The 1961 New York Yankees clinched the championship, and the three-peat, with a 6-4 victory over the 1961 Detroit Tigers on the season’s penultimate day. The long ball made the difference again, as the Yankees added three more home runs to their GTOP-record total. Both the 1967 St. Louis Cardinals and 1969 Minnesota Twins posted dramatic victories to try to stay alive in the pennant race, but Detroit couldn’t come through for them.
Los Angeles 7, San Francisco 5
The Giants suffered a horrific loss at the hands of the rival Dodgers. The Giants took a 3-0 lead into the eighth inning. In the fourth, Jim Davenport and Tom Haller had back-to-back doubles, and Harvey Kuenn had an RBI single. Jack Sanford pitched seven excellent innings, but couldn’t stop the Dodgers in the eighth. Maury Wills had an RBI double, Jim Gilliam had a two-run single and Ron Fairly had an RBI triple to put LA up 4-3. The Giants didn’t go quietly, as Willie McCovey smacked a two-out, two-run pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the eighth to put San Francisco back up 5-4. In the top of the ninth, reliever Bobby Bolin got the first two outs, but an infield error extended the inning. Los Angeles (13-18) then got three straight hits, including an RBI single by Wills and a two-run double by Gilliam, giving the Dodgers a 7-5 lead. The Giants (14-17) went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth.
1962 LOS ANGELES DOD AB R H BI 1962 SAN FRANCISCO G AB R H BI
Maury Wills 5 2 2 2 Harvey Kuenn 5 0 2 1
Jim Gilliam 4 1 2 4 Jose Pagan 5 0 2 0
Ron Fairly 5 0 2 1 Willie Mays 4 0 0 0
Tommy Davis 4 0 0 0 Orlando Cepeda 5 0 0 0
Willie Davis 4 0 0 0 Felipe Alou 4 1 1 0
Frank Howard 4 0 0 0 Jim Davenport 4 1 3 1
Johnny Roseboro 4 1 1 0 Tom Haller 3 2 1 1
Daryl Spencer 3 2 0 0 Chuck Hiller 4 0 1 0
Johnny Podres YZ 1 0 0 0 Jack Sanford YZ 3 0 0 0
Duke Snider 1 0 0 0 Willie McCovey 1 1 1 2
Lee Walls 1 1 1 0
TOTALS 36 7 8 7 TOTALS 38 5 11 5
1962 LOS ANGELES DODGERS 000 000 043 -- 7
1962 SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS 000 300 020 -- 5
LOB--1962 LOS ANGELES DODGERS 5, 1962 SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
8. ERR--Tom Haller, Chuck Hiller (2). 2B--Jim Gilliam, Maury
Wills, Tom Haller, Harvey Kuenn, Jim Davenport. 3B--Ron
Fairly. HR--Willie McCovey. SACB--Johnny Podres YZ.
1962 LOS ANGELES DODGERS IP H R ER BB SO HR
Johnny Podres YZ 6.00 10 3 3 0 7 0
Ed Roebuck Y 1.00 0 0 0 1 0 0
Larry Sherry XW [W] 1.00 1 2 2 1 1 1
Ron Perranoski YZ [S] 1.00 0 0 0 0 1 0
1962 SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Jack Sanford YZ 8.00 5 4 3 2 4 0
Bobby Bolin XZ [L] 1.00 3 3 0 0 0 0
St. Louis 1, Boston 0
Bob Gibson pitched a two-hit shutout and didn’t allow any Red Sox baserunners to make it to second base. Boston’s pitching was almost as good, as the Cardinals collected only four hits, three of them by Tim McCarver. St. Louis (17-14) scored the game’s only run in the top of the fourth on a Little League home run by Curt Flood. He singled to right field, and sped around the bases and scored after the ball was misplayed by the Red Sox (15-16).
1967 ST. LOUIS CARDI AB R H BI 1967 BOSTON RED SOX AB R H BI
Lou Brock 4 0 0 0 Reggie Smith 4 0 1 0
Curt Flood 4 1 1 0 Joe Foy 4 0 0 0
Roger Maris 4 0 0 0 Carl Yastrzemski 3 0 1 0
Orlando Cepeda 4 0 0 0 George Scott 3 0 0 0
Tim McCarver 4 0 3 0 Tony Conigliaro 3 0 0 0
Mike Shannon 3 0 0 0 Rico Petrocelli 3 0 0 0
Julian Javier 3 0 0 0 Mike Andrews 2 0 0 0
Dal Maxvill 2 0 0 0 Mike Ryan 2 0 0 0
Bob Gibson X 2 0 0 0 Jim Lonborg X 2 0 0 0
Ken Harrelson 1 0 0 0
TOTALS 30 1 4 0 TOTALS 27 0 2 0
1967 ST. LOUIS CARDINALS 000 100 000 -- 1
1967 BOSTON RED SOX 000 000 000 -- 0
LOB--1967 ST. LOUIS CARDINALS 4, 1967 BOSTON RED SOX 3.
ERR--Joe Foy, Tony Conigliaro. 2B--Tim McCarver. SACB--Bob
Gibson X.
