1962 Major League Baseball season

Sports season

1962 MLB season
League	Major League Baseball
Sport	Baseball
Duration	April 9 – October 16, 1962
Number of games	162 (except Dodgers & Giants), 165 (Dodgers & Giants)
Number of teams	20
TV partner(s)	NBC, CBS
Regular season
Season MVP	AL: Mickey Mantle (NYY) NL: Maury Wills (LAD)
AL champions	New York Yankees
AL runners-up	Minnesota Twins
NL champions	San Francisco Giants
NL runners-up	Los Angeles Dodgers
World Series
Champions	New York Yankees
Runners-up	San Francisco Giants
World Series MVP	Ralph Terry (NYY)
MLB seasons
← 1961 1963 →

The 1962 Major League Baseball season was contested from April 9 to October 16, 1962. The National League (NL) added two teams via expansion, the Houston Colt .45s and New York Mets. This marked the return of the NL to New York City after a four-year absence, although the Mets would lose 120 games and finish in last place. All major league teams now played 162-game schedules, which had been adopted by the American League (AL) the prior season, with each team facing the nine other clubs in the same league 18 times during the season.

The New York Yankees won the AL pennant, while the NL regular season concluded with both the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers having identical records, 101–61. A three-game tie-breaker series was held, which was won by the Giants, two games to one. The Yankees then defeated the Giants in the World Series, four games to three.

Awards and honors

Baseball Hall of Fame
Most Valuable Player
- Mickey Mantle, New York Yankees, OF (AL)
- Maury Wills, Los Angeles Dodgers, SS (NL)
Cy Young Award
- Don Drysdale, Los Angeles Dodgers
Rookie of the Year
- Tom Tresh, New York Yankees, SS (AL)
- Ken Hubbs, Chicago Cubs, 2B (NL)

League leaders

	American League		National League
Type	Name	Stat	Name	Stat
AVG	Pete Runnels BOS	.326	Tommy Davis LAD	.346
HR	Harmon Killebrew MIN	48	Willie Mays SF	49
RBI	Harmon Killebrew MIN	126	Tommy Davis LAD	153
Wins	Ralph Terry NYY	23	Don Drysdale LAD	25
ERA	Hank Aguirre DET	2.21	Sandy Koufax LAD	2.54
SO	Camilo Pascual MIN	206	Don Drysdale LAD	232
SV	Dick Radatz BOS	24	Roy Face PIT	28
SB	Luis Aparicio CWS	31	Maury Wills LAD	104

Standings

American League

v t e American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	96	66	0.593	—	50–30	46–36
Minnesota Twins	91	71	0.562	5	45–36	46–35
Los Angeles Angels	86	76	0.531	10	40–41	46–35
Detroit Tigers	85	76	0.528	10½	49–33	36–43
Chicago White Sox	85	77	0.525	11	43–38	42–39
Cleveland Indians	80	82	0.494	16	43–38	37–44
Baltimore Orioles	77	85	0.475	19	44–38	33–47
Boston Red Sox	76	84	0.475	19	39–40	37–44
Kansas City Athletics	72	90	0.444	24	39–42	33–48
Washington Senators	60	101	0.373	35½	27–53	33–48

National League

v t e National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
San Francisco Giants	103	62	0.624	—	61–21	42–41
Los Angeles Dodgers	102	63	0.618	1	54–29	48–34
Cincinnati Reds	98	64	0.605	3½	58–23	40–41
Pittsburgh Pirates	93	68	0.578	8	51–30	42–38
Milwaukee Braves	86	76	0.531	15½	49–32	37–44
St. Louis Cardinals	84	78	0.519	17½	44–37	40–41
Philadelphia Phillies	81	80	0.503	20	46–34	35–46
Houston Colt .45s	64	96	0.400	36½	32–48	32–48
Chicago Cubs	59	103	0.364	42½	32–49	27–54
New York Mets	40	120	0.250	60½	22–58	18–62

The San Francisco Giants defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in a best-of-three tie-breaker series to earn the National League pennant.

