Celebrating 60: Gentile made good on guarantee, but picked wrong season for breakout power year in '61

When Jim Gentile was traded from the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Orioles before the 1960 season, he came with a money-back guarantee.

Yes, that's correct - a money-back guarantee.

The Orioles gave the Dodgers two players and $50,000 for Gentile, and if the Orioles weren't happy with the deal, they could return him after 30 days and get $25,000 back. Apparently, no questions asked.

Gentile, who had impressive power numbers as a minor league first baseman, didn't hit in his first Orioles spring training in 1960, but manager Paul Richards decided to keep him on the roster.

"I had a terrible spring,'' Gentile says. "Paul Richards told me, 'Nobody hits 200 home runs in the minor leagues and looks that bad.' He said, 'If you hit, you can be on the club.' I said, 'Yes sir.' ''

Gentile hit .290 the first month and earned a stay. He hit 21 home runs in 1960, and in 1961, he put up MVP-type numbers in the wrong season.

Gentile, a left-handed batter, hit .302 with 46 home runs and 141 RBIs for the Orioles, production that was overshadowed by the New York Yankees' Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle as they competed to break Babe Ruth's single-season record of 60 home runs.

Maris hit 61 home runs with a .269 average and tied Gentile for the American League lead with 141 RBIs. Mantle hit .317 with 54 home runs.

Maris, Mantle and Gentile finished 1-2-3 in American League MVP voting in 1961, even though Gentile had a higher average, as well as better on-base and slugging percentages than Maris.

"The 1961 season was a merry-go-round in that guys were always getting on base ahead of me, and you can't drive in runs unless there are runners on,'' Gentile says.

Gentile, traded to Kansas City after 1963 to make room for Boog Powell at first base, didn't feel expectations to compete with Maris and Mantle. It was a different time, long before home runs were instant news on Twitter.

"I never gave it a thought,'' Gentile says. "We didn't have the coverage they do today. If they hit a home run, I'd have to catch it on the 10 o'clock news or the next day in the newspaper.''

On May 9 of that season, Gentile hit two grand slams in a game at Minnesota and had a chance for a third when he came up with the bases loaded in the ninth. He hit a sacrifice fly and finished with nine RBIs, then a club record (Eddie Murray tied the mark on Aug. 26, 1984).

Gentile hit a combined 25 home runs in July and August for the Orioles, but his production dipped to three in September.

"For some reason, September was always my downfall,'' Gentile says.

At the end of the 1961 season, Gentile went on home-run hitting tour in North Carolina with Maris and the Twins' Harmon Killebrew. The three stopped in cities to sign autographs and take batting practice.

Gentile, who lives in Edmonds, Okla., drove a white Corvette on the tour, a gift the Orioles had given him at the end of the season. When he returned to Baltimore, he got into an accident in the snazzy vehicle.

Nothing serious, but he fixed the fender and sold the car. He figured he'd live longer that way.

"That car was too fast for me,'' Gentile says. "If I had kept that car, it would have killed me.''