TRIVIA CONTEST: By answering the TRIVIA QUESTION CORRECTLY you are automatically entered into a weekly drawing for a Starbucks Gift Card. YOU MUST ENTER VIA THE EMAIL AT THE END OF THIS COLUMN. Please put your mailing address in with the answer so if you win we can send you the gift card in the mail.
NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: What three pitching categories did Luis Arroyo lead the league in during the 1961 season?
The 1961 New York Yankees were considered the second greatest team of all time. They ranked just behind the 1927 Babe Ruth/Lou Gehrig led Yankees. So you figure they dominated but on May 28th they played the lowly Chicago White Sox and were hammered in a game where 23 runs were scored, but it was the Sox who led the way.
The game started innocently enough. Neither team scored in the first although Early Wynn did walk the bases loaded but got out without giving up a run. In the second the Sox Floyd Robinson hit a solo homer to give the south Siders a 1-0 lead. It would be the first of six blasts in the game.
Bob Turley was the victim in that second inning. He was also victimized a couple innings later when after a pair of walks and a ground ball booted by Bobby Richardson, Wes Covington took Turley way deep for a grand slam and a 5-0 lead.
The Sox scored again in the 5th, this time off Bill Stafford who had taken over for Turley. With the score 6-0 these Yankees were never out of it. In the 6th the Bronx Bombers sent 10 men to the plate, knocked out Wynn and tied the score 6-6. A Grand Slam homer by Bob Cerv did most of the damage.
New York took the lead in the seventh with back to back homers by Yogi Berra and Bill Skowron and led 9-6. But these Sox would not be denied. In the eighth Chicago sent 9 men to the plate and scored four runs to take a 10-9 lead. In the ninth the Sox, with the aid of another Robinson homer, scored four more to put New York away 14-9.
New York committed three errors leading to a pair of unearned runs. Turk Lown won it and Luis Arroyo who blew the Save, lost it. The Sox were nine games under .500 while New York was 20-16.
TRIVIA CONTEST;