# 1961 Pittsburgh Pirates season

The 1961 Pittsburgh Pirates fell from World Champions the previous season to sixth place in the National League, as they won 75 games and lost 79, 18 games behind NL Champion Cincinnati.

## Regular season
### 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 | — |

### Game log

1961 Game Log: 75–79 (Home: 38–39; Away: 37–40) :
April: 9–6 (Home: 4–2; Away: 5–4)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecord
1April 11@ Giants8–7Face (1–0)McCormickLabine (1)41,4231–0
2April 12@ Giants1–2LoesLaw (0–1)Duffalo7,5831–1
3April 13@ Giants5–6 (12)DuffaloFace (1–1)—10,9101–2
4April 14@ Dodgers6–3Gibbon (1–0)KoufaxLabine (2)28,3712–2
5April 15@ Dodgers4–1Friend (1–0)Drysdale—36,7833–2
6April 16@ Dodgers6–13WilliamsLaw (0–2)Palmquist27,7163–3
7April 18Cubs5–3Mizell (1–0)WrightFace (1)30,7814–3
8April 19Cubs4–1Friend (2–0)Anderson—12,7425–3
9April 20Cubs0–3HobbieGibbon (1–1)—10,4285–4
10April 23Braves1–3SpahnLaw (0–3)—21,2495–5
11April 24Braves7–6Friend (3–0)DrabowskyLabine (3)14,8266–5
12April 26Phillies3–2Mizell (2–0)Green—9,4207–5
13April 29@ Reds6–3Law (1–3)JayFace (2)9,1738–5
14April 30@ Reds6–3Friend (4–0)HookFace (3)9–5
15April 30@ Reds2–4PurkeyGibbon (1–2)—11,7439–6 :
May: 12–12 (Home: 7–6; Away: 5–6)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecord
16May 2@ Cardinals6–0Haddix (1–0)Broglio—6,54910–6
17May 3@ Cardinals1–3GibsonMizell (2–1)McDaniel5,61110–7
18May 5Dodgers0–10PodresFriend (4–1)Farrell25,02310–8
19May 6Dodgers9–5Gibbon (2–2)CraigFace (4)9,73611–8
20May 7Dodgers2–4KoufaxWitt (0–1)Sherry17,36311–9
21May 9Giants9–6Haddix (2–0)SanfordLabine (4)17,25012–9
22May 10Giants0–3McCormickFriend (4–2)—21,59912–10
23May 12Reds8–5Shantz (1–0)Bridges—20,66213–10
24May 13Reds13–5Labine (1–0)O'Toole—13,34314–10
25May 14Reds1–4HuntFriend (4–3)Brosnan17,45914–11
26May 16Cardinals2–1Face (2–1)Simmons—13,57815–11
27May 17Cardinals4–3Mizell (3–1)BroglioFace (5)17,69116–11
28May 19@ Phillies1–4MahaffeyFriend (4–4)—16,03516–12
29May 20@ Phillies4–3Gibbon (3–2)RobertsFace (6)12,54717–12
30May 21@ Phillies13–11Friend (5–4)Ferrarese—9,29118–12
31May 22@ Braves2–1Haddix (3–0)Buhl—10,33219–12
32May 23@ Braves0–1BurdetteShantz (1–1)—9,36719–13
33May 24@ Cubs7–3Mizell (4–1)EllsworthLabine (5)5,57320–13
34May 26@ Cardinals2–12SimmonsFriend (5–5)—8,86820–14
35May 27@ Cardinals5–7BroglioLaw (1–4)McDaniel14,94120–15
