The 1961 New York Yankees used their relentless offense to top the 1962 San Francisco Giants 7-3, clinching the Best of the 1960s World Series in 5 games. Through 6 innings, the ending was in question as fans watched a pitcher’s duel between Whitey Ford and Billy O’Dell. Roger Maris hit an RBI single in the 3rd, but the Yankees grounded into 3 double-plays, erasing other opportunities. Ford held the Giants to 4 hits before Willie Mays hit an RBI double in the 6th to tie the game 1-1. New York finally broke through in the 7th with back-to-back 2-out RBI base hits from Bobby Richardson and Tony Kubek. Bob Cerv hit a 2-run homer in a 3-run 8th off Bobby Bolin to signal the end for the Giants. Yogi Berra added an insurance run with an RBI single in the 9th, putting the Yankees up 7-1, with 6 of those runs scored in the final 3 innings. Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda hit back-to-back homers to lead off the 9th to end Ford’s night, but Luis Arroyo retired the next three batters to end any comeback hopes. While skewed by a massive Game 3, the Yankees had a World Series team batting average of .330, compared to .257 for the Giants, out homering San Francisco 12-10 and outscoring them 39-23. The ’61 Yankees become the 1st Yankees team to win a Best of the Decades Tournament, after the 1939 and 1998 Yankees failed to make the World Series in those decades, despite being a #1 seed. The Best of the Best Tournament is now guaranteed to have a Yankees representative.

’61 Yankees @ ’62 Giants – 10/20/25

Facing elimination, the 1962 San Francisco Giants turned to Billy Pierce, who held the 1961 New York Yankees offense in check while Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda each hit 2-run home runs to give the Giants a 6-4 win. After Harvey Kuenn led off the game with a home run off Yankees starter Rollie Sheldon, Pierce allowed an unearned run in the 2nd. Mickey Mantle hit a solo homer in the 4th to give the Yankees the lead, but Chuck Hiller hit an RBI single in the 5th, and Mays followed with a go-ahead homer, putting the Giants on top 4-2. Elston Howard hit a solo homer in the 7th to keep it close, but Cepeda’s homer in the 8th gave San Francisco some breathing room. Roger Maris hit a solo homer off closer Stu Miller, and the Yankees threatened when Mantle walked and Moose Skowron singled with two outs, but Miller closed things out for his 6th save of the Tournament. Pierce improved to 3-0 with a 1.52 ERA in the Tournament.

’61 Yankees @ ’62 Giants – 10/19/25

For one inning, the 1961 New York Yankees were down 1-0 against the 1962 San Francisco Giants. After that, they kept scoring, and scoring, and never looked back. New York scored in each of the next 6 innings on their way to a 19-7 blowout never giving the potent San Francisco Giants offense a chance to get back in the game. Juan Marichal didn’t make it out of the 4th inning, allowing back-to-back home runs to Elston Howard and Bill Skowron in the 2nd, a 2-run homer to Yogi Berra in the 3rd, and 4 earned runs in the 4th. Bobby Richardson was 4 for 7, Roger Maris was 3 for 5 with 5 RBI, Skowron was 3 for 5 with 2 solo homers, and Howard was 3 for 4 with 2 homers and 5 RBI. Orlando Cepeda hit a 2-run homer off Bill Stafford in the 6th for the Giants. Stafford allowed 4 more runs in the 7th, but the Yankees already had a hefty lead at that point, so Stafford improved to 3-0 despite allowing 7 runs. With the 19-7 victory, the Yankees eye a World Series sweep tomorrow.

