All of us in baseball should really say to those guys congratulations for what theyve done for the game., Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Roger Maris poses with his 61st home run ball in 1961. He remained the player with the highest single-season total for home runs among those never suspected or accused of using steroids, until the record was broken in 2022 . After earning his first All-Star selection in 1959, the outfielder was traded to the Yankees with Joe DeMaestri and Kent Hadley for Hank Bauer, Don Larsen, Norm Siebern and Marv Throneberry. During that 1961 season, Maris put together one of the most dominant campaigns by a hitter against a single opponent in Major League history. 2017 October 24. With Aaron Judge tying Maris single-season American League home run record, it's worth taking a look back to see how the papers reacted to that historic day. First, to get from Fargo to the major leagues is a huge jump. In 1927, Ruth set the single-season AL/NL standard with 60 home runs. We've updated it since, adding links to the pitchers, and once again, adding links to each box score - check out the old radio at the bottom where you can hear Phil Rizzuto on the radio broadcasting as Maris broke The Sultan of Swat's record for home runs in a season. vs. HOU 1 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB, Rookie Status: In fact, Judge's 62 . Roger Maris was walked ninety-four times during the 1961 season and led the American League in runs (one-hundred thirty-two), runs batted in (one-hundred forty-two), and of course home runs (sixty-one). Roger Maris was born on September 10, 1934. Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio. Holy Cross Cemetery, Fargo, ND, High School: Shanley HS (Fargo, ND), Debut: Despite his unprecedented No. Part of the Baseball Almanac Family, Last-Modified: October 6, 2022 5:03 AM EST, record for home runs during a single season, Roger Maras: Chasing the Ghost of the Babe, Roger Eugene Maris (Born: Roger Eugene Maras). the official stats partner of the NBA, NHL and MLB. Where what happened yesterday is being preserved today. Maris was 22 years old when he broke into the big leagues on April 16, 1957, with the Cleveland Indians. Born in Hibbing, Minn., on Sept. 10, 1934, Maris moved to North Dakota with his family when he was a child and graduated from Bishop Shanley High School in Fargo. Hes in a league of his own.. Maris helped the Cardinals reach another World Series in 1968, though they were defeated by the Tigers in seven games. They forced him to come out and take a bow. 8. Here's how it was reported in the Chicago Tribune: The youngster who impressed Maris so much was Sal Durante of Coney Island, who came to the game with his girl and caught Maris 61st homer in the right-field stands. Roger Maris hit 149 solo homers, 89 with a single runner on base, 32 with two men on base, and 5 grand slams. Today any high-level sport demanding bursts of strength or speed is suspect. 7. ``He is incredible. making a donation to Baseball Almanac : By season's end, wracked by tension and smoking cigarettes like a fiend--which might have contributed to his death at 51 from lymphoma--Maris was down to 185 pounds. Roger Eugene Maras changed his surname to Maris - read more about his early life in Roger Maras: Chasing the Ghost of the Babe. Its too bad that people only think of him for his home runs. December 14, 1985 Maris belongs in the Hall. Entering 1961, Maris had never even reached the 40-mark, topping out at 39 homers during his American League MVP Award-winning 1960 season. . What should have been one of baseball's greatest achievements became one of its saddest stories. Roger Maris was born on Monday, September 10, 1934, in Hibbing, Minnesota. Copyright 1999- With some fans feeling he wasnt worthy of breaking Ruths record, Maris received hate mail and death threats throughout the season, and the introverted outfielder dealt with such stress during the chase that his hair began to fall out. Baltimores Brooks Robinson (211 points) was a close third. The All-Star label/link in the final section only shows whether or not Roger Maris was an All-Star during the season where he appeared in the World Series (Dash=Not an All-Star | Stats=An All-Star and the link leads to the All-Star Game). Maris earned his third championship ring in his first season with the Cardinals as St. Louis defeated the Red Sox in seven games. Only one other New York Yankees outfielder had ever won a Gold Glove at that position before Maris, and he did it in 1958, playing left field. update=copyright.getFullYear(); "'Listen,' Stallard boomed. His biographical data, year-by-year hitting stats, fielding stats, pitching stats (where applicable), career totals, uniform numbers, salary data and miscellaneous items-of-interest are presented by Baseball Almanac on this comprehensive Roger Maris baseball stats page. ``They should have gone with my idea. 5. Maris . 