| 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) |
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.
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American League
| National League
|
| World Series | ||||
| AL | New York Yankees | 4 | ||
| NL | San Francisco Giants | 3 | ||
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
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]
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