1961 World Series

The 1961 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1961 season. The 58th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the American League (AL) champion New York Yankees (109–53) against the National League (NL) champion Cincinnati Reds (93–61). The Yankees won in five games to earn their 19th championship in 39 seasons. Yankees pitcher Whitey Ford was named the World Series Most Valuable Player, having won two games while throwing 14 scoreless innings.

This World Series was surrounded by Cold War political puns pitting the "Reds" against the "Yanks." The louder buzz concerned the "M&M Boys", Yankees hitters Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, who had spent the season pursuing Babe Ruth's single-season home run record set in 1927; Mantle finished with 54 while Maris set the record of 61 on the last day of the season.

The Yankees were under the leadership of first-year manager Ralph Houk, who had succeeded Casey Stengel. The Yankees won the AL pennant, finishing eight games better than the Detroit Tigers. The Yankees also set an MLB record for most home runs in a season with 240. Along with Maris and Mantle, four other Yankees, Yogi Berra, Elston Howard, Bill Skowron, and Johnny Blanchard, hit more than 20 home runs. The pitching staff was led by the Cy Young Award-winner Ford (25–4, 3.21 earned run average).

The underdog Reds, skippered by Fred Hutchinson, finished four games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL and boasted four 20-plus home run hitters of their own: NL MVP Frank Robinson, Gordy Coleman, Gene Freese and Wally Post. The second-base, shortstop, and catcher positions were platooned, while center fielder Vada Pinson led the league in hits with 208 and finished second in batting with a .343 average. Joey Jay (21–10, 3.53) led the staff, along with Jim O'Toole and Bob Purkey.

Ford left the sixth inning of Game 4 due to an injured ankle. He set the record for consecutive scoreless innings during World Series play with 32, when, during the third inning he passed the previous record holder, Babe Ruth, who had pitched 29+2⁄3 consecutive scoreless innings for the Boston Red Sox in 1916 and 1918. Ford would extend that record to 33+2⁄3 in the 1962 World Series.

The 1961 five-game series was the shortest since 1954, when the New York Giants swept the Cleveland Indians in four games. These two teams would meet again 15 years later in the 1976 World Series, which the Reds would win in a four-game sweep.