Postseason

Bracket

World Series

AL	New York Yankees	4

NL	San Francisco Giants	3

Managers

American League

Team	Manager	Comments
Baltimore Orioles	Billy Hitchcock
Boston Red Sox	Pinky Higgins
Chicago White Sox	Al López
Cleveland Indians	Mel McGaha	Replaced during the season by Mel Harder
Detroit Tigers	Bob Scheffing
Kansas City Athletics	Hank Bauer
Los Angeles Angels	Bill Rigney
Minnesota Twins	Sam Mele
New York Yankees	Ralph Houk	Won the World Series
Washington Senators	Mickey Vernon

National League

Team	Manager	Comments
Chicago Cubs	College of Coaches
Cincinnati Reds	Fred Hutchinson
Houston Colt .45's	Harry Craft	Expansion team
Los Angeles Dodgers	Walter Alston	Lost tie-breaker series to Giants
Milwaukee Braves	Birdie Tebbetts
New York Mets	Casey Stengel	Expansion team
Philadelphia Phillies	Gene Mauch
Pittsburgh Pirates	Danny Murtaugh
San Francisco Giants	Alvin Dark	Won pennant via tie-breaker series
St. Louis Cardinals	Johnny Keane

Home field attendance

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
Los Angeles Dodgers^[1]	102	14.6%	2,755,184	52.7%	33,195
San Francisco Giants^[2]	103	21.2%	1,592,594	14.5%	19,422
New York Yankees^[3]	96	-11.9%	1,493,574	-14.5%	18,670
Minnesota Twins^[4]	91	30.0%	1,433,116	14.0%	17,477
Detroit Tigers^[5]	85	-15.8%	1,207,881	-24.5%	14,730
Los Angeles Angels^[6]	86	22.9%	1,144,063	89.6%	14,124
Chicago White Sox^[7]	85	-1.2%	1,131,562	-1.3%	13,970
Pittsburgh Pirates^[8]	93	24.0%	1,090,648	-9.0%	13,465
Cincinnati Reds^[9]	98	5.4%	982,095	-12.1%	12,125
St. Louis Cardinals^[10]	84	5.0%	953,895	11.5%	11,776
Houston Colt .45s^[11]	64		924,456		11,274
New York Mets^[12]	40		922,530		11,532
Baltimore Orioles^[13]	77	-18.9%	790,254	-16.9%	9,637
Milwaukee Braves^[14]	86	3.6%	766,921	-30.4%	9,468
Philadelphia Phillies^[15]	81	72.3%	762,034	29.1%	9,525
Boston Red Sox^[16]	76	0.0%	733,080	-13.8%	9,279
Washington Senators^[17]	60	-1.6%	729,775	22.2%	9,122
Cleveland Indians^[18]	80	2.6%	716,076	-1.3%	8,840
Kansas City Athletics^[19]	72	18.0%	635,675	-7.0%	7,848
Chicago Cubs^[20]	59	-7.8%	609,802	-9.4%	7,528

Television coverage

CBS and NBC continued to air weekend Game of the Week broadcasts. CBS dropped its Sunday broadcasts once the NFL season started in mid-September, dropping the option clause for affiliates to carry baseball or football in place since 1957.^[21]

The All-Star Game, the National League tie-breaker series, and the World Series aired on NBC.

References

^ "Los Angeles Dodgers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
^ "San Francisco Giants Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
^ "New York Yankees Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
^ "Minnesota Twins Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
^ "Detroit Tigers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
^ "Los Angeles Angels Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
^ "Chicago White Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
^ "Pittsburgh Pirates Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
^ "Cincinnati Reds Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
^ "St. Louis Cardinals Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
^ "Cleveland Indians Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
^ "New York Mets Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
^ "Baltimore Orioles Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
^ "Atlanta Braves Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
^ "Oakland Athletics Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
^ "Boston Red Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
^ "Texas Rangers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
^ "Cleveland Indians Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
^ "Oakland Athletics Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
^ "Chicago Cubs Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
^ Brulia, Tim. "A CHRONOLOGY OF PRO FOOTBALL ON TELEVISION: Part 1" (PDF). Pro Football Researchers.

External links

1962 Major League Baseball season schedule

v t e 1962 MLB season by team
American League	Baltimore Boston Chicago Cleveland Detroit Kansas City Los Angeles Minnesota New York Washington
National League	Chicago Cincinnati Houston Los Angeles Milwaukee New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis San Francisco
1961 All-Star Game (1st, 2nd) 1962 World Series

Major League Baseball seasons

Pre-modern era

Beginnings	1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881
Competition	1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891
NL monopoly	1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900

Modern era

Dead-ball era	1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920
Live-ball era	1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941
World War II	1942 1943 1944 1945
Post-war and integration	1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960
First expansion	1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968
Birth of division play	1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993
Wild Card begins	1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Wild Card expansion	2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Pitch clock era	2023 2024 2025