# 1961 Chicago Cubs season

The 1961 Chicago Cubs season was the 90th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 86th in the National League and the 46th at Wrigley Field. In the first season under their College of Coaches, the Cubs finished seventh in the National League with a record of 64–90, 29 games behind the Cincinnati Reds.

## Offseason

* January 12, 1961: Billy Cowan was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cubs.

## Regular season
### The College of Coaches

This season marked the introduction of the so-called "College of Coaches", a system instituted by owner Philip K. Wrigley after input from El Tappe. Under this system, the Cubs would have no single manager, but instead would have a rotating series of eight coaches, with one managing the team while others served as either assistant coaches or minor league field personnel.
Four different men served as manager during 1961: Tappe, who served the most games in the position and had a record of 42–54; Harry Craft, who had a record of 7–9; Vedie Himsl, who had a record of 10–21; and Lou Klein, who was brought on board in midseason and had a record of 5–6. Other coaches in the system during the season were Charlie Grimm – the team's manager in 1960 – Bobby Adams, Dick Cole, Ripper Collins, Goldie Holt, Fred Martin and Verlon Walker. The team improved to 64–90, four games better than their 1960 record, although none of the four managers posted a winning record individually. The experiment would be carried over into the 1962 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 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 1, 1961: Lou Johnson was traded by the Cubs to the Los Angeles Angels for Jim McAnany.
* May 9, 1961: Frank Thomas was traded by the Cubs to the Milwaukee Braves for Mel Roach.
* July 20, 1961: Curt Motton was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cubs.
* September 21, 1961: Paul Casanova was signed as a free agent the Cubs.

### 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 | Dick Bertell | 92 | 267 | 73 | .273 | 2 | 33 |
| 1B | Ed Bouchee | 112 | 319 | 79 | .248 | 12 | 38 |
| 2B | Don Zimmer | 128 | 477 | 120 | .252 | 13 | 40 |
| SS | Ernie Banks | 138 | 511 | 142 | .278 | 29 | 80 |
| 3B | Ron Santo | 154 | 578 | 164 | .284 | 23 | 83 |
| LF | Billy Williams | 146 | 529 | 147 | .278 | 25 | 86 |
| CF | Al Heist | 109 | 321 | 82 | .255 | 7 | 37 |
| RF | George Altman | 138 | 518 | 157 | .303 | 27 | 96 |

#### 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 |
| Jerry Kindall | 96 | 310 | 75 | .242 | 9 | 44 |
| Richie Ashburn | 109 | 307 | 79 | .257 | 0 | 19 |
| Sammy Taylor | 89 | 235 | 56 | .238 | 8 | 23 |
| Andre Rodgers | 73 | 214 | 57 | .266 | 6 | 23 |
| Bob Will | 86 | 113 | 29 | .257 | 0 | 8 |
| Frank Thomas | 15 | 50 | 13 | .260 | 2 | 6 |
| Mel Roach | 23 | 39 | 5 | .128 | 0 | 1 |
| Moe Thacker | 25 | 35 | 6 | .171 | 0 | 2 |
| Cuno Barragan | 10 | 28 | 6 | .214 | 1 | 2 |
| Ken Hubbs | 10 | 28 | 5 | .179 | 1 | 2 |
| Moe Morhardt | 7 | 18 | 5 | .278 | 0 | 1 |
| Danny Murphy | 4 | 13 | 5 | .385 | 2 | 3 |
| Lou Brock | 4 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 0 | 0 |
| Jim McAnany | 11 | 10 | 3 | .300 | 0 | 0 |
| Nelson Mathews | 3 | 9 | 1 | .111 | 0 | 0 |
| George Freese | 9 | 7 | 2 | .286 | 0 | 1 |
| Sammy Drake | 13 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 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 |
| Don Cardwell | 39 | 259.1 | 15 | 14 | 3.82 | 156 |
| Glen Hobbie | 36 | 198.2 | 7 | 13 | 4.26 | 103 |
| Dick Ellsworth | 37 | 186.2 | 10 | 11 | 3.86 | 91 |
| Jack Curtis | 31 | 180.1 | 10 | 13 | 4.89 | 57 |

#### 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 |
| Bob Anderson | 57 | 152.0 | 7 | 10 | 4.26 | 96 |
| Dick Drott | 35 | 98.0 | 1 | 4 | 4.22 | 48 |
| Jim Brewer | 36 | 86.2 | 1 | 7 | 5.82 | 57 |

#### 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 Elston | 58 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 5.59 | 59 |
| Barney Schultz | 41 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 2.70 | 59 |
| Joe Schaffernoth | 21 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6.34 | 23 |
| Mel Wright | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10.71 | 6 |
| Dick Burwell | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Houston Buffaloes | American Association | Grady Hatton, Fred Martin, Lou Klein and Harry Craft |
| AA | San Antonio Missions | Texas League | Ripper Collins, Harry Craft, Bobby Adams and Verlon Walker |
| B | Wenatchee Chiefs | Northwest League | Verlon Walker, Vedie Himsl, Dick Cole and Bobby Adams |
| C | St. Cloud Rox | Northern League | Joe Macko |
| D | Morristown Cubs | Appalachian League | John Fitzpatrick |
| D | Carlsbad Potashes | Sophomore League | Lou Klein and Walt Dixon |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: San Antonio