After Saturday, Judge is on track for 63 home runs, 126 RBI and 183 hits. Through 53 games that year, Maris had 20 homers and Mantle had 18. Judge, the American League Player of the Month for May, is also ahead of the pace Mantle and Roger Maris set when Maris broke the Yankees’ single-season home run record with 61 in 1961. After years of hurt from an accomplishment that should have been celebrated when it happened years earlier, Maris finally received the recognition, and more importantly, the acceptance he wanted and deserved.All Rise for a Leadoff Dinger 👨⚖️ /QMvbdVYWO4 On April 14, 1978, Roger Maris returned to Yankees Stadium where he, along with Mantle, received a long overdue standing ovation. He finally agreed in 1978, but only after Steinbrenner agreed to donate sod for a baseball field where his kids played. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner tried connecting with Maris for years. Unfortunately, the pain of what he experienced in New York lasted long after he left. Louis Cardinals, where he played until he retired after the 1968 season. In 1966, the Yankees traded him to the St. Maris put up respectable numbers the following season and the rest of his career, but never came close to the home run production of 1961. Months of fans, media, and the commissioner making him feel undeserving, will do that to you. While Roger Maris was the official record holder for most home runs in a season, he was soured by the whole experience.
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ROGER MARIS SERIES
In addition to the record, Maris won the AL MVP Award for a second straight year as the Yankees went on to capture the World Series over the Cincinnati Reds. Frick was not in attendance to recognize the record. On October 6, 1961, the last game of the season, Maris stepped up to the plate in the fourth inning and belted the record home run in front of a sparse crowd of just over 23,000 fans. After 154 games and Frick’s regular-season “deadline,” Maris stood at 59 home runs. Despite all the obstacles before him, Maris continued hitting home runs. The combination of stress and fear became so bad that clumps of Maris’s hair began to fall out. It got so bad the Yankees hired NYPD detective Kieran Burke as his personal protector. Roger Maris pushed forward those final weeks but did so with trepidation. He lived in fear every day as he was regularly the subject of death threats. RELATED: Why Didn’t Babe Ruth Retire With the New York Yankees?Īs the season winded down, Mantle got sick, was hospitalized, and eliminated from the home run race.
Interestingly, MLB had no direct control over any record books until years later. To add to the already-building tension, baseball commissioner Ford Frick, who had been a good friend of Ruth’s, announced that unless Ruth’s mark was surpassed in the first 154 games, the new record should be shown with an asterisk, indicating the achievement occurred in a 162-game season. For fans, it was an easy call to support the hero Mantle over the new guy. By mid-season, it looked like one or both players could potentially break the once-unbreakable Babe Ruth record of 60 home runs set 34 years earlier. Mantle and Maris started the season off displaying their power early and often. While Roger Maris had established himself as a star Yankees player that first season, the affable Mickey Mantle was still the fan-favorite after winning a couple of MVPs a few seasons before. To maintain a balanced schedule, AL owners extended the season from 154 games to 162 games. The perceived result was watered-down rosters for most of the teams because there were now players in the AL who would otherwise be playing in AAA. Both new teams drafted their players from the other AL squad. The AL expanded from eight to 10 teams with the addition of the Los Angeles Angels and Washington Senators. The 1961 season was a year of change for baseball.
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