Continuing to play seasons has become a bit harder with being involved with a league, so I am breaking down and do another on Windows as it tends to go faster and the stats compiled for you. In this case it’s 1961, the second of the three free seasons I got with the game.
Final American League Standings
| W | L | Pct. | |
| Yankees | 97 | 43 | .693 |
| White Sox | 90 | 50 | .643 |
| Tigers | 87 | 53 | .621 |
| Red Sox | 79 | 61 | .564 |
| Orioles | 75 | 65 | .536 |
| Indians | 70 | 70 | .500 |
| Angels | 57 | 83 | .407 |
| Twins | 55 | 85 | .393 |
| Senators | 49 | 91 | .350 |
| A’s | 41 | 99 | .293 |
I only “managed” the Cubs for the entire schedule, but I spent a lot more time “guest managing” other teams than usual on this. That said, I feel that even with setting up rotations and for pitching matchups, I didn’t quite get some of the results I had hoped for, but it was still a fun and interesting replay just the same.
Before I forget, I did a 140-game schedule, and for the first time used a five-man rotation when possible. So, I was a bit surprised at a few of the things that happened along the way. First, lets hand out some individual hardware.
| AL POY Billy Pierce Chicago White Sox 18-4 2.56 ERA 7 Shutouts | AL MVP Norm Cash Detroit Tigers .426 AVG 35 HR 134 RBI |
Yankees 97-43 .693
The Yankees were an exceptionally good defensive team that did their pitching just as much with their gloves as they did with their bats.
So, for a long time it looked like 3 players were going to break Ruth’s single season home run record (he hit 61 for me in 1921) as late as July. Unfortunately, for all three the homers just suddenly stopped coming.
Two of those players were of course, the M & M boys, and while they both ended up with great seasons neither got near the totals I expected.
Mickey Mantle’s biggest accomplishment to me was that he survived the entire season without a trip to the DL. For that alone I expected him to blast past 50 with ease, but while he came up short, it was a tremendous season. He finished with a .326 average, 44 homers and 124 RBI. I haven’t looked up the real numbers, but Windows does not seem to like sending runners as he also led the team with 11 steals.
Roger Maris, the man that every replay for this season probably revolves around also had a great year, but compared to the actual numbers you may consider this a downgrade. I would kill for this type of season. Maris hit .281 with 46 homers and 123 RBI.
Elston Howard also had a dominating season, and was third in the MVP voting. Elston hit .399 with 23 HR and 118 RBI on a team filled with unusually high averages and runs scored.
Yogi Berra hit .323 with 36 homers and 113 RBI, Tony Kubek hit .308. Bobby Richardson, along with Maris was the only other regular to hit under .300, but Bobby didn’t miss by much, hitting .290.
White Sox 90-50 .643
The Sox finished in second place for two straight Windows replays. I admit to not knowing a lot about this ballclub, but they certainly were entertaining.
Jim Landis was the leader on offense, hitting .326 with 27 HR and 120 RBI, and Roy Sievers hit .319 and led the team in both home runs (33) and RBI (135). Floyd Robinson was another weapon, hitting .334 with 15 dingers and driving in 96 runners.
Luis Aparacio hit a somewhat disappointing .263, but led the team with 47 stolen bases. Nellie Fox hit right behind him and hit .272. Al Smith hit .301 with 23 homers and 106 RBI. Sherm Lollar (.281 10 HR) led the reserves and Mike Hershberger (.371) and Cam Carreon (.308) were tremendous in part time roles.
Congratulations to Billy Pierce, the American League Pitcher of the Year. Billy went 18-4 with a 2.56 ERA. Juan Pizzaro also went 18-4 with a 2.85 ERA and was 3rd in voting. In addition to his pitching Juan also hit .348. The front two of the rotation were the backbone, and unfortunately Cal McLish and Frank Bauman struggle, but Ray Herbert had moments of greatness and finished 12-6 with a 5.00 ERA. Omar Lown was the closer and picked up 35 saves.
