Part of a series that started with August 1, 1961.
Roger Maris and Yankee teammate
Mickey Mantle engaged in a home race during a pennant race, both trying to pass the season record of 60 home runs hit in 1927 by Yankee
Babe Ruth.
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. Both ties were in April:
Start Time: 3:30 p.m. Local
Attendance: 9,000
Venue: Yankee Stadium I
Game Duration: 2:50
Day Game, on grass
Philadelphia Athletics 9, Yankees 9 TIE after 10 innings
No home runs by either team.
Saturday, April 22, 1961 8th game of season.
Attendance: 14,126
Venue: Memorial Stadium
Game Duration: 2:09
Night Game, on grass
Yankees 5, Orioles 5 TIE after 7 innings
HR: Bill Skowron (1, off Wes Stock, 4th inn, 3 on, 0 outs to Deep RF Line). Only Yankee home run in the doubleheader.
https://www.retrosheet.org/losthr.htm
7/17/1961: The Yankees were leading 4-1 in the top of the fifth in Baltimore when the game was rained out. In that game, scheduled as the second game of a doubleheader, both Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle hit homers off Hal Brown. Maris' came in the first with two out and no one on while Mantle blasted his leading off the fourth. In addition Marv Throneberry of the Orioles homered in the second with the bases empty as did Clete Boyer of the Yankees in the 3rd, making a total of 4 homers lost to rain in this one game.
______________________
There is no box score or play by play. What happened does not count. The closest we can come is the first game of the doubleheader, which is not even described as such since game two was wiped out of the official record book.
Attendance: 44,332
Venue: Memorial Stadium
Game Duration: 2:18
Day Game, on grass
Yankees 5, Orioles 0
HR: Mickey Mantle (33, off Milt Pappas, 6th inn, 0 on, 0 outs to Deep RF); Bill Skowron (19, off Milt Pappas, 6th inn, 0 on, 1 out to Deep LF)
The Yankees played four more games in Baltimore in 1961, all in September on three consecutive days. None has an indication that it made up for the non game that occurred July 17, 1961. Ironically, Baltimore in 1961 was the site of:
The Yankees tie game:
Attendance: 14,126
Venue: Memorial Stadium
Game Duration: 2:09
Night Game, on grass
Second game of doubleheader, see First game. Yankees 5, Orioles 5 in 7 innings
HR: Bill Skowron (1, off Wes Stock, 4th inn, 3 on, 0 outs to Deep RF Line).
The Orioles scored two in the bottom of the 7th to tie and then the game was called.
The July 17 "game" that didn't count.
Doubleheader:
Attendance: 31,317
Venue: Memorial Stadium
Game Duration: 2:08
Night Game, on grass
Second game of doubleheader, see First game. (Yanks lost 1-0)
Skowron hit the only Yankee home run in that (September 19) doubleheader. Game two is probably the game that replaced the July 17, 1961 non game in which Maris and Mantle had homered.
Game two was Yankee game 154. Maris had 58 home runs through the first 154 Yankee games in 1961. But because both the 1927 and 1961 Yankees had played a tie in April, Maris was granted one more game in which to deal the Ruth's record of 60 home runs. Had the original "game" counted, Maris would be sitting on 59 as he entered game 155 the next day:
This post has already jumped ahead too much. This series publishes on the same day that Maris or Mantle homered in 1961. So check back September 20, 2020 for more on Yankee game 155. Then the Yanks would play their final 1961 game in Baltimore September 21, 1961. Four games in three days.
No comments:
Post a Comment