1961 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1961 Pittsburgh Pirates
Major League affiliations
	National League (since 1887);
Location
	Forbes Field (since 1909); Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (since 1907);
Other information
Owner(s)	John W. Galbreath (majority shareholder); Bing Crosby, Thomas P. Johnson (minority shareholders)
General manager(s)	Joe L. Brown
Manager(s)	Danny Murtaugh
Local television	KDKA-TV ; Bob Prince, Jim Woods
Local radio	KDKA; Bob Prince, Paul Long, Jim Woods
	< Previous season Next season >

The 1961 Pittsburgh Pirates fell from World Champions the previous season to sixth place in the National League, as they won 75 games and lost 79, 18 games behind NL Champion Cincinnati.

Regular season[edit]

Season standings[edit]

v t e National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cincinnati Reds	93	61	0.604	—	47–30	46–31
Los Angeles Dodgers	89	65	0.578	4	45–32	44–33
San Francisco Giants	85	69	0.552	8	45–32	40–37
Milwaukee Braves	83	71	0.539	10	45–32	38–39
St. Louis Cardinals	80	74	0.519	13	48–29	32–45
Pittsburgh Pirates	75	79	0.487	18	38–39	37–40
Chicago Cubs	64	90	0.416	29	40–37	24–53
Philadelphia Phillies	47	107	0.305	46	22–55	25–52

Record vs. opponents[edit]

1961 National League Records v t e 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	—

Game log[edit]

1961 Game Log: 75–79 (Home: 38–39; Away: 37–40)

April: 9–6 (Home: 4–2; Away: 5–4)

May: 12–12 (Home: 7–6; Away: 5–6)

June: 15–13 (Home: 10–9; Away: 5–4)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
40	June 1	Braves	8–2 (7)	Haddix (4–1)	Burdette	—	19,128	22–18
41	June 2	Phillies	0–6	Buzhardt	Friend (5–7)	—	14,344	22–19
42	June 3	Phillies	5–1	Shantz (2–1)	Mahaffey	Face (7)	11,153	23–19
43	June 4	Phillies	0–5	Ferrarese	Mizell (4–3)	—	27,352	23–20
44	June 5	@ Dodgers	5–2	Law (2–4)	Perranoski	Face (8)	14,715	24–20
45	June 6	@ Dodgers	7–8	Podres	Face (2–2)	Sherry	15,784	24–21
46	June 7	@ Dodgers	3–7	Koufax	Francis (0–1)	—	19,967	24–22
47	June 8	@ Dodgers	4–2	Friend (6–7)	Williams	Shantz (1)	17,599	25–22
48	June 9	@ Giants	6–9	Bolin	Face (2–3)	Miller	27,815	25–23
49	June 10	@ Giants	0–5	McCormick	Mizell (4–4)	—	26,630	25–24
50	June 11	@ Giants	8–4	Law (3–4)	Loes	Friend (1)	34,185	26–24
51	June 13	Reds	2–1	Gibbon (5–2)	Maloney	—	19,423	27–24
52	June 14	Reds	5–4	Shantz (3–1)	Brosnan	—	14,270	28–24
53	June 15	Reds	1–8	Jay	Mizell (4–5)	—	19,209	28–25
54	June 16	Cardinals	2–5	Gibson	Haddix (4–2)	—	26,229	28–26
55	June 17	Cardinals	9–3	Shantz (4–1)	Broglio	—	15,436	29–26
56	June 18	Cardinals	5–3	Friend (7–7)	Simmons	Face (9)		30–26
57	June 18	Cardinals	3–7	Jackson	Gibbon (5–3)	Miller	29,176	30–27
58	June 20	@ Phillies	6–2	Haddix (5–2)	Mahaffey	Face (10)	10,649	31–27
59	June 22	@ Phillies	5–1	Friend (8–7)	Buzhardt	—	9,126	32–27
60	June 23	Phillies	11–12	Lehman	Francis (0–2)	Sullivan	16,170	32–28
61	June 24	Phillies	2–6	Short	Mizell (4–6)	Sullivan	9,546	32–29
62	June 25	Phillies	10–5	Face (3–3)	Baldschun	—		33–29
63	June 25	Phillies	3–4	Mahaffey	Haddix (5–3)	Sullivan	10,951	33–30
64	June 27	Dodgers	5–9	Farrell	Friend (8–8)	Sherry	25,936	33–31
65	June 28	Dodgers	9–3	Gibbon (6–3)	Drysdale	—	21,581	34–31
66	June 29	Dodgers	4–2	Francis (1–2)	Koufax	Face (11)	21,520	35–31
67	June 30	Giants	4–3	Face (4–3)	McCormick	—	31,900	36–31

