Luis Aparicio led the AL in stolen bases again in 1961. He led the Al every year from his rookie season in 1956 until 1964. Dick Howser and Jake Wood were both rookies in 1961.
While Aparicio's Hall of Fame career was in full stride in 1961. Both Howser and Wood arguably had the best season of their playing careers as rookies. They had career highs in most offensive categories including stolen bases.
Dick Howser is more often remembered as the manager of the World Champion 1985 Kansas City Royals. His number 10 was retired by the Royals in 1987.
Jake Wood was the first African American player to come up through the Tigers farm system to make it to the Majors. The Tigers were the second to last team to break the color barrier. The first non-white on the Tigers was Ozzie Virgil. Ozzie was a Dominican and had played played a few seasons on the Giants before coming to Detroit. The first non-Hispanic Black player on the Tigers was Larry Doby in 1959 a full 12 years after his debut in 1947.
Follow this link and this link for more on Jake Wood and the reluctant integration of the Detroit Tigers
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