On April 11, 1961, the Minnesota Twins played their first game ever, beating the reigning American League champion New York Yankees 6-0 in front of an announced Yankee Stadium crowd of 14,607 that included Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio.
The game was scoreless through six innings.
Bob Allison led off the Twins’ seventh with a home run down the left field line for a the first run of the game.
Before the inning was over, Earl Battey doubled, Reno Bertoia walked and Ramos helped his own cause with a single to score both runners and Minnesota had a 3-0 lead.
In the bottom of the inning, Ramos retired the Yankees in order, sitting down Roger Maris, former Austin Packers star Bill “Moose” Skowron, and Tony Kube.
Allison then led off the eighth inning with a single and he would later score on a Bertoia home run to make it 5-0. The Twins tacked on one final run in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Harmon Killebrew that scored Zoilo Versalles, who had singled and then stole both second and third.
Ramos would complete the three-hit shutout in the bottom of the ninth, retiring Hector Lopez, Yogi Berra, and Mickey Mantle on fly balls.
After the great start to the season, Minnesota would struggle.
Cookie Lavagetto was the Twins first manager. With the team struggling at 19–30 on June 6, he took a leave of absence with Sam Mele filling in and going 2-5.
Mele formally succeeded Lavagetto on June 23, 1961 and Minnesota moved up two places in the standings under Mele, going 45–49 and finishing seventh.
Mele would manage the Twins until midway through the 1967 season, winning the American League pennant in 1965 and losing the World Series in seven games to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Yankees finished with a record of 109–53, eight games ahead of the Detroit Tigers. New York won the World Series in five games over the Cincinnati Reds.
The 1961 season is best known for the home run chase between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle. Maris would beating Babe Ruth's single-season record by hitting 61.
Here’s his 61st home run as called by Red Barber and Mel Allen on WPIX-TV.
After the World Series, three sluggers were invited to a home run derby in North Carolina.
The participants were Maris, Killebrew and Baltimore’s Jim Gentile.
Back-to-back exhibitions took place in Wilson, Durham, Greensboro, Charlotte, and Winston-Salem.
Killebrew hit 46 home runs during the 1961 season, and hit 55 homers to win the home run derby after five nights.
Gentile had 48 homers during the regular season. He had blisters on his hands after the first game in Wilson, and hit 39 home runs in the derby.
Maris hit 46 home runs in the derby.