The 1961 Japan Series was the championship series of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the 1961 season. The 12th edition of the Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the Pacific League champion Nankai Hawks against the Central League champion Yomiuri Giants.

Summary

CL Yomiuri Giants (4) vs. PL Nankai Hawks (2)

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance
1October 22Yomiuri Giants – 0, Nankai Hawks – 6Osaka Stadium2:1930,720
2October 24Yomiuri Giants – 6, Nankai Hawks – 4Osaka Stadium2:4126,845
3October 26Nankai Hawks – 4, Yomiuri Giants – 5Korakuen Stadium2:2330,878
4October 29Nankai Hawks – 3, Yomiuri Giants – 4Korakuen Stadium2:1833,186
5October 30Nankai Hawks – 6, Yomiuri Giants – 3Korakuen Stadium2:2830,135
6November 1Yomiuri Giants – 3, Nankai Hawks – 2Osaka Stadium2:4521,565

Matchups

Game 1

Sunday, October 22, 1961 – 1:00 pm at Osaka Stadium in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture

Team123456789RHE
Yomiuri000000000031
Nankai02011110X6100
WP: Joe Stanka (1–0) LP: Minoru Nakamura (0–1) Home runs: YOM: None NAN: Katsuya Nomura (1), Yoshio Anabuki (1), Yōsuke Terata (1)

Game 2

Tuesday, October 24, 1961 – 12:59 pm at Osaka Stadium in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture

Team123456789RHE
Yomiuri0012010206141
Nankai000000031473
WP: Ritsuo Horimoto (1–0) LP: Mutsuo Minagawa (0–1) Home runs: YOM: None NAN: Yoshio Anabuki (2)

Game 3

Thursday, October 26, 1961 – 1:01 pm at Korakuen Stadium in Bunkyō, Tokyo

Team123456789RHE
Nankai004000000453
Yomiuri01010030X581
WP: Yoshiaki Itō (1–0) LP: Joe Stanka (1–1) Home runs: NAN: None YOM: Andy Miyamoto (1)

Game 4

Sunday, October 29, 1961 – 1:00 pm at Korakuen Stadium in Bunkyō, Tokyo

Team123456789RHE
Nankai010000002331
Yomiuri020000002X480
WP: Ritsuo Horimoto (2–0) LP: Chikara Morinaka (0–1) Home runs: NAN: Kōhei Sugiyama (1), Yoshinori Hirose (1) YOM: None

Game 5

Monday, October 30, 1961 – 1:00 pm at Korakuen Stadium in Bunkyō, Tokyo

Team123456789RHE
Nankai210020001691
Yomiuri100001010372
WP: Joe Stanka (2–1) LP: Motoshi Fujita (0–1) Home runs: NAN: Yōsuke Terata (2), Katsuya Nomura (2) YOM: Shigeo Nagashima (1)

Game 6

Wednesday, November 1, 1961 – 1:07 pm at Osaka Stadium in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture

Team12345678910RHE
Yomiuri0200000001380
Nankai0100000100270
WP: Minoru Nakamura (1–1) LP: Joe Stanka (2–2) Home runs: YOM: Sadaharu Oh (1) NAN: Katsuya Nomura (3), Yōsuke Terata (3)

See also