1961 World Series: The Nightmare Ends And Our Best Trivia Question Is Born

With 109 victories under our belts in 1961, the Yankees were back for their 26th trip to the World Series, but for the first time since 1947 we were without Casey Stengel. Casey had been dismissed after our shocking defeat at the hands of the Pirates in 1960 that propelled us into our year-long nightmare.

Our optimism was sky high. After all, we had the M&M boys fresh off their record setting season. Whitey had 25 wins, and who could forget the season we got from Luis Arroyo with 29 saves.

New manager Ralph Houk was not going to make the same mistake Casey did in '60. He sends Whitey out for game one and Ford responds with a complete game two hit shutout of Frank Robinson and the powerful Reds.

You might remember that although an ankle injury forced him out of game four, Ford extended his World Series scorless streak to 32 consecutive innings, breaking Babe Ruth's record of 29 innings.

Over the years we all have met many self-proclaimed Yankee experts and the discussions always comes down to Yankee trivia.

Ralph Terry of Mazeroski fame starts for the Bombers and pitches a nice game by today's standards giving up four runs in seven innings. A little known journeyman pitcher starts for the Reds and quiets the mighty Yanks, holding them to just two runs on four hits for a complete game victory.

So Thursday, October 5, 1961 my first and best Yankee trivia question was born:

Who was the winning pitcher in the only game won by the National League in the 1961 World Series? Not a crazy hard question, but in my mind, a true test of how much of a Yankee fanatic you really are. Google not allowed!

I have asked that question an average of four times a year since '61, and it was correctly answered only once. It was on December 18, 1989 that I met a guy named Jimmy Hennessey from New Milford, N.J.

I asked my best question and without blinking Jimmy barked "Joey Jay." WOW! Clear the table. We spent the next two hours, one pizza with anchovies of course and six bottles of St. Paulie Girl trading questions.

To this day Jimmy is the only Yankee fan that I would rank one rung higher.

I call myself a Yankee "historian"; I call Jimmy a Yankee "LOONATIC." Just goes to show you, no matter how good you think you are...

The Yanks go on and win that series in five games. On the way out they exact their revenge on my old pal Joey Jay by knocking him out of game five. Joey lasted just two thirds of the first inning.

One thing you can bet on, in the town of Barnegat I am the only person with a Joey Jay baseball card featured front and center.

If you ever see me in Genuardi's near the banana section – 79 cents a pound, now thats lunacy _ and want to talk Yankee baseball, you have an advantage: You now know Joey Jay.

So on October 9, 1961 at old Crosley field in Cincinnati our year-long nightmare finally ended.