World Series: Did You Know?

Héctor López' one bad year with the New York Yankees ended with a splendid Fall Classic. But he really was only able to contribute in the later stages of game four and all of the fifth contest. The 1961 World Series seemed "almost anti-climatic" according to Mickey Mantle.

That's because he and Roger Maris hit a lot of four-baggers that year. The Mick was hurt going into the series against Cincinnati, but you kinda figured their'd be some fireworks going off. New York had plenty of lumber. Would Héctor provide any big blows in a year in which he'd hit just .222 with 3 home runs?

Well, another big gun for the Yankees was Whitey Ford. He went out in the opening tilt at Yankee Stadium to set the tone. Ford did just that, but apart from Moose Skowron and Elston Howard, the New York offence wasn't there.

I think it had more to do with the Cincinnati pitching. They may have been the underdogs, but they had hurlers. López faced Jim O'Toole in the second inning, and could only line out to Wally Post in right.

Howard hit a home run in the fourth, and things were easier for the home team. The Yankees put a man on for Héctor that inning, for good measure. But O'Toole seemed to shake off that four-bagger by Elston Howard just fine. He fanned López'. The only other run the Reds' superb pitcher allowed came in the sixth, as Skowron hit a home run. The inning was bit promising as Héctor drew a bases on balls with two away. Clete Boyer slammed O'Toole's second pitch to the gap in left, but Vada Pinson caught up to it, and a made a very good catch. Héctor López would have crossed home but for Pinson's efforts.

López did not bat again that game, being lifted for a pinch hitter in the eighth. The good news was, the Yankees won 2-0. With Ford pitching, you didn't need to score many runs.

But it was New York that spotted Cincinnati an early 2-0 lead in the second contest. Although Yogi Berra tied the game with a two-run home run the bottom of the fourth, New York's offence came to a screeching halt right there. Cincinnati waited one inning before breaking the tie. They scored a run in the fifth, and another in the sixth.

In the bottom of the seventh, Joey Jay fanned Skowron on three pitches. Héctor López had not batted once all game, as New York went with Yogi Berra, Roger Maris and Johnny Blanchard in the outfield for game two. Clete Boyer gave the next one quite a ride, but it was just a long out to centre.

Finally, López would get his chance when he drew a free pass when he batted for pitcher Ralph Terry. This walk was Héctor's only plate appearance of the second contest. Bobby Richardson hit into a force to end that. When the smoke had cleared at the end of nine frames, it was Reds, six, Yankees, two. The 1961 World Series headed to Crosley Field.

Well, The Mick was back in the lineup, despite a series injury to his hip. It was another close one for the Yankees, who overcame 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to narrowly pull it out. The contest was still in doubt, until the out, the Reds were so close to pulling it out. Leo Cardenas hit a booming double with one away off the scoreboard in left centre, but Luis Arroyo got the next two men out. Had Cardenas been hit about ten feet to the right of it, would have tied the game.

But López did not play. Now, to look at the scores. New York had won 2-0 and 3-2. Plus they'd lost, 6-2. López had not done much, and for some reason the Yankees weren't looking so tough. Indeed, Mantle was held hitless in the third contest, and Maris finally came through with his first hit of the Fall Classic. It was a big one, a home run in the ninth. The big boys were not on their game.

So in game four, it was time for "The M and M Boys" to do something. The Bronx Bombers were struggling again against Jim O'Toole, just like they had in the first contest. But, the good news was Whitey Ford was keeping the Reds off the scoreboard.

Through three innings, all the mighty New York Yankees had was one hit, no runs. Yep. Bobby Richardson's double, and zilch. So, it was time in the fourth for the two big guns to do something about that.

Roger Maris led off with a walk. His good pal Mickey Mantle was next. Did he ever step into a 2-1 offering from O'Toole. Let's just say it was to The Mick's liking. A hard shot to the gap in left. Wally Post, in left, got to it, then couldn't come up with it. Maris to third.

Mantle normally would have gotten to second, and since it would have been without hesitation, it would have been an easy two-bagger, rather than a hit and an error. A big inning, for sure. Even when the big boys weren't hitting round-trippers, they were changing the outcomes of ballgames.

Sadly, at this point in the series, Mickey's hip was done. He could only get to first. It was obvious he could not continue. Mantle, was replaced at first by Héctor López. "...after he [Mantle] hit that ball, he limped into first, standing on the bag on one leg like a flamingo," wrote Peter Golenbock, "sweat running down his face, his teeth tightly clenched." Mickey had certainly put forth a tremendous effort just to be out there playing. 

It was a sad sight to see Mantle leave. Indeed, #7 was in tears as López took his sport at first base. However, Elston Howard promply hit into a double play. Thus limiting the potential big inning to but one run. Nethertheless, that was all the Yankees' lefty needed. The gritty pitcher, dubbed, "The Chairman of the Board," of the Yankees, had pitched his thirtieth consecutive scoreless inning in the Fall Classic. That broke the great Babe Ruth's record for consecutive shutout innings in the Fall Classic. This achievement would overshadowing everything else that happened this afternoon. 

And there was a lot more to come! The one run broke a scoreless ballgame, and led to better times for New York, who added a run in the fifth, and looked for more the next inning. The only problem was, the top of the sixth started with Héctor López facing pitcher / authour, Jim Brosnan, who got him on a 2-2 pitch. But rather than go down quietly that inning, the visitors added two runs, both scoring on a double by Clete Boyer.

