Lopez was someone who was stuck with a sarcastic nickname after coming to New York: What-A-Pair-Of-Hands-Hector.
This was because Hector had a notorious problem fielding.
But their was nothing wrong with his hitting, except in the 1961 regular season.
Lopez started the season in left field alongside Mickey Mantle And Roger Maris. Too bad he wasn't hitting like them.
After going 0 for 4 in the season opener, Lopez managed a hit and a walk against Kansas City, where he also scored a run, four days later.
But in his next six games, the best he could manage was 1-4, which did not much for his average. An April 23rd 1 for 3 with a walk left his average at .176. An 0-4 performance the next day against the Tigers (and Yankee killer Frank Larry), dropped his average even lower (.158).
Then came a bit of a resurgance. First Lopez was 3-6 with an RBI and a run scored two days later. He followed that up with a 1-2, RBI day against Cleveland on the 27th.
Despite getting a hit in the 3 games that followed that, Hector ended April with his average at .220.
May started out on a, hey-that-doesn't-make-sense note. Lopez managed just one hit in the first four games. Just one RBI, too. But 4 walks resulted in 4 runs scored for Lopez.
May 7th saw Lopez get his first extra base hit in about a month with a double of the Angels Ned Garver in the 8th inning. It was actually a lead off double as the Yankees eventually loaded the bases with two outs. Clete Boyer's grounder forced Johnny Blanchard at third. The Yankees eventually lost, 5-3.
After going a combined 1-10 in the next two games, Lopez smacked hit first homerun with a longball of Lary on the 12th. Moose Skowron scored infront of him on that blast in the 4th, overcame the Tigers 1-0 lead that they had established in the top of the frame. Despite another run in the 5th for a 3-1 lead, the Yankees did no more, and Lary and the Tigers won again, 4-3.
His next two games were just pinch hit appearances, first drawing a walk off Hank Agguire of Detroit on the 14th, then walking once, staying in the game and walking again, two days later.
He drew still another walk on May 17th, but also added two hits, as the Yankees lost 8-7 to the Senators.
On May 19th, Hector Lopez got a pitch he liked in the top of the 7th of the Yankees game against Cleveland. His homerun put the Yankees up 6-4, but 5 runs by the Indians in the bottom of the 8th cost the Yankees the game.
Lopez was relegated to pinch hit duties the following day, and the Yankees were again relegated to mortals as they suffered their forth straight loss, 4-3.
But Lopez's RBI in the first game of a doubleheader (against Baltimore) had the Yankees back in the winners column. He managed a hit in 4 trips to the plate in the nightcap.
But he would be held hitless by Jack Fisher (who had given up Ted Williams' last homerun the year before, and later on this season, Roger Maris' 60th) on the the 22nd.
His last May appearance was on the 24th as he went 0 for 3 with 3 strikeouts and a walk.
In June, Lopez would appear in only 9 games, and four of them would be as a pinch hitter.
But on the very first day on the month, Lopez pinch hit in the top of the 8th in a game against Boston. He hit into a fielder's choice, but got an RBI in the process. Then, four days later, Hector was back in left, and went 1 for 3 with 2 more RBIs. The next day he helped the Yankees to a 7-2 win over Minny by touching home twice.
He got his next RBI on June 12th against Los Angeles, then got a pinch hit the next day. But for the rest of the month he did little to none for the Yankees.
He next hit was on July 4th, and again it was as a pinch hitter. And again, it got him and RBI. On July 7th against Boston, he got a hit and scored a run against Boston, as the Yankees ran away with a 14-3 win.
Another pinch hit single of July 15th against the White Sox and pitcher Turk Lown, got his average back over .200. Mercifully, it would go only up the rest of the way.
After going hitless the next day, he got an RBI (but not a hit) pinch hitting against Washington on the 18th. It was in the 7th inning, on a sacrifice fly. That tied the game 3-3. Mickey Mantle then put the Yankees ahead for good with his second homerun of the game an inning later.
Lopez would pinch run the next day for Yogi Berra and later collect a single, but the Yankees lost 12-2.
