Reds Surprised With First Flag in 21 Years
Fooling the experts, the Cincinnati Reds captured the 1961 National League pennant. By doing so, Fred Hutchinson's crew pulled one of the majors' biggest surprises in years. The Rhinelanders generally were figured to do little better than their sixth-place showing of '60. Instead, they set the pace most of the way to bring Cincinnati its first flag in 21 years
Because of the club's conglomeration of castoffs, the Reds were known throughout the league as "ragamuffins." But they surprised everyone. Showing a 26-game improvement over 1960, they registered 93 victories against 61 defeats in finishing four lengths ahead of runner-up Los Angeles. The Reds occupied first place or were tied for the lead on 113 of the 174 days in the season. San Francisco enjoyed 37 days on top and Los Angeles 26.
Ironically, the season began on a sad note for Cincinnati. Powel Crosley, Jr., owner of the Reds since 1934, died during spring training. However, under the astute leadership of Hutchinson and Bill DeWitt, who had been named general manager the previous winter, the club ended a pennant drouth that had extended back to 1940. when Bill McKechnie piloted the Reds to a second successive N. L. championship.
With the triumph, Cincinnati became the fourth different club to win the N. L. gonfalon in as many years, providing further evidence of the even balance of the senior circuit.
To show how lightly the Reds were regarded, they failed to draw a single first-place vote from among the 232 members of the Baseball Writers' Association who participated in The Sporting New^s' pre-season poll. The Dodgers rated the favorite's role with 99 flag votes. Defending champion Pittsburgh received 58, while Milwaukee drew 38, San Francisco 22, and St. Louis 15. Cincinnati ranked sixth in the balloting, Chicago seventh and Philadelphia last.
The Reds started the season auspiciously. On opening day, April 11, Jim O'Toole tamed the Cubs on four hits, 7 to 1, and Cincinnati went on to win five of its first seven games. Then followed a string of eight successive defeats that dumped Hutchinson's outfit into the cellar. But the Rhinelanders turned right around to reel off nine victories in a row and climb back into the thick of things.
When the early shakedown was completed, the Giants under rookie Manager Al Dark roared into the spotlight. Fourteen victories in an 18-game stretch, most of them on the road, stamped the Giants as an apparently solid team. Except for one day, San Francisco led throughout the month of May.
Walt Alston's Dodgers gave the Giants their first real jolt. May 19-21, by sweeping a three-game series at Candlestick Park. The Reds duplicated the trick on a May 29-30 visit to the city by the Golden Gate and in the process climbed into a tie for first place. Although the Giants were bounced from the top rung on June 1, they remained right on the heels of the leaders until just before the first All-Star interlude, when they reeled under six straight losses and eight in nine games.
June 15 found the league still enjoying a torrid four-club scramble. Fourth-place Pittsburgh was only three and one-half lengths back. Launching a six-game victory skein that night, the Reds regained the lead the following evening and held it continuously through the succeeding six weeks.
From June 15 up to the Dream Game layoff, July 10-12, Cincinnati won 21 out of 28 to forge a five-game advantage. The club owned a 54-30 record and was beginning to convince the skeptics that it was a real pennant threat. Los Angeles held second place, Pittsburgh third and San Francisco fourth place, nine and one-half games behind. Milwaukee, St. Louis, Chicago and Philadelphia, in that order, comprised the second division.
Resumption of the schedule saw the Rhinelanders go into a brief tailspin. Six successive losses at Crosley Field melted the club's lead from six games to one in a week's time.
Meantime, the Dodgers had gotten hot. Winning 12 of their final 13 games during July, capped by an eight-victory spurt, they snatched first place from the Reds, July 29. Cincinnati regained the top spot four nights later, only to have Los Angeles grab it again, August 6, during a six-game winning streak.
The splurge gave the Dodgers 19 victories in their last 22 games. How-
— 11 —
