# 1961 Milwaukee Braves season

The 1961 Milwaukee Braves season was the ninth in Milwaukee and the 91st overall season of the franchise.
The fourth-place Braves finished the season with an 83–71 (.539) record, ten games behind the National League champion Cincinnati Reds. The home attendance at County Stadium was 1,101,411, fifth in the eight-team National League. It was the Braves' lowest attendance to date in Milwaukee, and was the last season surpassing one million fans.

## Offseason

* October 14, 1960: Red Schoendienst was released by the Braves.
* October 14, 1960: Stan Lopata was released by the Braves.
* December 3, 1960: Billy Martin was purchased by the Braves from the Cincinnati Reds.
* December 14, 1960: Joe Azcue was purchased by the Braves from the Cincinnati Reds.
* Prior to 1961 season (exact date unknown)
** Jim Campbell was traded by the Braves to the Houston Colt .45s for Morrie Martin.
** Clay Carroll was signed by the Braves as an amateur free agent.

## Regular season

On April 28, Warren Spahn threw a no-hitter against the San Francisco Giants.
On June 8, against the Cincinnati Reds, four consecutive Braves batters hit home runs off pitchers Jim Maloney (two) and Marshall Bridges (two more) in the seventh inning. The batters who accomplished this feat were Eddie Mathews, Hank Aaron, Joe Adcock, and Frank Thomas. Oddly, both Adcock and Thomas were former players for the Reds.

### 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 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 1961: Morrie Martin was released by the Braves.
* May 9, 1961: Mel Roach was traded by the Braves to the Chicago Cubs for Frank Thomas.
* May 10, 1961: Wes Covington was selected off waivers from the Braves by the Chicago White Sox.
* June 1, 1961: Billy Martin was traded by the Braves to the Minnesota Twins for Billy Consolo.

### Managerial turnover

Chuck Dressen, 66, was fired on September 2, less than a month shy of finishing his second year as the Braves' manager. The club was in third place at 71–58 (.550), seven games behind the league-leading Cincinnati Reds, when the change was announced after a Saturday home win over the Dodgers. The Braves were 159–124 (.562) under Dressen's command.
His successor was executive vice president Birdie Tebbetts, 48, a former Cincinnati manager, who came down from the Milwaukee front office to take the reins; the Braves went 12–13 (.480) under him to finish the season. Tebbetts was signed through the 1963 season but he would spend only 1962 as the Braves' skipper before leaving to become manager of the Cleveland Indians in 1963. Tebbetts retained two of Dressen's coaches, Andy Pafko and Whit Wyatt, while George Myatt departed for the American League Detroit Tigers.

### 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 | Joe Torre | 113 | 406 | 113 | .278 | 10 | 42 |
| 1B | Joe Adcock | 152 | 562 | 160 | .285 | 35 | 108 |
| 2B | Frank Bolling | 148 | 585 | 153 | .262 | 15 | 56 |
| SS | Roy McMillan | 154 | 505 | 111 | .220 | 7 | 48 |
| 3B | Eddie Mathews | 152 | 572 | 175 | .306 | 32 | 91 |
| LF | Frank Thomas | 124 | 423 | 120 | .284 | 25 | 67 |
| CF | Hank Aaron | 155 | 603 | 197 | .327 | 34 | 120 |
| RF | Lee Maye | 110 | 373 | 101 | .271 | 14 | 41 |

#### 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 |
| Gino Cimoli | 37 | 117 | 23 | .197 | 3 | 4 |
| Mack Jones | 28 | 104 | 24 | .231 | 0 | 12 |
| Al Spangler | 68 | 97 | 26 | .268 | 0 | 6 |
| Félix Mantilla | 45 | 93 | 20 | .215 | 1 | 5 |
| Charley Lau | 28 | 82 | 17 | .207 | 0 | 5 |
| John DeMerit | 32 | 74 | 12 | .162 | 2 | 5 |
| Sammy White | 21 | 63 | 14 | .222 | 0 | 5 |
| Bob Boyd | 36 | 41 | 10 | .244 | 0 | 3 |
| Mel Roach | 13 | 36 | 6 | .167 | 1 | 6 |
| Del Crandall | 15 | 30 | 6 | .200 | 0 | 1 |
| Hawk Taylor | 20 | 26 | 5 | .192 | 1 | 1 |
| Wes Covington | 9 | 21 | 4 | .190 | 0 | 0 |
| Johnny Logan | 18 | 19 | 2 | .105 | 0 | 1 |
| Neil Chrisley | 10 | 9 | 2 | .222 | 0 | 0 |
| Billy Martin | 6 | 6 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Phil Roof | 1 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 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 |
| Lew Burdette | 40 | 272.1 | 18 | 11 | 4.00 | 92 |
| Warren Spahn | 38 | 262.2 | 21 | 13 | 3.02 | 115 |
| Bob Buhl | 32 | 188.1 | 9 | 10 | 4.11 | 77 |
| Bob Hendley | 19 | 97.0 | 5 | 7 | 3.90 | 44 |

#### 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 |
| Carl Willey | 35 | 159.2 | 6 | 12 | 3.83 | 91 |
| Don Nottebart | 38 | 126.1 | 6 | 7 | 4.06 | 66 |
| Tony Cloninger | 19 | 84.0 | 7 | 2 | 5.25 | 51 |

#### 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 |
| Don McMahon | 53 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 2.84 | 55 |
| Moe Drabowsky | 16 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4.62 | 5 |
| Claude Raymond | 13 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3.98 | 13 |
| Ron Piché | 12 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3.47 | 16 |
| Seth Morehead | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.46 | 13 |
| Johnny Antonelli | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7.59 | 8 |
| Ken MacKenzie | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.14 | 5 |
| George Brunet | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.40 | 0 |
| Chi-Chi Olivo | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18.00 | 1 |

## Awards and honors
### League leaders

* Warren Spahn, National League leader, wins

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Louisville Colonels | American Association | Ben Geraghty |
| AAA | Vancouver Mounties | Pacific Coast League | Billy Hitchcock |
| AA | Austin Senators | Texas League | Bill Adair |
| B | Cedar Rapids Braves | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Jimmy Brown |
| B | Yakima Bears | Northwest League | Buddy Hicks |
| C | Eau Claire Braves | Northern League | Jim Fanning |
| C | Boise Braves | Pioneer League | Gordon Maltzberger |
| D | Palatka Azaleas | Florida State League | Mike Fandozzi |
| D | Quad Cities Braves | Midwest League | Alex Monchak |
| D | Wellsville Braves | New York–Penn League | Bill Steinecke |
| D | Newton-Conover Twins | Western Carolinas League | Joe Abernethy |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Louisville