Tigers 87-53 .621
Well, the Tigers would certainly never bore you, but unfortunately came up a bit short. Although some players had solid seasons, especially Al Kaline there was only one player that mattered.
Norm Cash was that player. Every time I think the new record for batting average is safe, in one or two seasons it’s broken by a point. First it was Napoleon Lajoie in 1901 with a .424 average. Two replays later it was Babe Ruth at .425. Now it’s Norm Cash at .426.
In addition to winning the batting championship he led the league in OBP, slugging percentage and OPS. And was also in the top ten in almost every power category, and won the MVP award in a pretty close race.
The aforementioned Kaline had almost as great a year. He hit .343 with 26 homers and with the years that others had in front of him didn’t have as many RBI opportinities, but still managed 88.
The other man that stole RBI chances? Why Rocky Colavito of course. Rocky hit .272 with 42 bombs, and 138 RBI. Steve Boros hit .304. Charlie Maxwell hit .275 in a pinch hit/late inning replacement role.
The rotation was a big reason the Tigers were so good this season. Don Mossi (17-4 2.16) was a top 5 POY candidate, and Frank Lary (15-6 2.74) and Jim Bunning (15-7 2.80) were very dependable and formed a trio that kept losing streaks to a minimum.
Unfortunately, the bullpen was not very good, except for closer Terry Fox (39 SV 2.20).
Red Sox 79-61 .564
Boston was an interesting team. They were never really in the running, but there were plenty of things to make you want to sit in on one of their games.
Pete Runnels had a great year with the bat, hitting .368, and Frank Malzone (.284), Carl Yastrzemski (.277 12 HR 100 RBI) had great games. Jim Pagliaroni led the team with 23 homers and although Gary Geiger hit just .226 he led the team with 23 stolen bases.
Carroll Hardy (.328), Russ Nixon (.361) and Lou Clinton (.355) were awesome in reserve roles.
Unfortunately, the pitching was not very good on this club. Bill Monbouquette (13-2 2.27) and Don Schwall (17-5 3.07) anchored the staff while Gene Conley (13-8) occasionally chipped in. Unfortunately, the rest of the staff was pretty bad, with the exception of closer Chet Nichols (40 SV 1.43).
Orioles 75-65.536
Baltimore had a bit of a tough year. Yes, they had a winning record, but there were plenty of holes on this team. Perhaps the biggest disappointment for me was that I seem to remember the Orioles teams of old being among the better defensive teams, yet this team ended up with a terrible defense, committing many more errors than double plays.
However, this team does have a core of players that provided some thunder during the season. Jim Gentile (.320 46 133) almost won the MVP. Brooks Robinson hit .306 and Gus Triandos hit .298 and had 107 RBI. Russ Snyder (.289) and Hank Foiles (.295) were very useful in reserve roles.
Pithing was surprisingly bad for an upper division team. It wasn’t exactly awful, but clearly, they have a lot of room for improvement. Hal Brown (13-9 3.51) and Milt Pappas (12-9 3.64) led the way for the starters while Wes Stock 5-3 6 SV 3.86) and Billy Hoeft (2-3 1 SV 3.00) were good swingmen. Closer Hoyt Wilhelm (4-1 32 SV 1.41) was lights out to end ballgames.
Indians 70-70.500
Surprisingly to me the Indians actually hit .500. While not blessed with an abundance of talent they got by with what they had. John Romano hit .296 with 21 homers, but somehow only drove in 69 runners. Vic Power hit .296, Johnny Temple hit .285. Jimmy Piersall was the team’s only hitter to clear .300 at .316.
Tito Francona (.282 24 HR), John Phillips (.243 23 92) and Willie Kirkland (.250 30 94) led the power hitters.
Pitching was not the team’s strong suit, but it wasn’t particularly bad either. James “Mudcat” Grant went 12-12 with a 3.74 ERA and Gary Bell (11-9 4.77) were the team’s best starter. Closer Frank Funk went 3-4 with 31 saves. Reliever Joe Schaffernoth was a statistical oddity. He was 5-1 with 3 saves, yet still found time for a 8.68 ERA and 2.20 WHIP. Yikes.
