 9–13
San Francisco 17–5 10–12 12–10 11–11 14–8–1 12–10 — 9–13
St. Louis 15–7–1 8–14 10–12 8–14 13–9 13–9 13–9 —


Opening Day lineup

Opening Day Starters
# Name Position
30 Maury Wills SS
3 Willie Davis CF
12 Tommy Davis 3B
4 Duke Snider RF
9 Wally Moon LF
5 Norm Larker 1B
43 Charlie Neal 2B
8 John Roseboro C
53 Don Drysdale P

[7]

Notable transactions

Roster

1961 Los Angeles Dodgers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C John Roseboro 128 394 99 .251 18 59
1B Norm Larker 97 282 76 .270 5 38
2B Charlie Neal 108 341 80 .235 10 48
SS Maury Wills 148 613 173 .282 1 31
3B Daryl Spencer 60 189 46 .243 8 27
LF Wally Moon 134 463 152 .328 17 88
CF Willie Davis 128 339 86 .254 12 45
RF Frank Howard 92 267 79 .296 15 45

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Tommy Davis 132 460 128 .278 15 58
Jim Gilliam 144 439 107 .244 4 32
Ron Fairly 111 245 79 .322 10 48
Duke Snider 85 233 69 .296 16 56
Gil Hodges 109 215 52 .242 8 31
Norm Sherry 47 121 31 .256 5 21
Bob Aspromonte 47 58 14 .241 0 2
Gordie Windhorn 34 33 8 .242 2 6
Doug Camilli 13 30 4 .133 3 4
Don Demeter 15 29 5 .172 1 2
Charley Smith 9 24 6 .250 2 3
Carl Warwick 19 11 1 .091 0 1
Bob Lillis 19 9 1 .111 0 1
Tim Harkness 5 8 4 .500 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Sandy Koufax 42 255.2 18 13 3.52 269
Don Drysdale 40 244.0 13 10 3.69 182
Stan Williams 41 235.1 15 12 3.90 205
Johnny Podres 32 182.2 18 5 3.74 124

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Roger Craig 40 112.2 5 6 6.15 53
Phil Ortega 4 13.0 0 2 5.54 15

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Larry Sherry 53 4 4 15 3.90 79
Turk Farrell 50 6 6 10 5.06 80
Ron Perranoski 53 7 5 6 2.65 56
Jim Golden 28 1 1 0 5.79 18
Ed Roebuck 5 2 0 0 5.00 9
Ed Palmquist 5 0 1 1 6.23 5

Awards and honors

All-Stars

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Omaha Dodgers American Association Danny Ozark
AAA Spokane Indians Pacific Coast League Preston Gómez
AA Atlanta Crackers Southern Association Rube Walker
A Greenville Spinners South Atlantic League Roy Hartsfield
B Salem Dodgers Northwest League Stan Wasiak
C Great Falls Electrics Pioneer League Al Ronning
C Reno Silver Sox California League Roy Smalley
D Artesia Dodgers Sophomore League Spider Jorgensen
D Kokomo Dodgers Midwest League Dom Domenichelli
D Orlando Dodgers Florida State League Edward Serrano
D Panama City Fliers Alabama–Florida League George Scherger

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Great Falls, Reno

References

  1. ^ Ray Semproch at Baseball-Reference
  2. ^ Earl Robinson at Baseball-Reference
  3. ^ Danny McDevitt Archived April 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine at Baseball-Reference
  4. ^ Joe Pignatano at Baseball-Reference
  5. ^ Ed Rakow at Baseball-Reference
  6. ^ Duke Snider at The Baseball Page
  7. ^ 1961 Opening Day Lineup at Baseball-Reference
  8. ^ Charley Smith at Baseball-Reference
  9. ^ Art Fowler at Baseball-Reference
  10. ^ Bob Lillis at Baseball-Reference