After nearly 85 years of being an organized professional sport, Major League Baseball took a sharp right hand turn in 1961 that has yet to straighten out.

Don’t misunderstand, the change that took place in 1961 was a good one for baseball, but it signaled that more change was to come.

This is the first of six columns — they may or may not be consecutive (it’s all according to what pops into my mind and out of my fingers between now and then) — I will use to explore the six MAJOR changes I’ve observed in my favorite sport over the last 60 years, which is basically my lifetime.

While there have been many changes to the way MLB plays its game since I was born in 1958, here are the six I intend to focus on — the number of games played in a season; expanded playoffs; the designated hitter; the rise of the role of closers; specialized relievers; and the change in offensive focus.

We will begin with the move from 154 games to 162 games per season that began in 1961.

In 1901, when both the National League (which essentially began with the Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1876) and the American League were recognized professional baseball leagues, they each had eight teams and played a 136-game schedule.

In 1904 the recognized number of scheduled games reached 154 per season, with each of the eight teams in the the NL or AL playing their league opponents a total of 22 games each.

That remained until the 1961 season. From 1900 until 1960 each league had eight teams each, with Cincinnati and St. Louis being the Easternmost teams until the 1950s when the Dodgers and Giants moved west from New York to California.

The first expansion took place in 1961 when the American League moved to 10 teams, adding the Los Angeles Angels and the Washington Senators, sort of. The original Senators made the move to Minnesota to become the Twins in 1961, so the American League awarded Washington, D.C., a new franchise, which took on the name Senators.

In 1962 the New York Mets and the Houston Astros were added the National League bringing both leagues to 10 teams each.

The American League increased to 162 games in 1961 to allow for a balanced schedule, with each of the 10 teams playing the other nine a total of 18 games each season. The National League followed suit in 1962.

That’s the way it has remained — other than for years which included players strikes, owners lockouts, or Covid-shortened seasons.

The increased number of games caused an immediate impact on the record books as Roger Maris used the extra games in 1961 to smash 61 homers, including one in the last game of the regular season, to eclipse Babe Ruth’s revered mark of 60 in a single season.

I’ve provided this background to basically set up some information about player consistency and endurance that intrigues me.

Since the 1962 season only seven players have played in ALL of the regular season games played by their teams for at least four consecutive years.

Some of the names on the list will likely surprise you.

One that shouldn’t is that of Cal Ripken, Jr. who holds the MLB record for most consecutive games played with 2,632. While accomplishing that feat, Ripken played in every one of the Baltimore Orioles games for 15 consecutive seasons.

Second on the list is Chicago Cubs’ great Billy Williams who played in all of his team’s games from 1964 through 1969. He actually played in 164 games in 1965 and 163 in both 1968 and 1969.

Tie-breaker games ay the end fo the regular season count as part of the regular season and there are rare occasions when a non-completed tie game is replayed from the start, but all of the stats remain.

Miguel Tejada also played all of his teams games for six straight seasons and is the only one on the list to accomplish the feat with two different teams, playing for both the Oakland Athletics and Baltimore Orioles three seasons each during that streak that took place from 2001-2006.

Steve Garvey, who had his streak ended when an injured thumb landed him on the disabled list, played all of the Dodgers’ games from 1976-1980.

Pete Rose joined the club in 1974-1977 while Dale Murphy did the same from 1983-1986.

There is another player at five consecutive seasons that will surprise you and maybe even be shocking. Juan Pierre of the Marlins played all of his team’s games from 2003-2007.

Several players have competed in 163 games during a regular season, but one has played in an MLB record 165 and another 164. Both of those feats were accomplished during the 1962 season.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants ended the season tied with the same record in the 10-team league. There were no divisions until 1969 so the winner was decided by a two-out-of-three playoff with all of the stats being part of the regular season, since the only postseason there was at that time was the World Series.

The Giants won that series two games to one, with San Francisco’s Jose Pagan playing in 164 of his team’s 165 games. Maury Wills, who also won the NL MVP that season, played in all 165 of the Dodgers’ games.

Next week we will take a look at the beginning of the current playoff system that began in 1969 with the expansion of 12 teams in each league and the creation of East and West Division in both the NL and AL.

Austin Bishop, AKA The Old Sports Dude, has been covering high school, college, amateur, and professional sports since 1975 and is an ordained Assemblies of God minister. He may be contacted by email at starsportsboss@yahoo.com or by phone at 601-938-2471.