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It was today fifty years ago that Roger Maris hit his 61st home run, breaking the record MLB icon Babe Ruth held for thirty four years. Thirty seven years later Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa passed that mark.
That Cub/Cardinal game had a lot of anticipation. A lot of fanfare. The Yankee/Red Sox game on the other hand wasn't televised nationwide. Just a little over 20,000 showed up at Yankee Stadium. McGwire and Sosa were cable and network sports darlings. It stayed that way through the rest of the regular season. Roger Maris caught hell from fans who felt he was just a journeyman player that the Kansas City Athletics unloaded. Back then the Athletics and Yankees had somewhat of a cozy relationship regarding swapping players. A lot of fans (and I'll include some of the media on this) felt who the hell does this guy think he is breaking the most hallowed record in professional sports?
I remember the tail end of that 1961 season. I remember seeing a picture in the Denver Post somewhere in the middle of August where you could see Maris losing his hair in patches. I remember the game Maris hit his 59th home run. It was a little unusual for the tv networks to televise a game on a weeknight. I remember home run #59. And Hoyt Wilhelm with that knuckle ball, getting Maris out on the checked swing.
I remember.
After a string of injuries from 1963 to 1966, Maris couldn't get out of town fast enough. Regarding the "Old Guard", the players of Ruth's era, Rogers Hornsby's quote resonated amongst a lot of those old MLB players; "Maris couldn't carry my bat." Roger Maris spent the last two years of his career with the St. Louis Cardinals. Later he said it was the best thing that could have happen to him.
I wonder what Roger Maris would say about that home run record now. And about the steroid issue. And the state of the game itself.
I don't post on baseball a lot and I don't imagine there are more than a dozen posters who are active in the baseball forum who remember Maris, the 1961 Yankees, and Maris and Mickey Mantle's home run race. It was one of my great memories growing up during that era. And it was a great era.
I just hope that at some point in history Maris will be credited where credit is due. The chances of him getting into Cooperstown was settled long ago. But there are a lot of players in the Hall that didn't have the impact on the game as Roger Maris did. I'm hoping history will vindicate Maris. A lot of my friends think it has. I wish I could agree.
1960 was the first year I paid any attention to baseball, and 1961 was the season that got me hooked, and the Maris/Mantle assault on Ruth's record was a big part of that. Even as a kid I recall how pissed off I was when Commissioner Ford Frick came out with his ruling that Maris would have to hit #61 by game 154 or the Ruth record would not be broken. Game 154 was televised and Maris came into it with 58. I knew three bombs that night was a tall order, but hoped that he could at least tie the record. I remember how disappointed I was that Maris was able to hit but one blast that night.
What a dunce Frick was, the chief executive charged with the promotion of the game, and he intervenes to remove the marketability of the final eight games of the season. Frick was famed for avoiding responsibility as commissioner ("It's a league matter")..and the one time he does decide to act, he demonstrates why we were better off having him disinterested.
As for Maris and the Hall of Fame, as subject to interpretation as the official criteria is, in one particular area it was quite specific....that the Hall wasn't about freak achievments or short term accomplishments. Rule Six states:
6. Automatic Elections: No automatic elections based on performances such as a batting average of .400 or more for one (1) year, pitching a perfect game or similar outstanding achievement shall be permitted.
So, by the Hall's rules, we have to view Maris' career as the standard which gets him in or leaves him out. So, overlooking the record breaking performance, did Roger do enough to merit induction? Not many seem to think so.
Double H, and Grandstander, thanks for posting your memories of that season. It was way before my time but I thoroughly enjoy reading first hand accounts of being a fan back then. Good read.
I listened to Game 154 on WHAM in Rochester, New York. The reception was unusually clear in Virginia that night. Maris needed two home runs to tie the Babe and three to surpass him. Despite the unlikelihood of any such heroics, my hopes were resurrected when Maris homered in his second at-bat for Number 59, surpassing Jimmie Foxx's 58. Maris had now beaten everyone but the Babe, and I was confident that he had a good shot at Number 60. In his next at-bat, he hit a long drive that hooked foul by a few feet. Phil Rizzuto stated that this ball was hit harder than the home run, but that Maris swung a split second too soon. My only other remembrance of the game is Maris hitting the weak grounder and being tagged out by Hoyt Wilhelm.
Last edited by Ridgerunner; 10-02-2011 at 02:19 PM..
I consider the '61 Tigers one of the three or four best second place clubs ever. They and the Yankees were about even statistically.
Mantle's leg injuries that year may have prevented his keeping pace with Maris.
It was the first expansion season, and the diluted pitching probably contributed to the M&M totals.
You bring up a good point there that I hadn't previously considered.
So, I went back and took a look at the league average for runs scored per game for the five AL seasons prior to 1961, and compared it to that year:
1956 - 4.66
1957 - 4.23
1958 - 4.17
1959 - 4.36
1960 - 4.39
1961 - 4.53
On the surface the 1961 difference isn't that significant. However, when you take a closer look, and isolate out the runs scored by the two expansion teams, it seems like this may actually be a legitimate factor in the increased offense by a few teams.
The two expansion franchises only averaged 4.02 runs per game. So the continuing franchises averaged about 4.65 runs scored per game, somewhat higher than their recent historical average.
Despite '61 home runs' Maris' 1961 wasn't that much different from his 1960 or 1962
In 1960 Maris hit .283/.370/.581 with 18 2B & 39 HR in 578 PAs. His total offense was 55% better than average
In 1961 Maris hit .269/.372/.620 with 16 2B & 61 HR in 698 PAs. His total offense was 63% better than average.
In 1962 Maris hit .256/.356/.485 with 34 2B & 33 HR in 687 PAs. His total offense was 27% better than the average.
In 1960 Maris hit a double in 3% of his plate appearances and a HR in 7%.
In 1961 Maris hit a double in 2% of his plate appearances and a HR in 9%.
In 1962 Maris hit a double in 5% of his plate appearances and a HR in 5%.
You can see that Maris hit either a 2B or HR in about 10% of his plate appearances in all 3 seasons. It is likely that in 1961 a lot of well-struck balls that ended up as doubles in 1960 and 1962 just got over the fence for home runs in 1961.
Maris did strike out a career low % in 1961.
k% 1960: 11.2
k% 1961: 9.6
k% 1962: 11.4
k% career: 12.5
1961 is the only season that Maris struck out less than 10% of the time. 2 things:
1) Maris may have been especially honed in in 1961.
2) not striking out gives you the opportunity to hit more balls into the air that may land over the fence.
Then there was the Ralph Houk factor. At the end of April, Maris was batting around .200 with one home run, mostly in the "seven spot." Houk decided to move Maris up to third in the lineup, just ahead of Mantle. Maris started seeing more hittable pitches and soon caught fire offensively.
Later on when Mantle and Maris were both running ahead of the Babe's pace, Houk was criticized by fans who felt that Maris had an unfair advantage. Houk made it clear that he didn't care who won the home run race.
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