He seemed stuck in, 1 for 4 as the month ended with this happening 3 times, plus a one for three day. His hit on July 27th was triple.
He set a fine example in his first August appearance as he went 3-3 with and RBI and a run scored. Three games would pass before he got another hit, and then after that he picked up a hit on August 11th in his only plate appearance against Washington. Then he got 2 hits, a walk, and RBI and a run scored against Washington on the 13th.
That brough his average up to .228, but struggling the rest of the month brough it down to .218. However, on the last day of August, he came up to the plate in the 8th inning with Mantle on second after a single and a steal. Jack Kralick then became the victim of a Lopez longball deep to left to bring the Yankees from 5-2 down to within a run. All for not as the Yankees lost 5-4.
September was a slow month for a while. But on September 8th, he scored a run while pinch running for Mantle in the bottom of the 8th against Cleveland. The next day he got still another pinch hit, a triple, and scored a run against the Tribe.
After striking out in his next pinch hit appearance, Hector was 1-3 against the White Sox on September 12th.
On the 14th, he drew a walk pinch hitting in the first game of a double header against Chicago. In the nightcap, he went 2 for 4.
Lopez then struggled for a while, altough he walked twice and scored a run on the 26th against Baltimore. Then he went 2-4 with his only September RBI the next day. His last notable game was on the second last game of the season against Boston, where he went 2-4 with 2 runs scored.
Lopez's numbers were a dissappointment. Just a .222 average, 3 homeruns and 22 RBI, plus 27 runs scored. Of the 93 games he played in, 65 games were in left field, nine were in right, 22 had Lopez comming into the game as a pinch hitter and 3 as a pinch runner.
But it was on to the World Series. And that's what I'll remember best about Hector.
It didn't get off to a promising start. It was like his regular season. Playing in right field, since Roger Maris started in center for the injured Mantle, he managed just a walk in 3 trips to the plate against the Reds Jim O'Toole. Manager Ralph Houk would send Johnny Blanchard to pinch hit for him in the 8th.
In game 2, it was Lopez who pinch hit. In the 7th, he batted for Ralph Terry and drew a walk, but was left stranded as the Yankees lost, 6-2.
In game 4, Mantle played for the second time in the series. In the top of the fourth with Roger Maris on first, he lashed a hit to left.
It should have been a double, but Mantle's hip was hurting, and Ralph Houk sent in Hector Lopez to pinch run for Mickey, who had only reached first.
A double play scored Maris, but erased Lopez from the basepaths.
Maris had to go back to center after a two game return to right. Lopez took over from the vacancy.
In the sixth, with the Yankees up now 2-0, Lopez fanned against Jim Brosnan, who had relieved O'Toole's fine 5 IP 5H 2R performance.
But the Yankees would get to Brosnan soon enough. They picked up 2 against him that inning, and when Hector batted in the next inning, the Yankees had a man on first and second, and just one out. A wild pitch moved both Bobby Richardson and Roger Maris, who were the baserunners, into scoring position.
Lopez would knock a single to center to put the game out of reach as both runners scored. Hector reached second on Vada Pinson's throw home.
Brosnan beared down to strikeout Elston Howard, but Yogi Berra drew a walk.
A single by Bill Skowron scored Lopez, although Berra was gunned out at third by Pinson. Still, you can't argue with a 7-0 lead can you? That would be the final score as Jim Coates pitched shutout relief ball after taking over from Whitey Ford, and Brosnan and Bill Henry closed the door on the Yankees after that. Lopez was the only batter in the 9th not to strikeout against Henry as he flew out.
Gordy Coleman ended the game by flying out to Hector with two on in the bottom of the frame.
The next game saw the Yankees up 3-0 in the first against Joey Jay as Lopez came to bat. Only he would not face Jay. Jim Maloney came in. Hector (playing in his familiar left field position) would greet him with a triple to drive in Moose Skowron. Lopez then scored himself as Clete Boyer hit a double. The Yankees, as a team, had hit for the cycle in that inning, and were up 5-0.