Angels 57-83 .407
And now for the recap on Don Smith’s all-time favorite team! Unfortunately, I didn’t come close to their actual win total, but I felt I got some good seasons from individual players.
Lee Thomas (.259 26 124) was the team MVP. Albie Pearson Albie hit .331 with 14 homers. Ken Hunt hit .259 and led the team with 28 homers and had 92 RBI. Del Rice missed some time on the DL, but still hit .301. Steve Bilko had a solid year, hitting .291 with 25 homers. Leon Wagner hit .275. Still trying to figure out this team had a combined total of three steals in my replay.
The pitching was really bad for this team. Ted Bowsfield was easily the team’s best hurler, going 12-8 with a 4.34 ERA. Tom Morgan (7-3 21 SV 3.56) was solid at the end of the bullpen, but everyone else was truly awful.
Twins 55-85 .393
When I think of the Twins I think of good pitching and defense. Unfortunately, in my 1961 replay I got neither of these. However, it doesn’t mean that the Twins were not entertaining at times.
Leadoff hitter Lenny Green hit .318 with 17 stolen bases. Earl Batty (.326) hit right behind him and worked the hit and run like a mad man. Zoilio Versalles hit .302. Unfortunately, the bench didn’t help much, but Hal Naragon hit .342 in a platoon role.
Camilio Pascual (9-11 3.09) was the ace of the staff, Jack Kralick (14-12 3.36) had some tough outings, but could be relied upon. The other starters were really just cannon fodder.
The bullpen was more of the same, except for set-up man Ray Moore (6-4 3.94) and closer Don Lee (0-2 23 SV 2.98).
Senators 49-91 .350
While it wasn’t exactly a pennant chasing season for the Senators, they actually did better than I expected. They certainly had some interesting hitters. Chuck Hinton missed some time from injuries, but hit .302 and led the team in steals with 26. Gene Woodling (.325 15 HR), Gene Green (.312), Danny O’Connell (.274) all made pitchers work.
It was Dale Long who had pitchers very upset when he came to the plate, especially when the bases were loaded. Mr. Long then became Mr. Grand Slam, bashing a record 4 this season. He finished with a .305 average, and hit 23 homers and had 91 RBI despite missing a good amount of time himself.
And then there’s the pitching. This was a team that needed to outhit their opponents to win, and unfortunately, that didn’t happen enough with this staff. Bennie Daniels (10-9 3.29) was probably the most effective, but Dick Donovan (7-14 3.23) may have had better numbers if the bullpen had come through more.
And then there was the bullpen. This is one of the worst ones I have seen in a while. Not one pitcher had an ERA under 5, and of the 4 relievers 3 of them had ERA’s over 7. Johnny Klippstein (4-3 3 SV 10.03) may have been one of the worst relievers ever.
A’s 41-99 .293
And we come to the A’s. Windows has never been kind to the A’s, but somehow, they managed to avoid 100 losses. Granted only by one game, but you have to start some place.
As with most last place teams, this one had only one way to win. Hit. Too bad for Kansas City they just didn’t have too many players who could. Wayne Causey hit .305 with 18 homers, Norm Seibern was probably the MVP, hitting .304 with 23 homers and 105 RBI, and Jerry Lumpe hit .297.
As expected, the pitching was really bad. Not one starter hit double digits in wins, in fact three pitchers tied for the lead with 6. Joe Nuxhall (6-19 1 SV 5.48) actually had better luck as a hitter (.275 2 10). Jim Archer (6-16 4.11) was probably the most reliable of the starters.
The bullpen was not much better. Art Ditmar (5-0 3.76) picked up a couple of wins in mop up work, and closer Bill Fischer was anything but a closer. While he did pick up 20 saves, they were more of an accident than anything. Bill had no wins, 6 losses and a lofty 8.38 ERA.
