1961 Major League Baseball season 1961 Major League Baseball season The 1961 Major League Baseball season was played from April 10 to October 12, 1961. That season saw the New York Yankees defeat the Cincinnati Reds in five games in the World Series. The season is best known for Yankee teammates Roger Maris' and Mickey Mantle's pursuit of Babe Ruth's prestigious 34-year-old single-season home run record of 60. Maris ultimately broke the record when he hit his 61st home run on the final day of the regular season, while Mantle was forced out of the lineup in late-September due to a hip infection and finished
Major League Baseball Union Association (1884), the Players' League (1890), and the Federal League (1914–1915). Both the UA and AA are considered major leagues by many baseball researchers because of the perceived high caliber of play and the number of star players featured. Some researchers, including Nate Silver, dispute the major-league status of the UA by pointing out that franchises came and went and that the St. Louis club was deliberately "stacked"; the St. Louis club was owned by the league's president and it was the only club that was close to major-league caliber. The period between 1900 and 1919 is commonly referred