It was now 6-0 as Lopez fanned against Henry in the top of the third. But in the top of the fourth, with the Reds a little back in it, 8-3, Lopez put a damper on any comback thought with a three run shot of Henry. 11-3 Yanks!
But the Reds still didn't quit, as Wally Post's 2 run shot in the bottom of the 5th made it 11-5 Yankees. So it was back to work in the top of the 6th.
Lopez would get an RBI on a bunt to first which the Reds tried unsucessfully to nail Johhny Blanchard at home. Lopez made it to second on the error. Bud Daley, who had relieved Ralph Terry, then hit a sacrifce fly to center for the Yankees 13th and final run.
Hector grounded out in top of the 8th against Brosnan, the Reds 7th (of 8) pitcher of the afternoon. But the Yankees had enough of that, keeping the Cincinatti at bay after Post's blast.
The World Series ended with Vada Pinson flying out to Hector Lopez in left. Fitting.
In just 12 plate appearances (2 walks and a sacrifice bunt), Lopez had 3 hits, 1 triple, 1 homerun, 7 RBIs and 3 runs scored. That was good enough for a .333 average.
Hector Lopez may not have helped the Yankees much in the regular season, but when pressed into service at key points in the 5 game World Series, he delivered.
References
Golenbock, Peter. "1961." Dynasty: The New York Yankees, 1949-1964. Lincolnwood, IL: Contemporary, 2000. Print, pp. 405-445.
Mantle, Mickey, and Mickey Herskowitz. "The M&M Boys." All My Octobers: My Memories of Twelve World Series When the Yankees Ruled Baseball. New York: HarperCollins, 1994. Print, pp. 129-145.
Smith, Ron. The Sporting News Presents 61*: The Story Of Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle And One Magical Summer. St. Louis: Sporting News, 2001. Print.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 12 Oct. 2011.
The World Series Of 1961. Dir. Lew Fonseca. Prod. Dick Borden. Perf. New York Yankees Cincinnati Reds 1961. Major League Baseball Productions Inc, 1961. DVD. DVD Released in 2006.
This was because Hector had a notorious problem fielding.
But their was nothing wrong with his hitting, except in the 1961 regular season.
Lopez started the season in left field alongside Mickey Mantle And Roger Maris. Too bad he wasn't hitting like them.
After going 0 for 4 in the season opener, Lopez managed a hit and a walk against Kansas City, where he also scored a run, four days later.
But in his next six games, the best he could manage was 1-4, which did not much for his average. An April 23rd 1 for 3 with a walk left his average at .176. An 0-4 performance the next day against the Tigers (and Yankee killer Frank Larry), dropped his average even lower (.158).
Then came a bit of a resurgance. First Lopez was 3-6 with an RBI and a run scored two days later. He followed that up with a 1-2, RBI day against Cleveland on the 27th.
Despite getting a hit in the 3 games that followed that, Hector ended April with his average at .220.
May started out on a, hey-that-doesn't-make-sense note. Lopez managed just one hit in the first four games. Just one RBI, too. But 4 walks resulted in 4 runs scored for Lopez.
May 7th saw Lopez get his first extra base hit in about a month with a double of the Angels Ned Garver in the 8th inning. It was actually a lead off double as the Yankees eventually loaded the bases with two outs. Clete Boyer's grounder forced Johnny Blanchard at third. The Yankees eventually lost, 5-3.
After going a combined 1-10 in the next two games, Lopez smacked hit first homerun with a longball of Lary on the 12th. Moose Skowron scored infront of him on that blast in the 4th, overcame the Tigers 1-0 lead that they had established in the top of the frame. Despite another run in the 5th for a 3-1 lead, the Yankees did no more, and Lary and the Tigers won again, 4-3.
His next two games were just pinch hit appearances, first drawing a walk off Hank Agguire of Detroit on the 14th, then walking once, staying in the game and walking again, two days later.
He drew still another walk on May 17th, but also added two hits, as the Yankees lost 8-7 to the Senators.
