In 1961 the American League expanded from 8 to 10 teams and increased its schedule from 154 to 162 games. Both the 1927 and 1961 Yankees played one tie game:
Start Time: 3:30 p.m. Local
Attendance: 9,000
Venue: Yankee Stadium I
Game Duration: 2:50
Philadelphia Athletics 9, Yankees 9 after ten innings; no home runs
Saturday April 22, 1961 in Baltimore: Orioles won game one 5-3; game two: 5-5 tie after 7 innings. Only Bill Skowron (bases loaded) homered for the Yankees that day.
The Yankees played a doubleheader in Yankee Stadium Tuesday July 25, 1961 against the Chicago White Sox in which Maris hit two home runs in each game bringing his season total to 40 after team game 96 (62-33-1). Mantle hit #38 in game one.
But on August 1, the same date as this post, Maris still had 40 home runs after 102 (65-36-1) Yankee games. The Yankees had just lost a Sunday doubleheader to Baltimore, scoring only one run.
Mantle hit number 39 in Yankee game 97 (66-33-1) against the White Sox, his total on August 1, 1961.
The Yankees did not play on July 31 or Tuesday August 1, 1961. So the teammates home runs:
Maris 40
Mantle 39
| Tm | W | L | GB | RS | RA | pythW-L% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NYY | 65 | 36 | .644 | -- | 544 | 411 | .626 |
| DET | 64 | 38 | .627 | 1.5 | 554 | 445 | .599 |
| BAL | 58 | 46 | .558 | 8.5 | 459 | 421 | .539 |
| CLE | 55 | 49 | .529 | 11.5 | 504 | 473 | .529 |
| CHW | 51 | 53 | .490 | 15.5 | 495 | 490 | .505 |
This is the first in a series of posts that will recall the 1961 home run race on the day of the year that games occured. This in place of the 2020 quarter season during the COVID-19 plague, which included non baseball stuff.
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