’61 Yankees @ ’62 Giants – 10/18/25

For 8 1/2 innings, the 1962 San Francisco Giants were in control and on their way to tying the World Series, but that all fell apart in the bottom of the 9th in historic fashion. Willie McCovey hit a 2-run home run off Ralph Terry in the 4th inning. Bobby Richardson responded with a 2-out RBI single in the 5th off Jack Sanford. In the 7th, the Giants pulled away. Tom Haller hit a 2-run homer, and José Pagán followed with a solo shot to put San Francisco up 5-1. An RBI single by Yogi Berra got one run back in the 8th. Don Larsen came in to close things out in the 9th. Elston Howard led off with a walk. Moose Skowron followed with a single, and pinch-hitter Bob Cerv drew a walk to load the bases, ending Larsen’s night. Stu Miller took over, and Bobby Richardson drilled an RBI single to cut the lead to 5-3. Tony Kubek followed with another single, cutting the lead to a run, still with no outs. Roger Maris followed with a deep drive to left that was caught at the wall, scoring Cerv to tie the game. Mickey Mantle was intentionally walked, but Berra took the next pitch from Miller deep to the wall to walk it off with a sacrifice fly. Kubek led the offense, going 3 for 4 with a walk. It was Miller’s 1st blown save and loss of the Tournament. No team had been up by 3 runs and lost in the bottom of the 9th in postseason history. Now the Giants will have to regroup down 2-0 as they head home for 3 games.

’62 Giants @ ’61 Yankees – 10/16/25

Roger Maris broke out of his slump to lead the 1961 New York Yankees over the 1962 San Francisco Giants in Game 1 of the World Series, hitting two homers to lead the offense. But it was his arm that really made the difference. Maris hit a solo home run in the 1st inning off Billy O’Dell. An RBI double by Tom Haller off Whitey Ford tied the game back up in the top of the 2nd. Moose Skowron was hit by a pitch and scored on Bob Cerv’s double to put the Yankees back on top. In the 5th, it was Maris again with another solo shot to extend the Yankees’ lead to 3-1. Willie Mays hit a solo homer of his own in the 6th to make it a one-run game. The pivotal moment came in the 8th when Tony Kubek’s throwing error put Mays on 2nd with no outs. Willie McCovey grounded to 1st to move Mays to 3rd. Orlando Cepeda followed with a flyball to Maris in rightfield. Mays tagged on the play, but Maris rocketed a perfect throw to home, and Mays was called out on a close play. Ford closed out the 3-2 win with a perfect 9th inning to give the Yankees a 1-0 series lead. Ford allowed 8 hits and struck out 8 in the victory. Maris finished 3 for 4.

’62 Giants @ ’61 Yankees – 10/15/26

The 1962 San Francisco Giants removed all of the drama, putting together two big innings to score 10 runs, topping the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates four games to one to advance to the World Series. Thanks to Billy Pierce, they only needed one of those runs. Pierce allowed just 4 hits and walked one, shutting out the Pirates and improving to 2-0 in the Tournament. Bob Friend was scheduled to start for the Pirates after failing to make it through 4 innings in his last two starts against the Giants. But Friend was a late scratch after suffering an injury during his warmup pitches. Harvey Haddix stepped in, but couldn’t contain the San Francisco offense. The Giants had three straight RBI base hits with 2 outs in the 2nd to take a 4-0 lead. In the 8th, Haddix gave up 3 hits to lead off the inning. Roy Face came in to contain the damage, but gave up a grand slam to Harvey Kuenn with two outs to make it 10-0, which was the final score. The Giants will ride the dominating victory into the World Series to face the 1961 New York Yankees.

’62 Giants @ ’60 Pirates – 10/11/25

Dick Stuart gave the Pittsburgh Pirates an early lead, but the San Francisco Giants scored 6 runs on 17 hits against Vinegar Bend Mizell, holding off a late rally to put them one win away from the World Series. Jack Sanford had allowed just one run on 5 hits entering the 8th inning. Sanford walked Dick Groat, and Bob Skinner singled before Stuart slugged his 15th home run of the Tournament, a 3-run blast that made the score 6-4. Don Hoak made things interesting when he tripled to lead off the 9th against Stu Miller, but Miller retired the next three hitters, picking up his 5th save in the 6-5 win. Despite recording 17 hits, it was the 1st game of the Tournament in which the Giants didn’t hit a home run. Only 3 of the 17 hits were for extra bases. Down 3-1 in the series, the Pirates have no margin for error as they head into their last game at home tomorrow.

’62 Giants @ ’60 Pirates – 10/10/25