1967 ST. LOUIS CARDINALS IP H R ER BB SO HR
Bob Gibson X [W] 9.00 2 0 0 3 9 0
1967 BOSTON RED SOX
Jim Lonborg X [L] 8.00 3 1 1 1 5 0
John Wyatt Y 1.00 1 0 0 0 0 0
Minnesota 2, New York Mets 1
The Mets (14-17) scored in the bottom of the third when Tommie Agee doubled and scored on Ken Boswell’s single, and New York took that 1-0 lead to the ninth inning. Rich Reese singled with one out, and Leo Cardenas followed with a two-run homer to put the Twins (17-14) ahead for the first time. Minnesota reliever Ron Perranoski got the win and retired all six batters that he faced.
1969 MINNESOTA TWINS AB R H BI 1969 NY METS AB R H BI
Cesar Tovar 3 0 1 0 Tommie Agee 4 1 2 0
Rod Carew 4 0 0 0 Ken Boswell 4 0 1 1
Tony Oliva 4 0 1 0 Cleon Jones 4 0 1 0
Harmon Killebrew 4 0 1 0 Ed Kranepool 4 0 0 0
Rich Reese 4 1 1 0 Art Shamsky 4 0 0 0
Leo Cardenas 3 1 1 2 Jerry Grote 3 0 1 0
Ted Uhlaender 4 0 2 0 Bud Harrelson 4 0 0 0
Johnny Roseboro 3 0 0 0 Wayne Garrett 3 0 0 0
Jim Perry YZ 2 0 0 0 Jerry Koosman XZ 3 0 1 0
George Mitterwald 2 0 0 0
TOTALS 33 2 7 2 TOTALS 33 1 6 1
1969 MINNESOTA TWINS 000 000 002 -- 2
1969 NY METS 001 000 000 -- 1
LOB--1969 MINNESOTA TWINS 7, 1969 NY METS 6. ERR--Harmon
Killebrew, Art Shamsky. 2B--Ted Uhlaender, Tommie Agee.
HR--Leo Cardenas. SB--Cesar Tovar.
1969 MINNESOTA TWINS IP H R ER BB SO HR
Jim Perry YZ 7.00 6 1 1 1 7 0
Ron Perranoski [W] 2.00 0 0 0 0 1 0
1969 NY METS
Jerry Koosman XZ [L] 8.33 7 2 2 3 7 1
Tug McGraw X 0.67 0 0 0 0 2 0
New York Yankees 6, Detroit Tigers 4
Solo home runs by Elston Howard (his seventh) and Clete Boyer provided the Yankees’ first two runs. It was tied 2-2 after three innings. The Yankees (19-12) then scored three runs in the fourth inning as Yogi Berra hit a two-run homer (his 10th), and starting pitcher Ralph Terry later had an RBI double. In the fifth, Howard drove in a run with a single to make it 6-2. Detroit (15-16) cut the deficit in half on Rocky Colavito’s two-run homer in the eighth inning, his 14th of the season. In the bottom of the ninth, Detroit’s Steve Boros singled with two out, bringing the league’s top hitter, Norm Cash, to the plate. But Boros was picked off first base to end the game. Terry improved to 4-3 and Luis Arroyo earned his seventh save.
1961 NY YANKEES AB R H BI 1961 DETROIT TIGERS AB R H BI
Bobby Richardson 4 0 0 0 Steve Boros 3 1 1 0
Tony Kubek 5 0 2 0 Norm Cash 4 0 1 0
Roger Maris 5 1 1 0 Al Kaline 3 2 2 1
Mickey Mantle 4 0 0 0 Rocky Colavito 4 1 1 2
Elston Howard 4 2 3 2 Dick Brown 3 0 1 1
Yogi Berra 4 1 2 2 Bill Bruton 4 0 0 0
Bill Skowron 4 0 0 0 Jake Wood 3 0 1 0
Clete Boyer 3 2 1 1 Chico Fernandez 4 0 0 0
Ralph Terry Z 3 0 1 1 Paul Foytack Y 1 0 1 0
Vic Wertz 1 0 0 0
Dick McAuliffe 1 0 0 0
Bubba Morton 1 0 0 0
TOTALS 36 6 10 6 TOTALS 32 4 8 4
1961 NY YANKEES 011 310 000 -- 6
1961 DETROIT TIGERS 101 000 020 -- 4
LOB--1961 NY YANKEES 7, 1961 DETROIT TIGERS 6. 2B--Elston
Howard, Ralph Terry Z, Jake Wood, Al Kaline. 3B--Tony Kubek.
HR--Yogi Berra, Elston Howard, Clete Boyer, Rocky Colavito.
HBP--Steve Boros. SB--Roger Maris, Al Kaline.
1961 NY YANKEES IP H R ER BB SO HR
Ralph Terry Z [W] 7.00 7 4 4 4 2 1
Luis Arroyo X [S] 2.00 1 0 0 0 1 0
1961 DETROIT TIGERS
Paul Foytack Y [L] 4.00 5 5 5 3 1 3
Gerry Staley Z 1.00 2 1 1 0 1 0
Hank Aguirre YW 2.00 2 0 0 1 2 0
Terry Fox YZ 2.00 1 0 0 0 1 0
ROGER SPORTS & GAMES 