6. Roger Maris | 1962 Topps Baseball Card (#313)Baseball Almanac Research Library. In the 12 years from 1947-58, encompassing the end of the Joe DiMaggio era and the beginning of the Mantle era in the Bronx, the Yankees won eight World Series titles and made the Fall Classic two other times. They wanted him to come back out. Seller assumes all responsibility for this listing. The American League lengthened its season from 154 to 162 games that year. Teammates stated Roger Maris' hair literally fell out during the chase for sixty-one and you can read more quotes from and about Maris here on Baseball Almanac. He was great, and I really liked him." 60 on Tuesday night (with two of Maris sons in attendance in the Bronx) and appears primed to tie and then surpass Maris in the coming days. That's the kind of guy he was. Hes a legend at home. And Maris own teammate was his toughest challenger. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. More than 60 years later, those seasons stand the test of time -- even in the decorated history of this franchise. I mean, this is something that's only happened once in baseball, right? Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. Roger Eugene Maris Born: 9/10/1934 in Hibbing, MN High School: Bishop Shanley, Fargo, ND Debut: 4/16/1957 Died: 12/14/1985 Follow mlb Stats Career Game Logs Splits Batter vs. Pitcher MLB Minors Batting Fielding Regular Season Career Stats Advanced Career Stats News 10/06/2022 at 1:00 AM Who had Yanks' top single year at the plate? Lu Clinton pursued it, then stopped to watch Maris become the greatest home run producer the majors ever saw in one season with 61., Generous Fan Stirs Maris Chicago Tribune. Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. In 1951, as a high school footballer at Fargo, N.D.'s Shanley High, Maris returned four kickoffs for touchdowns in a single game. He was an extremely fast runner. Legendary New York sports writer John Drebinger wrote the lead story for (one of) Maris' premier hometown newspapers: The New York Times, which wrote the definitive feature on the historic event. 3rd inning (41), Did you know that when Baseball Almanac came online in 1999, one of the very first pages we ever built that year was called The Historic 61? update=copyright.getFullYear(); ``Every TV set in our clubhouse and workout room were all on that game, he said at Coors Field. For 36 years, Roger Maris' record of 61 home runs in a season had gone untouched, but McGwire and Sosa went back and forth in their pursuit of baseball history. Of those, Maris is one of just three not enshrined in Cooperstown, along with Juan Gonzalez and Dale Murphy. But unlike when current Yankee Gleyber Torres tied Maris with 13 homers against the 2019 Orioles, Maris didnt accomplish the feat at the expense of a team with 100-plus losses. But it is true that 1961 was a major outlier for him in terms of home runs. Where what happened yesterday is being preserved today. var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = 'https://www.baseball-almanac.com/css/print.css';var pfBtVersion='2';(function(){var js,pf;pf=document.createElement('script');pf.type='text/javascript';pf.src='//cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})(); An inning-by-inning breakdown of every home run hit by Roger Maris: 1st inning (30), Roger Maris was walked ninety-four times during the 1961 season and led the American League in runs (one-hundred thirty-two), runs batted in (one-hundred forty-two), and of course home runs (sixty-one). The outfielder won the AL MVP Award in his first year with the Yankees after hitting .283 with 39 homers, 112 RBIs, 98 runs, 290 total bases and a .952 OPS. If you remove four active players (Miguel Cabrera, Bryce Harper, Albert Pujols, Mike Trout) and two whose otherwise overwhelming cases have been marred by PEDs (Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez), youre left with 26 players in that group. Judge crushed the record-tying. Nothing. Roger Maris hit 275 home runs during his career, 122 while playing at home, 153 while on the road. In 1961, Maris hit 61 home runs, one more than Babe Ruth did in '27, setting a new Major League record. The news was announced on Twitter by Roger Maris Jr. "Sal Durante the guy who caught my dad's 61st home. Yet Maris' 61 still stands as the American League and Yankees records -- for now. "When he (Roger Maris) hit it (home run #61 in 1961), he came into the dugout and they were all applauding. Do you know what I have to show for sixty-one home runs? With some fans feeling he wasnt worthy of breaking the Great Bambinos record, Maris received hate mail and death threats throughout the season, and the introverted outfielder dealt with such stress during the chase that his hair began to fall out. In fact, whenever Maris hit one of his home runs, he was quickly reminded that it was only because Mantle was behind him