# 1961 Los Angeles Dodgers season

The 1961 Los Angeles Dodgers finished in second place in the National League with a record of 89–65, four games behind the Cincinnati Reds. 1961 was the fourth season for the Dodgers in Los Angeles. It was also the Dodgers final season of playing their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, since they moved to their new stadium the following season.

## Offseason

* November 28, 1960: Ray Semproch was drafted by the Washington Senators from the Dodgers in the 1960 rule 5 draft.
* December 15, 1960: Earl Robinson was purchased from the Dodgers by the Baltimore Orioles.
* December 16, 1960: Danny McDevitt was purchased from the Dodgers by the New York Yankees.
* January 31, 1961: Joe Pignatano was purchased from the Dodgers by the Kansas City Athletics.
* March 30, 1961: Ed Rakow was traded by the Dodgers to the Kansas City Athletics for Howie Reed and cash.

## Regular season

On April 17, 1961, Duke Snider hit his 370th career home run, which at the time moved him into 7th place on the all-time career home runs list. Later in the same game, Snider suffered a broken elbow, and he was knocked out for a good part of the season when he was hit by a pitch from Bob Gibson of the Cardinals.

### Season standings

vteNational League :
| 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 |

### Record vs. opponents

1961 National League recordvte Sources: :
| 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 | — |

### Opening Day lineup

Opening Day Starters :
| # | Name | Position |
| 30 | Maury Wills | SS |
| 3 | Willie Davis | CF |
| 12 | Tommy Davis | 3B |
| 4 | Duke Snider | RF |
| 9 | Wally Moon | LF |
| 5 | Norm Larker | 1B |
| 43 | Charlie Neal | 2B |
| 8 | John Roseboro | C |
| 53 | Don Drysdale | P |

### Notable transactions

* May 4, 1961: Don Demeter and Charley Smith were traded by the Dodgers to the Philadelphia Phillies for Turk Farrell and Joe Koppe.
* May 26, 1961: Art Fowler was purchased from the Dodgers by the Los Angeles Angels.
* May 30, 1961: Bob Lillis and Carl Warwick were traded by the Dodgers to the St. Louis Cardinals for Daryl Spencer.

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

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 | John Roseboro | 128 | 394 | 99 | .251 | 18 | 59 |
| 1B | Norm Larker | 97 | 282 | 76 | .270 | 5 | 38 |
| 2B | Charlie Neal | 108 | 341 | 80 | .235 | 10 | 48 |
| SS | Maury Wills | 148 | 613 | 173 | .282 | 1 | 31 |
| 3B | Daryl Spencer | 60 | 189 | 46 | .243 | 8 | 27 |
| LF | Wally Moon | 134 | 463 | 152 | .328 | 17 | 88 |
| CF | Willie Davis | 128 | 339 | 86 | .254 | 12 | 45 |
| RF | Frank Howard | 92 | 267 | 79 | .296 | 15 | 45 |

#### Other batters

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 |
| Tommy Davis | 132 | 460 | 128 | .278 | 15 | 58 |
| Jim Gilliam | 144 | 439 | 107 | .244 | 4 | 32 |
| Ron Fairly | 111 | 245 | 79 | .322 | 10 | 48 |
| Duke Snider | 85 | 233 | 69 | .296 | 16 | 56 |
| Gil Hodges | 109 | 215 | 52 | .242 | 8 | 31 |
| Norm Sherry | 47 | 121 | 31 | .256 | 5 | 21 |
| Bob Aspromonte | 47 | 58 | 14 | .241 | 0 | 2 |
| Gordie Windhorn | 34 | 33 | 8 | .242 | 2 | 6 |
| Doug Camilli | 13 | 30 | 4 | .133 | 3 | 4 |
| Don Demeter | 15 | 29 | 5 | .172 | 1 | 2 |
| Charley Smith | 9 | 24 | 6 | .250 | 2 | 3 |
| Carl Warwick | 19 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 0 | 1 |
| Bob Lillis | 19 | 9 | 1 | .111 | 0 | 1 |
| Tim Harkness | 5 | 8 | 4 | .500 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Sandy Koufax | 42 | 255.2 | 18 | 13 | 3.52 | 269 |
| Don Drysdale | 40 | 244.0 | 13 | 10 | 3.69 | 182 |
| Stan Williams | 41 | 235.1 | 15 | 12 | 3.90 | 205 |
| Johnny Podres | 32 | 182.2 | 18 | 5 | 3.74 | 124 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Roger Craig | 40 | 112.2 | 5 | 6 | 6.15 | 53 |
| Phil Ortega | 4 | 13.0 | 0 | 2 | 5.54 | 15 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Larry Sherry | 53 | 4 | 4 | 15 | 3.90 | 79 |
| Turk Farrell | 50 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 5.06 | 80 |
| Ron Perranoski | 53 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 2.65 | 56 |
| Jim Golden | 28 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5.79 | 18 |
| Ed Roebuck | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5.00 | 9 |
| Ed Palmquist | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6.23 | 5 |

## Awards and honors

* Gold Glove Award
** Maury Wills
** John Roseboro

### All-Stars

* 1961 Major League Baseball All-Star Game – Game 1
** Maury Wills starter
** Sandy Koufax reserve
** John Roseboro reserve
* 1961 Major League Baseball All-Star Game – Game 2
** Maury Wills starter
** Don Drysdale reserve
** Sandy Koufax reserve
** John Roseboro reserve
* TSN National League All-Star
** Maury Wills

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Omaha Dodgers | American Association | Danny Ozark |
| AAA | Spokane Indians | Pacific Coast League | Preston Gómez |
| AA | Atlanta Crackers | Southern Association | Rube Walker |
| A | Greenville Spinners | South Atlantic League | Roy Hartsfield |
| B | Salem Dodgers | Northwest League | Stan Wasiak |
| C | Great Falls Electrics | Pioneer League | Al Ronning |
| C | Reno Silver Sox | California League | Roy Smalley |
| D | Artesia Dodgers | Sophomore League | Spider Jorgensen |
| D | Kokomo Dodgers | Midwest League | Dom Domenichelli |
| D | Orlando Dodgers | Florida State League | Edward Serrano |
| D | Panama City Fliers | Alabama–Florida League | George Scherger |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Great Falls, Reno