36May 28@ Cardinals4–8CicotteHaddix (3–1)—16,63220–16
37May 30Cubs3–5EllsworthMizell (4–2)Elston20–17
38May 30Cubs0–10CardwellFriend (5–6)—30,85220–18
39May 31Braves9–1Gibbon (4–2)Spahn—16,90221–18 :
June: 15–13 (Home: 10–9; Away: 5–4)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecord
40June 1Braves8–2 (7)Haddix (4–1)Burdette—19,12822–18
41June 2Phillies0–6BuzhardtFriend (5–7)—14,34422–19
42June 3Phillies5–1Shantz (2–1)MahaffeyFace (7)11,15323–19
43June 4Phillies0–5FerrareseMizell (4–3)—27,35223–20
44June 5@ Dodgers5–2Law (2–4)PerranoskiFace (8)14,71524–20
45June 6@ Dodgers7–8PodresFace (2–2)Sherry15,78424–21
46June 7@ Dodgers3–7KoufaxFrancis (0–1)—19,96724–22
47June 8@ Dodgers4–2Friend (6–7)WilliamsShantz (1)17,59925–22
48June 9@ Giants6–9BolinFace (2–3)Miller27,81525–23
49June 10@ Giants0–5McCormickMizell (4–4)—26,63025–24
50June 11@ Giants8–4Law (3–4)LoesFriend (1)34,18526–24
51June 13Reds2–1Gibbon (5–2)Maloney—19,42327–24
52June 14Reds5–4Shantz (3–1)Brosnan—14,27028–24
53June 15Reds1–8JayMizell (4–5)—19,20928–25
54June 16Cardinals2–5GibsonHaddix (4–2)—26,22928–26
55June 17Cardinals9–3Shantz (4–1)Broglio—15,43629–26
56June 18Cardinals5–3Friend (7–7)SimmonsFace (9)30–26
57June 18Cardinals3–7JacksonGibbon (5–3)Miller29,17630–27
58June 20@ Phillies6–2Haddix (5–2)MahaffeyFace (10)10,64931–27
59June 22@ Phillies5–1Friend (8–7)Buzhardt—9,12632–27
60June 23Phillies11–12LehmanFrancis (0–2)Sullivan16,17032–28
61June 24Phillies2–6ShortMizell (4–6)Sullivan9,54632–29
62June 25Phillies10–5Face (3–3)Baldschun—33–29
63June 25Phillies3–4MahaffeyHaddix (5–3)Sullivan10,95133–30
64June 27Dodgers5–9FarrellFriend (8–8)Sherry25,93633–31
65June 28Dodgers9–3Gibbon (6–3)Drysdale—21,58134–31
66June 29Dodgers4–2Francis (1–2)KoufaxFace (11)21,52035–31
67June 30Giants4–3Face (4–3)McCormick—31,90036–31 :
July: 9–17 (Home: 4–10; Away: 5–7)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecord
68July 1Giants3–4JonesFriend (8–9)—19,73736–32
69July 2Giants7–6Haddix (6–3)McCormickLabine (6)37–32
70July 2Giants9–0 (7)Shantz (5–1)Marichal—36,09338–32
71July 3@ Reds3–4MaloneyGibbon (6–4)Brosnan31,83938–33
72July 4@ Reds0–2JayFrancis (1–3)—11,80238–34
73July 6@ Cubs15–3Friend (9–9)Ellsworth—39–34
74July 6@ Cubs1–5HobbieMizell (4–7)—15,81339–35
75July 7@ Braves6–5McBean (1–0)SpahnFace (12)17,62240–35
76July 8@ Braves4–3Gibbon (7–4)BuhlShantz (2)16,10941–35
