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April 11, 1961: Eli Grba wins first game in Angels franchise history
As 1960 rolled into 1961 and baseball fans began looking forward…
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April 15, 1961: Bob Friend bests Don Drysdale in a record-setting game
Possibly the most intriguing thing about baseball is its unpredictability.…
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April 20, 1961: Milwaukee Braves make dramatic comeback in 9th, win in 11
The Phillies' home opener on April 20, 1961, was a cool spring…
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April 21, 1961: Twins lose first home opener at Metropolitan Stadium
In their first home opener, before 24,606 fans at yet-to-be-completed…
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April 23, 1961: Phillies’ Art Mahaffey fans franchise record 17 batters
Part of the beauty of baseball is just how unpredictable the…
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April 25, 1961: A tale of three pitchers in Athletics’ lopsided 20-2 win over Twins
Norm Bass got a surprise when he arrived at Municipal Stadium…
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April 28, 1961: Braves’ Warren Spahn pitches second career no-hitter
It was barely the third week of the 1961 season. A meager crowd…
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April 30, 1961: The Say Hey Kid’s four-homer game
The 1961 major-league season was barely three weeks old the…
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May 4, 1961: Joe Adcock’s walk-off grand slam wins it for Braves
From the time he arrived in Milwaukee with the rest of his Braves…
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May 9, 1961: Orioles’ Jim Gentile blasts two grand slams on consecutive pitches
On Tuesday, May 9, 1961, before a crowd of 4,514 fans at Minnesota’s…
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May 12, 1961: Boston’s Bill Monbouquette whiffs 17 Senators
It was early in the 1961 season; the Red Sox were 9-12 and the…
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May 24, 1961: Roberto Clemente, the ‘College’ Cubs, and an incident in Mississippi
The Pittsburgh Pirates were still enjoying the aura of their…
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June 8, 1961: Milwaukee Braves belt a record four consecutive home runs in one inning
Six teams were within six games of one another in a wild scramble…
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June 16, 1961: Lew Krausse Jr. twirls debut shutout 10 days after high-school graduation
On the Saturday before graduating from high school in June 1961,…
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June 17, 1961: Tigers outslug Yankees and take first place
The explosive Tigers-Yankees matchup that took place at Tiger…
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June 18, 1961: Red Sox sweep Senators in a double walk-off doubleheader
Talk about a spree, in which one player had a huge impact in…
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June 18, 1961: Goodman, Fox win it for White Sox in 9th with unlikely homers
Two of the least likely home-run hitters both struck in the ninth…
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June 19, 1961: Gene Baker becomes first Black manager in affiliated minor leagues
Gene Baker was not, as is sometimes reported, the first Black…
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June 20, 1961: Julio Becquer hits first pinch-hit and walk-off home run in Minnesota Twins history
The 1961 American League baseball season ushered in change. The…
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June 23, 1961: Phillies stun Pirates, 12-11
The Pirates were fresh off winning the 1960 World Series in one…
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June 23, 1961: Stan Musial knocks in seven runs for Cardinals
The turnstiles at Busch Stadium, the renamed Sportsman’s…
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June 26, 1961: International League All-Stars buzzsaw big-league Indians with two-hitter
Official records will tell you that Tommy John made his first…
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June 28, 1961: Ron Santo comes up big with two homers, seven RBIs
“The Cubs had 25 base runners, and (the public-address) announcer…
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June 29, 1961: Willie Mays hits three homers, including the game-winner in the 10th
Willie Mays became just the fourth major leaguer to hit at…