Babe Ruth is arguably the best player in baseball history. He not only broke, but shattered so many records that it is hard not to be a fan of his. His 60 home runs in a season was such an astonishing record at the time, that it was thought that it could never be broken by a player not named Babe Ruth. His record was challenged at some points like when Hack Wilson, Hank Greenberg, and Jimmie Foxx all got within 5 in the 1930's. The game changed and only Ralph Kiner got close from 1940-1960. Then Roger Maris showed up in New York in 1960 and immediately won the 1960 MVP.
The early 60's Yankees were quite the power house of a team. The main man behind it was Mickey Mantle. The Mick as the people called him, was everything great about being a New York Yankee. By 1961, Mickey had 5 World Series championships, and 2 MVP trophies. Mickey was close to breaking Babe Ruth's record in 1956 when he hit 52 home runs. If anyone was going to break the Babe's record, it would be Mickey Mantle.
Then there is Roger Maris. Maris was not as out spoken as Mickey. This made Mickey loved by media for his play on the field, and his interviews were just as good as his play. Maris was not the hot shot stud that Mickey was either. Maris came to the Yankees in 1960 after being a bright spot on a last place Kansas City Athletics team. Maris, not handling the New York media well, on top of him winning MVP over Mickey Mantle who came in second place, left a bad taste in Yankees fan's mouth.
In 1961 the MLB schedule was changed from 154 games a season to what we know now, 162 game season. With more games added, the topic of conversation all around New York was could Mickey Mantle break the Babe's record. Mickey led the league with 40 home runs in 1960 with Maris only one behind him with 39. It is also good to note, that at the start of the 1961 season, Mickey and Roger were good friends and even roommates for the year. They had a chase for 61 in '61 and they both said that it was very friendly. So no hate between these 2 guys chasing greatness.
Roger Maris would do the unthinkable. He hit his 61'st home run of the 1961 season in game 162. The media did not like this. The press said Maris was not worthy of breaking the record. Roger received a lot of public hate, on the streets people would yell at him. Death threats were even sent to his house. The media grilled Maris during the last month of the season. Asking him the same questions day after day. The introverted Maris did not handle it very well and was stressed out to the point that his hair was falling out. To be honest, breaking the home run record under this kind of pressure makes the record even crazier.
The Commissioner at the time, Ford Frick (awesome name by the way) held a press conference after the season and said that any record broken in the new 162 game format shall have an asterisk next to it. It is good to mention that Ford Frick and Babe Ruth were good friends before Ruth's death. Roger Maris's record did not count in the record books, the media did not recognize it as breaking Babe's record, so how was Maris supposed to believe that he broke the record. Also, Mickey Mantle got injured during the last few weeks of the season and he hit 54 home runs. The media loved to ask Maris that if Mantle would have played ever game like Maris did, would Mantle also break the Babe's record. Look at how uncomfortable Maris is in this interview clip during September of the 1961 season.
Maris won MVP again in 1961 with Mickey Mantle again coming in second place. Some say that after the 1961 season, Maris hated the media and press so much that he changed his swing to hit more line drives and to hit less home runs. In 1961 he hit 16 doubles, in 1962 he hit 34 doubles. Safe to say that he made some kind of adjustment to keep the ball in the yard. The Yankees also won 109 games in 1961 and won the World Series in 5 games. It is hard to think of anything bad about your team when they are that good. Only the New York media would pick apart the back to back MVP of their World Championship team.
The rest of Maris's career would only provide fuel for Yankees fans. Injuries were the main factor after the 1962 season. One of the more funny things that Roger Maris did was in a 1963 regular season game against the Twins, Maris made an error in the outfield and was hearing it from the New York Crowd. After the side was retired, Maris ran into the dugout with his middle finger raised up to the crowd. The ultimate f-u to the fans and media of New York.
Maris would sign with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1967 and would win his 3rd career World Series with them. He would retire a year later at the age of 33, less than 7 years after his record breaking 61 in '61. In the ultimate dudes rock fashion, the Cardinals owner was Gussie Busch, who was president and CEO of Anheuser Busch, gave Roger and his brother, Rudy, a beer distributorship in Florida. For the next decade Roger and Rude would run the distributorship and enjoy the slow and peaceful life outside of baseball.
Roger Maris and the Yankees did not hate each other forever. When George Steinbrenner bought the Yankees in 1973, he wanted to establish the past Yankees legends with the faces of the present Yankees. Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle joined forces in 1978 to raise the 1977 American League Champions banner to chants of "Roger, Roger, Roger". The Yankees would retire Roger's number 9 in 1984, a year later he would die of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Before his death though, Roger was still upset with his legitimacy of his 61 home run season. At the 1980 All-Star game Maris is quoted as saying "They acted as though I was doing something wrong, poisoning the record books or something. Do you know what I have to show for 61 home runs? Nothing. Exactly nothing." Roger Maris is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was never close to being voted in by the same people who criticized him for breaking the most famous record in all of sports.
The HBO Movie 61* (2001) is a great movie about Roger Maris, and a great movie overall. Roger Maris only wanted to be good at baseball. He did not want to deal with the media, or the fans, he just wanted to play baseball and be the best teammate he could possibly be.
Like and share this with a fellow baseball lover. Roger Maris is just another reason why the Yankees suck and will forever suck.
That is todays's Tea, with T
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