July: 9–17 (Home: 4–10; Away: 5–7)

August: 16–16 (Home: 8–7; Away: 8–9)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
94	August 2	@ Cardinals	2–4	Jackson	Shantz (5–3)	—	12,048	45–49
95	August 3	@ Cardinals	19–0	Haddix (7–5)	Cicotte	—	11,514	46–49
96	August 4	@ Reds	4–5	Brosnan	Labine (2–1)	—	27,383	46–50
97	August 5	@ Reds	11–7	McBean (3–1)	Hunt	—	12,125	47–50
98	August 6	@ Reds	9–4	Mizell (5–8)	Jay	Labine (7)		48–50
99	August 6	@ Reds	2–3 (10)	Brosnan	Face (4–5)	—	31,167	48–51
100	August 7	@ Phillies	3–1	Friend (11–13)	Buzhardt	—	5,586	49–51
101	August 8	@ Phillies	10–2	Haddix (8–5)	Mahaffey	—		50–51
102	August 8	@ Phillies	3–2	Sturdivant (1–0)	Short	—	11,081	51–51
103	August 9	Cardinals	0–4	Simmons	Gibbon (8–7)	Bauta	17,038	51–52
104	August 10	Cardinals	2–3	Sadecki	Francis (1–5)	—	13,812	51–53
105	August 11	Phillies	6–0 (7)	Friend (12–13)	Roberts	—	12,965	52–53
106	August 12	Phillies	4–0	Mizell (6–8)	Owens	—	8,785	53–53
107	August 13	Phillies	13–4	Sturdivant (2–0)	Buzhardt	—	12,923	54–53
108	August 14	@ Braves	3–8	Cloninger	Haddix (8–6)	—	14,648	54–54
109	August 15	@ Braves	1–4	Willey	Gibbon (8–8)	—	16,843	54–55
110	August 16	@ Braves	1–2	Spahn	Friend (12–14)	—	18,330	54–56
111	August 17	@ Cubs	4–11	Drott	Mizell (6–9)	Anderson		54–57
112	August 17	@ Cubs	4–3	Francis (2–5)	Brewer	Face (15)	16,961	55–57
113	August 18	@ Cubs	1–2 (11)	Ellsworth	Sturdivant (2–1)	—	7,469	55–58
114	August 19	@ Cubs	4–3 (11)	Labine (3–1)	Curtis	—	11,777	56–58
115	August 20	@ Cubs	0–1 (11)	Cardwell	Friend (12–15)	—	19,038	56–59
116	August 22	Braves	4–1	Gibbon (9–8)	Buhl	Face (16)	15,874	57–59
117	August 23	Braves	7–6	Face (5–5)	Nottebart	—	15,117	58–59
118	August 24	Braves	1–6	Spahn	Friend (12–16)	—	16,653	58–60
119	August 25	Cubs	1–0	Sturdivant (3–1)	Cardwell	—	12,651	59–60
120	August 26	Cubs	3–7	Schultz	Face (5–6)	Anderson	9,137	59–61
121	August 27	Cubs	7–3	Gibbon (10–8)	Curtis	Labine (8)		60–61
122	August 27	Cubs	5–6	Brewer	Mizell (6–10)	Anderson	15,471	60–62
123	August 28	Cubs	4–5	Anderson	Face (5–7)	—	13,753	60–63
124	August 29	Reds	0–3	O'Toole	Friend (12–17)	Maloney	17,999	60–64
125	August 30	Reds	3–1	Sturdivant (4–1)	Purkey	—	20,000	61–64

