The New York Yankees continued their domination of the 1960's, winning their fifth straight pennant. They did it with their third manager; in 1960, the Yanks had won with Casey Stengel at the helm, but he was fired after they lost the World Series to Pittsburgh. Ralph Houk took over, and won consecutive World Series in 1961-62, but he was dismissed after they lost to Los Angeles in 1963. This year, Yogi Berra made his debut as manager.
        Yogi led his team to the pennant, but lost the World Series to St. Louis. The Yankees then fired Yogi, and replaced him with Johnny Keane- the St. Louis manager who had just beaten them! After all this silliness, the Yankees would not win again in the 1960's.

        Meanwhile, a 23-year-old pitcher named Dean Chance had a phenomenal season. Chance had debuted with the Los Angeles Angels in 1961 (the Angels themselves debuted that same season). This year, he led the league in almost everything (he even had four saves), despite pitching for an Angels team that finished last in the AL in runs scored. The Angels were playing in Dodger Stadium, a pitchers park, but Chance's achievements still stand tall above the others. Chance never regained this early brilliance; he pitched well for a few years, winning 20 games once more, but was out of baseball by age 30.
        Whitey Ford was 35, and had his last great season. It was one of his best, and only Chance's superlative season keeps me from bestowing him with another award. Whitey pitched his entire career for the most dominant baseball team ever, but he would have been a great pitcher for any team. He won one Cy Young Award in his career, and I've given him three more. Only twice in his career did Whitey lose more than 10 games; he didn't have a losing season until he was 36 years old.
        I think Gary Peters was the next best pitcher in the league; he's got the wins, the ERA, and the workload. His team, the White Sox, had a marvelous season, finishing only one game behind the mighty Yankees. After Peters I'll take Dick Radatz, who had his third straight astonishing season for the Red Sox. Unfortunately, it would also be the last. Radatz was only 27, but he would falter next year, and never come back.