77July 9@ Braves5–4McBean (2–0)BurdetteFace (13)20,84542–35
78July 13@ Giants1–2MillerFriend (9–10)—11,32842–36
79July 14@ Giants6–4Labine (2–0)LeMayFace (14)23,17743–36
80July 15@ Giants3–8McCormickHaddix (6–4)—22,59643–37
81July 16@ Dodgers11–12 (10)PodresFace (4–4)—15,93043–38
82July 17@ Dodgers4–6WilliamsFriend (9–11)Koufax26,23243–39
83July 20Cubs4–0Gibbon (8–4)Curtis—13,85944–39
84July 21Braves3–5BurdetteFriend (9–12)Nottebart28,29044–40
85July 22Braves4–5CloningerShantz (5–2)Nottebart16,41744–41
86July 23Braves4–11BuhlHaddix (6–5)—44–42
87July 23Braves4–5McMahonFriend (9–13)—26,53144–43
88July 25Giants7–16MillerGibbon (8–5)—18,69844–44
89July 26Giants8–3Friend (10–13)LeMay—17,30645–44
90July 27Giants0–2MarichalMizell (4–8)—17,88545–45
91July 28Dodgers4–6PodresFrancis (1–4)Farrell25,59345–46
92July 29Dodgers4–5PerranoskiMcBean (2–1)Farrell11,82245–47
93July 30Dodgers3–7DrysdaleGibbon (8–6)Perranoski18,27345–48 :
August: 16–16 (Home: 8–7; Away: 8–9)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecord
94August 2@ Cardinals2–4JacksonShantz (5–3)—12,04845–49
95August 3@ Cardinals19–0Haddix (7–5)Cicotte—11,51446–49
96August 4@ Reds4–5BrosnanLabine (2–1)—27,38346–50
97August 5@ Reds11–7McBean (3–1)Hunt—12,12547–50
98August 6@ Reds9–4Mizell (5–8)JayLabine (7)48–50
99August 6@ Reds2–3 (10)BrosnanFace (4–5)—31,16748–51
100August 7@ Phillies3–1Friend (11–13)Buzhardt—5,58649–51
101August 8@ Phillies10–2Haddix (8–5)Mahaffey—50–51
102August 8@ Phillies3–2Sturdivant (1–0)Short—11,08151–51
103August 9Cardinals0–4SimmonsGibbon (8–7)Bauta17,03851–52
104August 10Cardinals2–3SadeckiFrancis (1–5)—13,81251–53
105August 11Phillies6–0 (7)Friend (12–13)Roberts—12,96552–53
106August 12Phillies4–0Mizell (6–8)Owens—8,78553–53
107August 13Phillies13–4Sturdivant (2–0)Buzhardt—12,92354–53
108August 14@ Braves3–8CloningerHaddix (8–6)—14,64854–54
109August 15@ Braves1–4WilleyGibbon (8–8)—16,84354–55
110August 16@ Braves1–2SpahnFriend (12–14)—18,33054–56
111August 17@ Cubs4–11DrottMizell (6–9)Anderson54–57
112August 17@ Cubs4–3Francis (2–5)BrewerFace (15)16,96155–57
113August 18@ Cubs1–2 (11)EllsworthSturdivant (2–1)—7,46955–58
114August 19@ Cubs4–3 (11)Labine (3–1)Curtis—11,77756–58
115August 20@ Cubs0–1 (11)CardwellFriend (12–15)—19,03856–59
116August 22Braves4–1Gibbon (9–8)BuhlFace (16)15,87457–59
117August 23Braves7–6Face (5–5)Nottebart—15,11758–59