that he even saw a good pitch to hit. Maris is one of 32 players to win multiple MVP Awards, but one of just 13 to win them in consecutive seasons. Roger Maris, NYY, 1961 (61 homers): Ruth's single-season record of 60 home runs was set in 1927, and until 1961, it was the only 60-homer season in Major League history. On July 21, 1984, they honored him by retiring his number. McGwire was first to pass Maris . "When he (Roger Maris) hit it (home run #61 in 1961), he came into the dugout and they were all applauding. ``This is something that we needed so desperately in this game, Lasorda said. The 1961 home run race between Maris and Mantle was dramatized in the 2001 film 61*, filmed under the direction of Billy Crystal. But his unique career was about more than that. It didn't help that he was extremely shy, a cold North Dakotan of Croatian heritage, and unpopular with fans, unlike teammate Mickey Mantle. During the early 1960's when the New York Yankees reigned for five straight pennant-winning seasons . The Yankees star crushed his 62nd home run of the season Tuesday, beating Roger Maris for the American League single-season record.. Back in spring . Did you know that Roger Maris was the first, and through today the only, Major League Baseball player from Hibbling, Minnesota? That is, until Maris came along and hit 61 to set a single-season record that itself would stand until 1998. Roger Maris Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com Roger Maris Position: Rightfielder Bats: Left Throws: Right 6-0 , 197lb (183cm, 89kg) Born: September 10, 1934 in Hibbing, MN us More bio, uniform, draft, salary info 2x MVP 7x All-Star 3x World Series Gold Glove ML PoY 32 5 35 3 9 9 Tell us on Baseball Fever. - Mickey Mantle in The Ultimate Yankee Book (Harvey Frommer. 8th inning (39), Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? The reason WAR has his 1960 campaign as roughly even or better than 61? Do you think any 185-pounder could hit 61 home runs today? 1961 was an expansion year, with the American League increasing from 8 to 10 teams, the first expansion in the 61-year history of the league. ``I wish people could understand how much Roger Maris is respected back in North Dakota. Rick Helling of the Texas Rangers was one of the few to express disappointment. Part of the Baseball Almanac Family, Roger Eugene Maris (Born: Roger Eugene Maras), Roger Maris World Series Stats by Baseball Almanac. Ruths 60 stands as a mark for a 154-game season, while Maris is the holder of the 162-game season inaugurated by the expanded American League this season.. . copyright=new Date(); As CBS2's Kevin Rincon reported, it's a moment so big, it can change lives. The addition of Maris gave the Bronx Bombers another star position player to go with Mantle and an aging Yogi Berra, and the Yanks quickly returned to their winning ways. Only Killebrew, Mays, Aaron, Rocky Colavito and Mantle had more homers than Maris in those six years. a privately run / non-commercial site in need of financial assistance. - Mickey Mantle in The Ultimate Yankee Book (Harvey Frommer. That came in '67, after the Yankees traded him the prior offseason for infielder Charley Smith. $4.94 . Nonetheless, the fact that a reigning MVP could break the single-season home run record and not be walked intentionally even a single time is mind boggling, especially in this context: Most IBB in a 60-HR season37: Sammy Sosa (2001)35: Barry Bonds (2001)28: Mark McGwire (1998)21: Mark McGwire (1999)17: Aaron Judge (2022 - through Tuesday)14: Sammy Sosa (1998)8: Sammy Sosa (1999)0: Roger Maris (1927). It is exciting, and Marks a big strong guy, he said at the Kingdome. document.write(update); ``He is incredible. So would you believe that it arguably wasnt even his best all-around season? Disagree? 8 x 10 Glossy Photo Roger Maris Home Run #61 Swing New York Yankees. ``Just turn on the TV and hell get you one every day, the reliever said. ``Everybody watched it, Blue Jays manager Tim Johnson said. Put the infielders in the outfield for him and put the outfielders up in the stands. Team-Baseball: New York Yankees. However, 1961 was still an age of innocence. During that time, 12 U.S. presidents have taken office. In his long, lonely ordeal he had pursued a mark that had come down through the years as a monument to the immortal Ruths greatness and a record which millions of baseball fans never expected to see topped.. Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. Or write about sports? That is the only way you are going to stop the guy from hitting home runs.. The veteran slugger set the all-time AL record with 62 single-season home runs breaking the 61-year-old record previously set by Yankees legend Roger Maris. Manage all your favorite fandoms in one place! Become a Stathead & surf this site ad-free. Agree? Javascript is required for the selection of a player. 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