1961 Chicago Cubs season

The 1961 Chicago Cubs season was the 90th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 86th in the National League and the 46th at Wrigley Field. In the first season under their College of Coaches, the Cubs finished seventh in the National League with a record of 64–90, 29 games behind the Cincinnati Reds.

Offseason

January 12, 1961: Billy Cowan was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cubs.

Regular season

The College of Coaches

This season marked the introduction of the so-called "College of Coaches", a system instituted by owner Philip K. Wrigley after input from El Tappe. Under this system, the Cubs would have no single manager, but instead would have a rotating series of eight coaches, with one managing the team while others served as either assistant coaches or minor league field personnel.
Four different men served as manager during 1961: Tappe, who served the most games in the position and had a record of 42–54; Harry Craft, who had a record of 7–9; Vedie Himsl, who had a record of 10–21; and Lou Klein, who was brought on board in midseason and had a record of 5–6. Other coaches in the system during the season were Charlie Grimm – the team's manager in 1960 – Bobby Adams, Dick Cole, Ripper Collins, Goldie Holt, Fred Martin and Verlon Walker. The team improved to 64–90, four games better than their 1960 record, although none of the four managers posted a winning record individually. The experiment would be carried over into the 1962 season.

Notable transactions

April 1, 1961: Lou Johnson was traded by the Cubs to the Los Angeles Angels for Jim McAnany.
May 9, 1961: Frank Thomas was traded by the Cubs to the Milwaukee Braves for Mel Roach.
July 20, 1961: Curt Motton was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cubs.
September 21, 1961: Paul Casanova was signed as a free agent the Cubs.

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Dick Bertell	92	267	73	.273	2	33
1B	Ed Bouchee	112	319	79	.248	12	38
2B	Don Zimmer	128	477	120	.252	13	40
SS	Ernie Banks	138	511	142	.278	29	80
3B	Ron Santo	154	578	164	.284	23	83
LF		146	529	147	.278	25	86
CF	Al Heist	109	321	82	.255	7	37
RF	George Altman	138	518	157	.303	27	96

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Jerry Kindall	96	310	75	.242	9	44
Richie Ashburn	109	307	79	.257	0	19
	89	235	56	.238	8	23
Andre Rodgers	73	214	57	.266	6	23
	86	113	29	.257	0	8
	15	50	13	.260	2	6
	23	39	5	.128	0	1
Moe Thacker	25	35	6	.171	0	2
Cuno Barragan	10	28	6	.214	1	2
Ken Hubbs	10	28	5	.179	1	2
Moe Morhardt	7	18	5	.278	0	1
	4	13	5	.385	2	3
Lou Brock	4	11	1	.091	0	0
	11	10	3	.300	0	0
Nelson Mathews	3	9	1	.111	0	0
George Freese	9	7	2	.286	0	1
Sammy Drake	13	5	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	39	259.1	15	14	3.82	156
Glen Hobbie	36	198.2	7	13	4.26	103
	37	186.2	10	11	3.86	91
	31	180.1	10	13	4.89	57

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	57	152.0	7	10	4.26	96
	35	98.0	1	4	4.22	48
	36	86.2	1	7	5.82	57

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
	58	6	7	8	5.59	59
Barney Schultz	41	7	6	7	2.70	59
Joe Schaffernoth	21	0	4	0	6.34	23
Mel Wright	11	0	1	0	10.71	6
	2	0	0	0	9.00	0

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Don Zimmer, Second Base, Reserve, First and Second Game
George Altman, Outfield, Reserve, First and Second Game

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: San Antonio