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.
| 1961 Los Angeles Dodgers | ||
|---|---|---|
| League | National League | |
| Ballpark | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | |
| City | Los Angeles | |
| Owners | Walter O'Malley, James & Dearie Mulvey | |
| President | Walter O'Malley | |
| General managers | Buzzie Bavasi | |
| Managers | Walter Alston | |
| Television | KTTV (11) | |
| Radio | KFI Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett KWKW René Cárdenas, Jaime Jarrín, Miguel Alonzo | |
| ||
Offseason
- November 28, 1960: Ray Semproch was drafted by the Washington Senators from the Dodgers in the 1960 rule 5 draft.[1]
- December 15, 1960: Earl Robinson was purchased from the Dodgers by the Baltimore Orioles.[2]
- December 16, 1960: Danny McDevitt was purchased from the Dodgers by the New York Yankees.[3]
- January 31, 1961: Joe Pignatano was purchased from the Dodgers by the Kansas City Athletics.[4]
- March 30, 1961: Ed Rakow was traded by the Dodgers to the Kansas City Athletics for Howie Reed and cash.[5]
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
| 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
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 |
Notable transactions
- May 4, 1961: Don Demeter and Charley Smith were traded by the Dodgers to the Philadelphia Phillies for Turk Farrell and Joe Koppe.[8]
- May 26, 1961: Art Fowler was purchased from the Dodgers by the Los Angeles Angels.[9]
- May 30, 1961: Bob Lillis and Carl Warwick were traded by the Dodgers to the St. Louis Cardinals for Daryl Spencer.[10]
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
- 1961 Major League Baseball All-Star Game – Game 1
- Maury Wills starter
- Sandy Koufax reserve
- John Roseboro reserve
- 1961 Major League Baseball All-Star Game – Game 2
- Maury Wills starter
- Don Drysdale reserve
- Sandy Koufax reserve
- John Roseboro reserve
- TSN National League All-Star
Farm system
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Great Falls, Reno
