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
Babe Ruth League (ages 4–18), Bambino Buddy Ball (ages 5–20), and Xtreme Fastpitch (ages 6–18). Baseball Hall of Fame inductees who played Babe Ruth League include Carl Yastrzemski, Joe Morgan, Jim Palmer, Rod Carew, George Brett, Nolan Ryan, Cal Ripken, Jr., Frank Thomas, Randy Johnson, John Smoltz, and Mike Piazza. In 1951, ten men, who believed that the future of their community depended upon the proper development of the young people, met at the historic Yardville Hotel in Hamilton, New Jersey, for the purpose of developing a baseball program for young men between 13 and 15 years of age. Babe Ruth League, Inc.