The 1961 Yankees were one of the best of all teams, but the 1962 Yankees are an almost forgotten World Championship team. Willie McCovey’s World Series ending line drive to Bobby Richardson is well known, but how did the team that won 108 games and hit 240 home runs in 1961 fare the next season?
Maris, Mantle, Howard and Ford Were Not As Effective
Roger Maris hit 33 home runs and batted .256 with 100 RBIs. Mickey Mantle hit 30 home runs and batted .321 with 89 RBIs. Elston Howard’s .348 batting average dipped to .279 but he again hit 21 home runs and increased his RBI total from 77 in 1961 to 91 in 1962. Whitey Ford went 17-8 but Ralph Terry picked up the slack, winning 23 and losing 12. Ford started 37 games while Terry started 39. Luis Arroyo, who saved 29 games with a 15-5 record in 1961, developed a sore arm and pitched only 33 2/3 innings with 3 saves. Marshall Bridges was the main man out of the bullpen, winning 8 and losing 4 with 18 saves. The Yankees won 96 games and hit 199 home runs.
Mantle Missed a Month
On May 18, Mickey Mantle tried to beat out a ground ball to Minnesota shortstop Zoilo Versailles with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Yankees trailing, 4-3. About two thirds of the way to first base, Mickey hit the ground as if he had been shot. Mickey pulled a groin muscle, tore his right hamstring, and hurt his left knee. He missed a month of the season and combined with other injuries, appeared in only 123 games with 377 official at bats, but Mickey always walked a lot, and he had 122 walks and “only” 78 strikeouts in 1962. He was voted the American League MVP.
Roger Had a Sore Shoulder
The rest of the team, with the exception of Luis Arroyo, did not suffer any serious injuries but Roger Maris, who holds (sic?) the single season home run record, suffered a right shoulder injury during spring training that hampered him the entire season. Roger was not feared, as he had been the previous year. In a key game on September 10 against the Tigers and lefty Hank Aguirre, who had beaten the Yankees in each of his three starts against them, Yankees’ manager Ralph Houk benched Roger in favor of the right handed hitting Hector Lopez, who was in an 0-19 slump.
Mantle's 400th Home Run
Ralph Terry started for the Yankees as they finally beat Aguirre, thanks to a Hector Lopez single in the ninth that broke a 1-1 tie. The Yankees got that run back when Mickey Mantle hit the 400th home run of his career, batting right handed against Aguirre. Only Babe Ruth (714), Jimmy Foxx (534), Ted Williams (521), Mel Ott (511), Lou Gehrig (493) and Stan Musial (460) hit more than Mickey.
The Giants Had Better Statistics
The 1962 won the pennant by a margin of 5 games over the second place Twins and faced the Giants in the World Series. The Giants were statistically superior than the Yankees, hitting .278 to the Yankees’ .267, outhomering them, 204 to 199, outslugging them, .441 to .426, but the Yankees had a slightly better ERA of 3.70 compared to the Giants’ 3.79. In a hard fought, rain delayed Series, the Yankees won in seven games. It was a successful season, but many players who didn’t come close to matching the season they had the previous year achieved it.
References:
Drebinger, John. "Yankees Top Tigers, 3-1, With Two Runs in 9th; Mantle Hits 400th Home Run; Single By Lopez Shatters 1-1 Tie; Lopez Subs for Maris." New York Times. 11 September 1962, p. 37.