It was 4-0, New York. The game was in the bag. But in each of the fourth, fifth and now sixth, the Yankees' had hurt a big inning by hitting into a double play. It was a good thing Whitey Ford (And with later help from Jim Coates) kept the Cincinnati Reds offence at bay.

The Reds put two men on the sixth, in a bid to get back into the game. But Coates got out of the jam. And Héctor López wasted no time in the next frame to ending any hope of Cincinnati winning this one.

With two men in scoring position, López was lookin' for some redemption against Brosnan. He found his 2-1 pitch to his liking, resulting in a single, which brought home Richardson and Maris. Now it was 6-0 for New York. Bill Skowron added to that total when he singled home López. And it looked like the Yankees were heading for more, but Berra was erased trying for third. Still, a seven-run lead for Jim Coates to protect.

Brosnan, to his credit, recovered from that shell-shock. The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the eighth. A new pitcher, Bill Henry, came on to pitch the ninth. Tony Kubek fanned. So did Maris. López did a little better when he gave it quite a ride on the second pitch from Henry. The ball was deep, but tracked down by Vada Pinson in deep centre. While the Yankees had scored seven runs, this was fourth inning they'd been retired in order this afternoon.

Nevertheless, Cincinnati did not go quietly in the ninth against Coates, who was looking for the save. The Reds put two on, before Gene Freese fanned and Gordy Coleman sent one to right field. So, López who put the squeeze on it. His team was up 3-1 in the 1961 Fall Classic. López had become the right fielder, when Maris had moved to centre when Mantle came out. 

And the fifth game saw the visiting team be a most unwelcome guest to Crosley Field, with López carrying the onslaught.

In the top of the first, he tripled home Moose Skowron. That made it 5-0. When Clete Boyer followed with a double, New York had a six-run lead. The game seemed to settle down after that, as López fanned his next time up. A three-run blast by Frank Robinson in the last of the third, made things a little interesting...Until the Yankees batted in the top of the fourth.

Skowron singled home two men, and moved Howard into scoring position, putting López back up for another round against Bill Henry. Henry had to get him out. With the count 0-2, it seemed like he would. Nope. López had other ideas, now in beast-mode this game, launched a three-run home run, which cleared the wall to the left of the 383 foot sign. 11-3, New York. Pitching change. Henry departed with an earned run average of 19.29. López was born in 1929. Coincidence?

In the fifth Wally Post blasted a two-run home run for Cincinnati, who were stubbornly refusing to go away, even with the score so one-sided. But again, López had an answer for that. With runners on the corners in the top of the sixth, and only one out, back he was at the dish. He bunted, and the throw home was a bad one. 12-5.  López made it to second, with his fifth RBI of the afternoon. Clete Boyer was put on to setup a force play. Then pitcher Bud Daley flied out to centre, scoring Elston Howard. 13-5.

"I was happy that Hector had that World Series after the year he had," Ralph Houk would say in Season of Glory, "He played very good before 1961 and he played good after it, but that year he just didn't have the season he usually had."

New York didn't act like, "Let's take it easy," the rest of the contest. They put two men on in the sixth, but did not score. In the seventh, López batted again, got ahead 2-0, but could only ground out. A Boyer single and a sacrifice bunt got another man into scoring position for Richardson, who was starving for an RBI this Fall Classic after having a record twelve in 1960. There would be no runs driven in, as all Bobby could do was ground out.

The Bronx Bombers were retired in the ninth with no runs and no hits, as Brosnan and Kenny Hunt (In his last major league appearance) managed to hold the fort for Cincinnati in the last three innings. However, Daley finished the game, allowing just the two unearned runs way back in the fifth. And the last out? Well, Berra did not play (Along with Mantle), so when Vada Pinson half-swung at the first offering from Bud Daley, it was a fly to short left which our boy, López, made the final putout, as he had in game four. New York had the game and the World Series. The team that had won 109 games in the regular season had needed just five games to brush aside a very good Cincinnati Reds ballclub.

"It is doubtful that any team in baseball history," noted Golenbock, "with perhaps the 1927 Yankees the exception, could have beaten them in this World Series [Capitals added to both words], the quality of play from both regulars and substitutes so good."

The 1961 New York Yankees had been a devastating team. You had sluggers, sluggers and more sluggers. In fact, Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, Elston Howard, Yogi Berra, Moose Skowron and even bench player Johnny Blanchard, hit more than 20 home runs each. Pitching-wise, Whitey Ford won 25 regular season games, plus two more in the World Series. Ralph Terry won 16, Billy Stafford, 14, Rollie Sheldon and Jim Coates 11 each. Even Luis Arroyo, the closer, won 15 games in addition to his 29 saves (A then-record).

It seemed, guys like Héctor López weren't needed. But while their stating eight batters were great, and pitching was superb, there was the need, especially when injuries occurred, for their second-stringers to contribute. Blanchard added two home runs himself in the Fall Classic.

"That [13-5 win] was the way the World Series ended," he would say in the early 90s, "with me playing just two games and [Roger] Maris hitting a puny .105. But was it [The way it played out in the World Series] an anticlimax? No, it was really the proper ending. Two guys [Himself and Maris] had hogged the headlines all year, and now some of the others had a chance to shine."

Mantle saw the second-stringers contributing to the season-ending devastation of Cincinnati as the appropriate ending to an unforgettable season. Héctor López had much to do with the Yankees' success from 1960-1964. But, although his regular season was so-so at best, he looked back fondly on his 1961 World Series performance.

“I drove in seven runs,” López would proudly tell Sportsnet nearly sixty years later. “I won’t forget that. I’ll never forget something like that.”


References

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