# 1961 Japan Series

The 1961 Japan Series was the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) championship series for the 1961 season. It was the 12th Japan Series and featured the Pacific League champions, the Nankai Hawks, against the Central League champions, the Yomiuri Giants.

## Summary

CL Yomiuri Giants (4) vs. PL Nankai Hawks (2)
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 22 | Yomiuri Giants – 0, Nankai Hawks – 6 | Osaka Stadium | 2:19 | 30,720 |
| 2 | October 24 | Yomiuri Giants – 6, Nankai Hawks – 4 | Osaka Stadium | 2:41 | 26,845 |
| 3 | October 26 | Nankai Hawks – 4, Yomiuri Giants – 5 | Korakuen Stadium | 2:23 | 30,878 |
| 4 | October 29 | Nankai Hawks – 3, Yomiuri Giants – 4 | Korakuen Stadium | 2:18 | 33,186 |
| 5 | October 30 | Nankai Hawks – 6, Yomiuri Giants – 3 | Korakuen Stadium | 2:28 | 30,135 |
| 6 | November 1 | Yomiuri Giants – 3, Nankai Hawks – 2 | Osaka Stadium | 2:45 | 21,565 |

## Matchups
### Game 1

Sunday, October 22, 1961 – 1:00 pm at Osaka Stadium in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Yomiuri | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Nankai | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | X | 6 | 10 | 0 |
| WP: Joe Stanka (1–0) LP: Minoru Nakamura (0–1) Home runs: YOM: None NAN: Katsuya Nomura (1), Yoshio Anabuki (1), Yōsuke Terata (1) |||||||||||||

### Game 2

Tuesday, October 24, 1961 – 12:59 pm at Osaka Stadium in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Yomiuri | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 14 | 1 |
| Nankai | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 3 |
| WP: Ritsuo Horimoto (1–0) LP: Mutsuo Minagawa (0–1) Home runs: YOM: None NAN: Yoshio Anabuki (2) |||||||||||||

### Game 3

Thursday, October 26, 1961 – 1:01 pm at Korakuen Stadium in Bunkyō, Tokyo
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Nankai | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
| Yomiuri | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | X | 5 | 8 | 1 |
| WP: Yoshiaki Itō (1–0) LP: Joe Stanka (1–1) Home runs: NAN: None YOM: Andy Miyamoto (1) |||||||||||||

### Game 4

Sunday, October 29, 1961 – 1:00 pm at Korakuen Stadium in Bunkyō, Tokyo
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Nankai | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Yomiuri | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2X | 4 | 8 | 0 |
| WP: Ritsuo Horimoto (2–0) LP: Chikara Morinaka (0–1) Home runs: NAN: Kōhei Sugiyama (1), Yoshinori Hirose (1) YOM: None |||||||||||||

### Game 5

Monday, October 30, 1961 – 1:00 pm at Korakuen Stadium in Bunkyō, Tokyo
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Nankai | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 1 |
| Yomiuri | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 2 |
| WP: Joe Stanka (2–1) LP: Motoshi Fujita (0–1) Home runs: NAN: Yōsuke Terata (2), Katsuya Nomura (2) YOM: Shigeo Nagashima (1) |||||||||||||

### Game 6

Wednesday, November 1, 1961 – 1:07 pm at Osaka Stadium in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E |
| Yomiuri | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| Nankai | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0 |
| WP: Minoru Nakamura (1–1) LP: Joe Stanka (2–2) Home runs: YOM: Sadaharu Oh (1) NAN: Katsuya Nomura (3), Yōsuke Terata (3) ||||||||||||||