| 1961 Chicago Cubs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| League | National League | |||
| Ballpark | Wrigley Field | |||
| City | Chicago, IL | |||
| Record | 64–90 (.416) | |||
| League place | 7th | |||
| Owners | Philip K. Wrigley | |||
| General managers | John Holland | |||
| Managers | Vedie Himsl (31 games) Harry Craft (16 games) El Tappe (96 games) Lou Klein (11 games) | |||
| Television | WGN-TV (Jack Brickhouse, Vince Lloyd) | |||
| Radio | WGN (Jack Quinlan, Lou Boudreau) | |||
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The 1961 Chicago Cubs season was the 90th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 86th in the National League and the 46th at Wrigley Field. In the first season under their College of Coaches, the Cubs finished seventh in the National League with a record of 64–90, 29 games behind the Cincinnati Reds.
This season marked the introduction of the so-called "College of Coaches", a system instituted by owner Philip K. Wrigley after input from El Tappe. Under this system, the Cubs would have no single manager, but instead would have a rotating series of eight coaches, with one managing the team while others served as either assistant coaches or minor league field personnel.
Four different men served as manager during 1961: Tappe, who served the most games in the position and had a record of 42–54; Harry Craft, who had a record of 7–9; Vedie Himsl, who had a record of 10–21; and Lou Klein, who was brought on board in midseason and had a record of 5–6. Other coaches in the system during the season were Charlie Grimm – the team's manager in 1960 – Bobby Adams, Dick Cole, Ripper Collins, Goldie Holt, Fred Martin and Verlon Walker. The team improved to 64–90, four games better than their 1960 record, although none of the four managers posted a winning record individually. The experiment would be carried over into the 1962 season.
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds | 93 | 61 | .604 | — | 47–30 | 46–31 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 89 | 65 | .578 | 4 | 45–32 | 44–33 |
| San Francisco Giants | 85 | 69 | .552 | 8 | 45–32 | 40–37 |
| Milwaukee Braves | 83 | 71 | .539 | 10 | 45–32 | 38–39 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 80 | 74 | .519 | 13 | 48–29 | 32–45 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 75 | 79 | .487 | 18 | 38–39 | 37–40 |
| Chicago Cubs | 64 | 90 | .416 | 29 | 40–37 | 24–53 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 47 | 107 | .305 | 46 | 22–55 | 25–52 |
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Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | CHC | CIN | LAD | MIL | PHI | PIT | SF | STL | |||||
| Chicago | — | 12–10 | 7–15 | 9–13–1 | 13–9 | 11–11 | 5–17 | 7–15–1 | |||||
| Cincinnati | 10–12 | — | 12–10 | 15–7 | 19–3 | 11–11 | 12–10 | 14–8 | |||||
| Los Angeles | 15–7 | 10–12 | — | 12–10 | 17–5 | 13–9 | 10–12 | 12–10 | |||||
| Milwaukee | 13–9–1 | 7–15 | 10–12 | — | 16–6 | 12–10 | 11–11 | 14–8 | |||||
| Philadelphia | 9–13 | 3–19 | 5–17 | 6–16 | — | 7–15 | 8–14–1 | 9–13 | |||||
| Pittsburgh | 11–11 | 11–11 | 9–13 | 10–12 | 15–7 | — | 10–12 | 9–13 | |||||
| San Francisco | 17–5 | 10–12 | 12–10 | 11–11 | 14–8–1 | 12–10 | — | 9–13 | |||||
| St. Louis | 15–7–1 | 8–14 | 10–12 | 8–14 | 13–9 | 13–9 | 13–9 | — | |||||
| 1961 Chicago Cubs | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
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Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
Other batters |
Head coach
Coaches College of Coaches | ||||||
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Dick Bertell | 92 | 267 | 73 | .273 | 2 | 33 |
| 1B | Ed Bouchee | 112 | 319 | 79 | .248 | 12 | 38 |
| 2B | Don Zimmer | 128 | 477 | 120 | .252 | 13 | 40 |
| SS | Ernie Banks | 138 | 511 | 142 | .278 | 29 | 80 |
| 3B | Ron Santo | 154 | 578 | 164 | .284 | 23 | 83 |
| LF | Billy Williams | 146 | 529 | 147 | .278 | 25 | 86 |
| CF | Al Heist | 109 | 321 | 82 | .255 | 7 | 37 |
| RF | George Altman | 138 | 518 | 157 | .303 | 27 | 96 |
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jerry Kindall | 96 | 310 | 75 | .242 | 9 | 44 |
| Richie Ashburn | 109 | 307 | 79 | .257 | 0 | 19 |
| Sammy Taylor | 89 | 235 | 56 | .238 | 8 | 23 |
| Andre Rodgers | 73 | 214 | 57 | .266 | 6 | 23 |
| Bob Will | 86 | 113 | 29 | .257 | 0 | 8 |
| Frank Thomas | 15 | 50 | 13 | .260 | 2 | 6 |
| Mel Roach | 23 | 39 | 5 | .128 | 0 | 1 |
| Moe Thacker | 25 | 35 | 6 | .171 | 0 | 2 |
| Cuno Barragan | 10 | 28 | 6 | .214 | 1 | 2 |
| Ken Hubbs | 10 | 28 | 5 | .179 | 1 | 2 |
| Moe Morhardt | 7 | 18 | 5 | .278 | 0 | 1 |
| Danny Murphy | 4 | 13 | 5 | .385 | 2 | 3 |
| Lou Brock | 4 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 0 | 0 |
| Jim McAnany | 11 | 10 | 3 | .300 | 0 | 0 |
| Nelson Mathews | 3 | 9 | 1 | .111 | 0 | 0 |
| George Freese | 9 | 7 | 2 | .286 | 0 | 1 |
| Sammy Drake | 13 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Don Cardwell | 39 | 259.1 | 15 | 14 | 3.82 | 156 |
| Glen Hobbie | 36 | 198.2 | 7 | 13 | 4.26 | 103 |
| Dick Ellsworth | 37 | 186.2 | 10 | 11 | 3.86 | 91 |
| Jack Curtis | 31 | 180.1 | 10 | 13 | 4.89 | 57 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Anderson | 57 | 152.0 | 7 | 10 | 4.26 | 96 |
| Dick Drott | 35 | 98.0 | 1 | 4 | 4.22 | 48 |
| Jim Brewer | 36 | 86.2 | 1 | 7 | 5.82 | 57 |
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Don Elston | 58 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 5.59 | 59 |
| Barney Schultz | 41 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 2.70 | 59 |
| Joe Schaffernoth | 21 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6.34 | 23 |
| Mel Wright | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10.71 | 6 |
| Dick Burwell | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 0 |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: San Antonio
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1961 MLB season by team
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| American League |
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| National League |
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