On May 19th, Hector Lopez got a pitch he liked in the top of the 7th of the Yankees game against Cleveland. His homerun put the Yankees up 6-4, but 5 runs by the Indians in the bottom of the 8th cost the Yankees the game.
Lopez was relegated to pinch hit duties the following day, and the Yankees were again relegated to mortals as they suffered their forth straight loss, 4-3.
But Lopez's RBI in the first game of a doubleheader (against Baltimore) had the Yankees back in the winners column. He managed a hit in 4 trips to the plate in the nightcap.
But he would be held hitless by Jack Fisher (who had given up Ted Williams' last homerun the year before, and later on this season, Roger Maris' 60th) on the the 22nd.
His last May appearance was on the 24th as he went 0 for 3 with 3 strikeouts and a walk.
In June, Lopez would appear in only 9 games, and four of them would be as a pinch hitter.
But on the very first day on the month, Lopez pinch hit in the top of the 8th in a game against Boston. He hit into a fielder's choice, but got an RBI in the process. Then, four days later, Hector was back in left, and went 1 for 3 with 2 more RBIs. The next day he helped the Yankees to a 7-2 win over Minny by touching home twice.
He got his next RBI on June 12th against Los Angeles, then got a pinch hit the next day. But for the rest of the month he did little to none for the Yankees.
He next hit was on July 4th, and again it was as a pinch hitter. And again, it got him and RBI. On July 7th against Boston, he got a hit and scored a run against Boston, as the Yankees ran away with a 14-3 win.
Another pinch hit single of July 15th against the White Sox and pitcher Turk Lown, got his average back over .200. Mercifully, it would go only up the rest of the way.
After going hitless the next day, he got an RBI (but not a hit) pinch hitting against Washington on the 18th. It was in the 7th inning, on a sacrifice fly. That tied the game 3-3. Mickey Mantle then put the Yankees ahead for good with his second homerun of the game an inning later.
Lopez would pinch run the next day for Yogi Berra and later collect a single, but the Yankees lost 12-2.
He seemed stuck in, 1 for 4 as the month ended with this happening 3 times, plus a one for three day. His hit on July 27th was triple.
He set a fine example in his first August appearance as he went 3-3 with and RBI and a run scored. Three games would pass before he got another hit, and then after that he picked up a hit on August 11th in his only plate appearance against Washington. Then he got 2 hits, a walk, and RBI and a run scored against Washington on the 13th.
That brough his average up to .228, but struggling the rest of the month brough it down to .218. However, on the last day of August, he came up to the plate in the 8th inning with Mantle on second after a single and a steal. Jack Kralick then became the victim of a Lopez longball deep to left to bring the Yankees from 5-2 down to within a run. All for not as the Yankees lost 5-4.
September was a slow month for a while. But on September 8th, he scored a run while pinch running for Mantle in the bottom of the 8th against Cleveland. The next day he got still another pinch hit, a triple, and scored a run against the Tribe.
After striking out in his next pinch hit appearance, Hector was 1-3 against the White Sox on September 12th.
On the 14th, he drew a walk pinch hitting in the first game of a double header against Chicago. In the nightcap, he went 2 for 4.
Lopez then struggled for a while, altough he walked twice and scored a run on the 26th against Baltimore. Then he went 2-4 with his only September RBI the next day. His last notable game was on the second last game of the season against Boston, where he went 2-4 with 2 runs scored.
Lopez's numbers were a dissappointment. Just a .222 average, 3 homeruns and 22 RBI, plus 27 runs scored. Of the 93 games he played in, 65 games were in left field, nine were in right, 22 had Lopez comming into the game as a pinch hitter and 3 as a pinch runner.
But it was on to the World Series. And that's what I'll remember best about Hector.
It didn't get off to a promising start. It was like his regular season. Playing in right field, since Roger Maris started in center for the injured Mantle, he managed just a walk in 3 trips to the plate against the Reds Jim O'Toole. Manager Ralph Houk would send Johnny Blanchard to pinch hit for him in the 8th.