September: 13–15 (Home: 4–5; Away: 9–10)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
126	September 1	@ Cardinals	4–8	Jackson	Gibbon (10–9)	—	13,480	61–65
127	September 2	@ Cardinals	5–4	Face (6–7)	McDaniel	—	9,140	62–65
128	September 3	@ Cardinals	8–1	Friend (13–17)	Simmons	—	13,817	63–65
129	September 4	@ Cardinals	4–9	Sadecki	Francis (2–6)	McDaniel	10,021	63–66
130	September 5	@ Cubs	8–3	Sturdivant (5–1)	Hobbie	—	3,417	64–66
131	September 6	@ Cubs	2–6	Cardwell	Gibbon (10–10)	—	3,080	64–67
132	September 7	@ Cubs	7–5	Shantz (6–3)	Brewer	—	2,752	65–67
133	September 8	@ Braves	2–1	Friend (14–17)	Hendley	—	15,606	66–67
134	September 9	@ Braves	3–4	Nottebart	Face (6–8)	—	12,320	66–68
135	September 10	@ Braves	3–4	Spahn	Sturdivant (5–2)	—	24,198	66–69
136	September 11	@ Giants	3–4 (10)	Sanford	Face (6–9)	—	5,512	66–70
137	September 12	@ Giants	3–0	Gibbon (11–10)	McCormick	—	9,539	67–70
138	September 13	@ Dodgers	8–2	Haddix (9–6)	Farrell	—	10,494	68–70
139	September 14	@ Dodgers	6–7	Roebuck	Face (6–10)	—	9,805	68–71
140	September 16	Cardinals	3–6	Sadecki	Francis (2–7)	—	6,830	68–72
141	September 17	Cardinals	0–3	Jackson	McBean (3–2)	—	10,030	68–73
142	September 18	Cardinals	8–6	Foss (1–0)	Gibson	Face (17)	8,934	69–73
143	September 19	@ Reds	1–10	O'Toole	Friend (14–18)	—	14,225	69–74
144	September 20	@ Reds	2–3	Jay	Face (6–11)	—	14,822	69–75
145	September 22	@ Phillies	6–3	Labine (4–1)	Sullivan	—	4,687	70–75
146	September 23	@ Phillies	4–5 (16)	Baldschun	Face (6–12)	—	4,005	70–76
147	September 24	@ Phillies	4–3	Mizell (7–10)	Short	Sturdivant (1)	3,282	71–76
148	September 26	Dodgers	3–5	Williams	Friend (14–19)	Farrell		71–77
149	September 26	Dodgers	8–0	Gibbon (12–10)	Drysdale	—	9,602	72–77
150	September 27	Giants	5–3	Haddix (10–6)	Miller	—	7,471	73–77
151	September 28	Giants	4–7	Duffalo	Francis (2–8)	Miller	5,384	73–78
152	September 29	Reds	1–8	O'Toole	Foss (1–1)	Jones	10,119	73–79
153	September 30	Reds	11–6	Jackson (1–0)	Jay	—	7,158	74–79

October: 1–0 (Home: 1–0; Away: 0–0)

Legend: = Win = Loss
Bold = Pirates team member

Opening Day lineup[edit]

Notable transactions[edit]

May 1961: Don Williams was purchased from the Pirates by the Chicago White Sox.^[2]
June 20, 1961: Gene Baker was released by the Pirates.^[3]
June 24, 1961: Ron Woods was signed by the Pirates as an amateur free agent.^[4]

Roster[edit]

1961 Pittsburgh Pirates

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

40 Danny Murtaugh

Coaches

Statistics[edit]

Batting

Regular Season^[5]
Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
J. Umbricht	1	1	1	1.000	0	0
G. Witt	9	2	1	0.500	0	0
B. Shantz	44	16	7	0.438	0	3
R. Clemente	146	572	201	0.351	23	89
D. Clendenon	9	35	11	0.314	0	2
S. Burgess	100	323	98	0.303	12	52
D. Stuart	138	532	160	0.301	35	117
G. Cimoli	21	67	20	0.299	0	6
D. Hoak	145	503	150	0.298	12	61
D. Groat	148	596	164	0.275	6	55
R. Face	62	11	3	0.273	0	1
B. Skinner	119	381	102	0.268	3	42
D. Leppert	22	60	16	0.267	3	5
A. McBean	28	15	4	0.267	1	3
B. Mazeroski	152	558	148	0.265	13	59
J. Christopher	76	186	49	0.263	0	14
V. Law	11	19	5	0.263	0	5
B. Virdon	146	599	156	0.260	9	58
T. Sturdivant	13	32	8	0.250	0	1
J. Logan	27	52	12	0.231	0	5
H. Smith	67	193	43	0.223	3	26
W. Moryn	40	65	13	0.200	3	9
R. Nelson	75	127	25	0.197	5	13
D. Schofield	60	78	15	0.192	0	2
L. Foss	3	6	1	0.167	0	1
H. Haddix	31	56	8	0.143	0	3
B. Friend	41	79	11	0.139	0	7
J. Gibbon	31	59	8	0.136	0	6
V. Mizell	25	23	3	0.130	0	1
E. Francis	23	28	3	0.107	0	0
G. Baker	9	10	1	0.100	0	0
C. Labine	56	10	1	0.100	0	0
F. Green	13	3	0	0.000	0	0
A. Jackson	5	8	0	0.000	0	0
R. Mejias	4	1	0	0.000	0	0
B. Oldis	4	5	0	0.000	0	0
T. Cheney	1	0	0	—	0	0