118August 24Braves1–6SpahnFriend (12–16)—16,65358–60
119August 25Cubs1–0Sturdivant (3–1)Cardwell—12,65159–60
120August 26Cubs3–7SchultzFace (5–6)Anderson9,13759–61
121August 27Cubs7–3Gibbon (10–8)CurtisLabine (8)60–61
122August 27Cubs5–6BrewerMizell (6–10)Anderson15,47160–62
123August 28Cubs4–5AndersonFace (5–7)—13,75360–63
124August 29Reds0–3O'TooleFriend (12–17)Maloney17,99960–64
125August 30Reds3–1Sturdivant (4–1)Purkey—20,00061–64 :
September: 13–15 (Home: 4–5; Away: 9–10)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecord
126September 1@ Cardinals4–8JacksonGibbon (10–9)—13,48061–65
127September 2@ Cardinals5–4Face (6–7)McDaniel—9,14062–65
128September 3@ Cardinals8–1Friend (13–17)Simmons—13,81763–65
129September 4@ Cardinals4–9SadeckiFrancis (2–6)McDaniel10,02163–66
130September 5@ Cubs8–3Sturdivant (5–1)Hobbie—3,41764–66
131September 6@ Cubs2–6CardwellGibbon (10–10)—3,08064–67
132September 7@ Cubs7–5Shantz (6–3)Brewer—2,75265–67
133September 8@ Braves2–1Friend (14–17)Hendley—15,60666–67
134September 9@ Braves3–4NottebartFace (6–8)—12,32066–68
135September 10@ Braves3–4SpahnSturdivant (5–2)—24,19866–69
136September 11@ Giants3–4 (10)SanfordFace (6–9)—5,51266–70
137September 12@ Giants3–0Gibbon (11–10)McCormick—9,53967–70
138September 13@ Dodgers8–2Haddix (9–6)Farrell—10,49468–70
139September 14@ Dodgers6–7RoebuckFace (6–10)—9,80568–71
140September 16Cardinals3–6SadeckiFrancis (2–7)—6,83068–72
141September 17Cardinals0–3JacksonMcBean (3–2)—10,03068–73
142September 18Cardinals8–6Foss (1–0)GibsonFace (17)8,93469–73
143September 19@ Reds1–10O'TooleFriend (14–18)—14,22569–74
144September 20@ Reds2–3JayFace (6–11)—14,82269–75
145September 22@ Phillies6–3Labine (4–1)Sullivan—4,68770–75
146September 23@ Phillies4–5 (16)BaldschunFace (6–12)—4,00570–76
147September 24@ Phillies4–3Mizell (7–10)ShortSturdivant (1)3,28271–76
148September 26Dodgers3–5WilliamsFriend (14–19)Farrell71–77
149September 26Dodgers8–0Gibbon (12–10)Drysdale—9,60272–77
150September 27Giants5–3Haddix (10–6)Miller—7,47173–77
151September 28Giants4–7DuffaloFrancis (2–8)Miller5,38473–78
152September 29Reds1–8O'TooleFoss (1–1)Jones10,11973–79
153September 30Reds11–6Jackson (1–0)Jay—7,15874–79 :
October: 1–0 (Home: 1–0; Away: 0–0)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecord
154October 1Reds3–1Gibbon (13–10)Brosnan—26,76075–79 :
Legend:        = Win        = Loss Bold = Pirates team member :