In game 2, it was Lopez who pinch hit. In the 7th, he batted for Ralph Terry and drew a walk, but was left stranded as the Yankees lost, 6-2.
In game 4, Mantle played for the second time in the series. In the top of the fourth with Roger Maris on first, he lashed a hit to left.
It should have been a double, but Mantle's hip was hurting, and Ralph Houk sent in Hector Lopez to pinch run for Mickey, who had only reached first.
A double play scored Maris, but erased Lopez from the basepaths.
Maris had to go back to center after a two game return to right. Lopez took over from the vacancy.
In the sixth, with the Yankees up now 2-0, Lopez fanned against Jim Brosnan, who had relieved O'Toole's fine 5 IP 5H 2R performance.
But the Yankees would get to Brosnan soon enough. They picked up 2 against him that inning, and when Hector batted in the next inning, the Yankees had a man on first and second, and just one out. A wild pitch moved both Bobby Richardson and Roger Maris, who were the baserunners, into scoring position.
Lopez would knock a single to center to put the game out of reach as both runners scored. Hector reached second on Vada Pinson's throw home.
Brosnan beared down to strikeout Elston Howard, but Yogi Berra drew a walk.
A single by Bill Skowron scored Lopez, although Berra was gunned out at third by Pinson. Still, you can't argue with a 7-0 lead can you? That would be the final score as Jim Coates pitched shutout relief ball after taking over from Whitey Ford, and Brosnan and Bill Henry closed the door on the Yankees after that. Lopez was the only batter in the 9th not to strikeout against Henry as he flew out.
Gordy Coleman ended the game by flying out to Hector with two on in the bottom of the frame.
The next game saw the Yankees up 3-0 in the first against Joey Jay as Lopez came to bat. Only he would not face Jay. Jim Maloney came in. Hector (playing in his familiar left field position) would greet him with a triple to drive in Moose Skowron. Lopez then scored himself as Clete Boyer hit a double. The Yankees, as a team, had hit for the cycle in that inning, and were up 5-0.
It was now 6-0 as Lopez fanned against Henry in the top of the third. But in the top of the fourth, with the Reds a little back in it, 8-3, Lopez put a damper on any comback thought with a three run shot of Henry. 11-3 Yanks!
But the Reds still didn't quit, as Wally Post's 2 run shot in the bottom of the 5th made it 11-5 Yankees. So it was back to work in the top of the 6th.
Lopez would get an RBI on a bunt to first which the Reds tried unsucessfully to nail Johhny Blanchard at home. Lopez made it to second on the error. Bud Daley, who had relieved Ralph Terry, then hit a sacrifce fly to center for the Yankees 13th and final run.
Hector grounded out in top of the 8th against Brosnan, the Reds 7th (of 8) pitcher of the afternoon. But the Yankees had enough of that, keeping the Cincinatti at bay after Post's blast.
The World Series ended with Vada Pinson flying out to Hector Lopez in left. Fitting.
In just 12 plate appearances (2 walks and a sacrifice bunt), Lopez had 3 hits, 1 triple, 1 homerun, 7 RBIs and 3 runs scored. That was good enough for a .333 average.
Hector Lopez may not have helped the Yankees much in the regular season, but when pressed into service at key points in the 5 game World Series, he delivered.
References
Golenbock, Peter. "1961." Dynasty: The New York Yankees, 1949-1964. Lincolnwood, IL: Contemporary, 2000. Print, pp. 405-445.
Mantle, Mickey, and Mickey Herskowitz. "The M&M Boys." All My Octobers: My Memories of Twelve World Series When the Yankees Ruled Baseball. New York: HarperCollins, 1994. Print, pp. 129-145.
Smith, Ron. The Sporting News Presents 61*: The Story Of Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle And One Magical Summer. St. Louis: Sporting News, 2001. Print.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 12 Oct. 2011.
The World Series Of 1961. Dir. Lew Fonseca. Prod. Dick Borden. Perf. New York Yankees Cincinnati Reds 1961. Major League Baseball Productions Inc, 1961. DVD. DVD Released in 2006.
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