Pitching

Regular Season^[6]
Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
T. Cheney	1	0	0	0	—	0
J. Umbricht	1	3¹⁄₃	0	0	2.70	1
T. Sturdivant	13	85²⁄₃	5	2	2.84	45
J. Gibbon	30	195¹⁄₃	13	10	3.32	145
B. Shantz	43	89¹⁄₃	6	3	3.32	61
A. Jackson	3	23²⁄₃	1	0	3.42	15
C. Labine	56	92²⁄₃	4	1	3.69	49
A. McBean	27	74¹⁄₃	3	2	3.75	49
R. Face	62	92	6	12	3.82	55
B. Friend	41	236	14	19	3.85	108
H. Haddix	29	156	10	6	4.10	99
E. Francis	23	102²⁄₃	2	8	4.21	53
V. Law	11	59¹⁄₃	3	4	4.70	20
F. Green	13	20²⁄₃	0	0	4.79	4
V. Mizell	25	100	7	10	5.04	37
L. Foss	3	15¹⁄₃	1	1	5.87	9
G. Witt	9	15²⁄₃	0	1	6.32	9

Farm system[edit]

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Columbus Jets	International League	Larry Shepard
A	Asheville Tourists	Sally League	Ray Hathaway
B	Burlington Bees	Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League	Harding "Pete" Peterson
C	Grand Forks Chiefs	Northern League	Bob Clear
D	Kingsport Pirates	Appalachian League	James Gibbons
D	Batavia Pirates	New York–Penn League	James Adlam and Gene Baker
D	Hobbs Pirates	Sophomore League	Al Kubski
D	Shelby Colonels	Western Carolinas League	Aaron Robinson and James Adlam

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Asheville, Hobbs

Notes[edit]

^ From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.
^ Don Williams page at Baseball Reference
^ Gene Baker page at Baseball Reference
^ Ron Woods page at Baseball Reference
^ "Major League Baseball Regular Season Hitting Stats | pirates.com: Stats". Pittsburgh Pirates.
^ "Major League Baseball Regular Season Pitching Stats | pirates.com: Stats". Pittsburgh Pirates.

References[edit]

1961 Pittsburgh Pirates team page at Baseball Reference
1961 Pittsburgh Pirates Page at Baseball Almanac
Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.

[1] From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.

[2] Don Williams page at Baseball Reference

[3] Gene Baker page at Baseball Reference

[4] Ron Woods page at Baseball Reference

[5] "Major League Baseball Regular Season Hitting Stats | pirates.com: Stats". Pittsburgh Pirates.

[6] "Major League Baseball Regular Season Pitching Stats | pirates.com: Stats". Pittsburgh Pirates.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

v t e 1961 MLB season by team
American League	Baltimore Boston Chicago Cleveland Detroit Kansas City Los Angeles Minnesota New York Washington
National League	Chicago Cincinnati Los Angeles Milwaukee Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis San Francisco
1961 All-Star Game (1st, 2nd) 1961 World Series 1961 MLB expansion draft

1961 Pittsburgh Pirates season

Contents

Regular season[edit]

Season standings[edit]

Record vs. opponents[edit]

Game log[edit]

Opening Day lineup[edit]

Notable transactions[edit]

Roster[edit]

Statistics[edit]

Farm system[edit]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

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1961 Pittsburgh Pirates
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1887)
Location
Forbes Field (since 1909) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania^[1] (since 1907)
Other information
Owner(s)	John W. Galbreath (majority shareholder); Bing Crosby, Thomas P. Johnson (minority shareholders)
General manager(s)	Joe L. Brown
Manager(s)	Danny Murtaugh
Local television	KDKA-TV Bob Prince, Jim Woods
Local radio	KDKA Bob Prince, Paul Long, Jim Woods
< Previous season Next season >