### Opening Day lineup

Opening Day Lineup :
| # | Name | Position |
| 18 | Bill Virdon | CF |
| 24 | Dick Groat | SS |
| 4 | Bob Skinner | LF |
| 14 | Rocky Nelson | 1B |
| 21 | Roberto Clemente | RF |
| 12 | Don Hoak | 3B |
| 9 | Bill Mazeroski | 2B |
| 6 | Smoky Burgess | C |
| 19 | Bob Friend | SP |

### Notable transactions

* May 1961: Don Williams was purchased from the Pirates by the Chicago White Sox.
* June 20, 1961: Gene Baker was released by the Pirates.
* June 24, 1961: Ron Woods was signed by the Pirates as an amateur free agent.

### Roster
## Statistics
### Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Regular Season :
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| J. Umbricht | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 |
| G. Witt | 9 | 2 | 1 | 0.500 | 0 | 0 |
| B. Shantz | 44 | 16 | 7 | 0.438 | 0 | 3 |
| R. Clemente | 146 | 572 | 201 | 0.351 | 23 | 89 |
| D. Clendenon | 9 | 35 | 11 | 0.314 | 0 | 2 |
| S. Burgess | 100 | 323 | 98 | 0.303 | 12 | 52 |
| D. Stuart | 138 | 532 | 160 | 0.301 | 35 | 117 |
| G. Cimoli | 21 | 67 | 20 | 0.299 | 0 | 6 |
| D. Hoak | 145 | 503 | 150 | 0.298 | 12 | 61 |
| D. Groat | 148 | 596 | 164 | 0.275 | 6 | 55 |
| R. Face | 62 | 11 | 3 | 0.273 | 0 | 1 |
| B. Skinner | 119 | 381 | 102 | 0.268 | 3 | 42 |
| D. Leppert | 22 | 60 | 16 | 0.267 | 3 | 5 |
| A. McBean | 28 | 15 | 4 | 0.267 | 1 | 3 |
| B. Mazeroski | 152 | 558 | 148 | 0.265 | 13 | 59 |
| J. Christopher | 76 | 186 | 49 | 0.263 | 0 | 14 |
| V. Law | 11 | 19 | 5 | 0.263 | 0 | 5 |
| B. Virdon | 146 | 599 | 156 | 0.260 | 9 | 58 |
| T. Sturdivant | 13 | 32 | 8 | 0.250 | 0 | 1 |
| J. Logan | 27 | 52 | 12 | 0.231 | 0 | 5 |
| H. Smith | 67 | 193 | 43 | 0.223 | 3 | 26 |
| W. Moryn | 40 | 65 | 13 | 0.200 | 3 | 9 |
| R. Nelson | 75 | 127 | 25 | 0.197 | 5 | 13 |
| D. Schofield | 60 | 78 | 15 | 0.192 | 0 | 2 |
| L. Foss | 3 | 6 | 1 | 0.167 | 0 | 1 |
| H. Haddix | 31 | 56 | 8 | 0.143 | 0 | 3 |
| B. Friend | 41 | 79 | 11 | 0.139 | 0 | 7 |
| J. Gibbon | 31 | 59 | 8 | 0.136 | 0 | 6 |
| V. Mizell | 25 | 23 | 3 | 0.130 | 0 | 1 |
| E. Francis | 23 | 28 | 3 | 0.107 | 0 | 0 |
| G. Baker | 9 | 10 | 1 | 0.100 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Labine | 56 | 10 | 1 | 0.100 | 0 | 0 |
| F. Green | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| A. Jackson | 5 | 8 | 0 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| R. Mejias | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| B. Oldis | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 |
| T. Cheney | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 |
| Team Totals | 154 | 5,311 | 1.448 | 0.273 | 128 | 646 |

### Pitching

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Regular Season :
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| T. Cheney | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 |
| J. Umbricht | 1 | 31⁄3 | 0 | 0 | 2.70 | 1 |
| T. Sturdivant | 13 | 852⁄3 | 5 | 2 | 2.84 | 45 |
| J. Gibbon | 30 | 1951⁄3 | 13 | 10 | 3.32 | 145 |
| B. Shantz | 43 | 891⁄3 | 6 | 3 | 3.32 | 61 |
| A. Jackson | 3 | 232⁄3 | 1 | 0 | 3.42 | 15 |
| C. Labine | 56 | 922⁄3 | 4 | 1 | 3.69 | 49 |
| A. McBean | 27 | 741⁄3 | 3 | 2 | 3.75 | 49 |
| R. Face | 62 | 92 | 6 | 12 | 3.82 | 55 |
| B. Friend | 41 | 236 | 14 | 19 | 3.85 | 108 |
| H. Haddix | 29 | 156 | 10 | 6 | 4.10 | 99 |
| E. Francis | 23 | 1022⁄3 | 2 | 8 | 4.21 | 53 |
| V. Law | 11 | 591⁄3 | 3 | 4 | 4.70 | 20 |
| F. Green | 13 | 202⁄3 | 0 | 0 | 4.79 | 4 |
| V. Mizell | 25 | 100 | 7 | 10 | 5.04 | 37 |
| L. Foss | 3 | 151⁄3 | 1 | 1 | 5.87 | 9 |
| G. Witt | 9 | 152⁄3 | 0 | 1 | 6.32 | 9 |
| Team Totals | 154 | 1362 | 75 | 79 | 3.92 | 759 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Columbus Jets | International League | Larry Shepard |
| A | Asheville Tourists | Sally League | Ray Hathaway |
| B | Burlington Bees | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Harding "Pete" Peterson |
| C | Grand Forks Chiefs | Northern League | Bob Clear |
| D | Kingsport Pirates | Appalachian League | Jim Gibbons |
| D | Batavia Pirates | New York–Penn League | James Adlam and Gene Baker |
| D | Hobbs Pirates | Sophomore League | Al Kubski |
| D | Shelby Colonels | Western Carolinas League | Aaron Robinson and James Adlam |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Asheville, Hobbs