Roger Eugene Maris (born Maras;September 10,1934 –December 14,1985) was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He is best known for setting a new MLB single-season home run record with 61 home runs in 1961.
Maris played in the minor leagues from 1953 to 1956,and made his major league debut for the Cleveland Indians in 1957. He was traded to the Kansas City Athletics during the 1958 season,and to the New York Yankees after the 1959 season. Maris finished his playing career as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1967 and 1968. Maris was an AL All-Star from 1959 through 1962, [a] the AL Most Valuable Player in 1960 and 1961,and an AL Gold Glove Award winner in 1960. Maris appeared in seven World Series;he played for Yankees teams that won the World Series in 1961 and 1962 and for a Cardinals team that won the World Series in 1967.
Maris's home run record was controversial,as the previous single-season home run record (60,set by Babe Ruth in 1927) was set during a period when MLB teams played 154 games per season. Maris broke Ruth's record in the year the AL baseball season was extended to 162 games,hitting his 61st home run in the last game of the season,which led to questions about the legitimacy of his record. [2] Maris' major league record remained unbroken until Mark McGwire surpassed it in 1998;his AL record stood until 2022,when Aaron Judge hit 62 home runs for the New York Yankees.
Roger Eugene Maris was born on September 10,1934,in Hibbing,Minnesota;in 1955,his father changed the surname from Maras to Maris. [3] [4] Roger's parents,Rudolph S. "Rudy" Maras and Ann Corrine "Connie" (née Perkovich) were born in Minnesota,and were of Croatian heritage. [5] [6] [7]
Maris' brother Rudolph,who was a year older,developed polio at age 18 in 1951. [8] It was Rudolph who began Maris' baseball career. Maris recalls Rudolph forcing him to play the sport,saying that he physically would drag him out by his ear to play the game that he hated desperately. While he loved taking breaks from his schoolwork and spending time outdoors,he could not stand baseball. By the time he was playing baseball in high school,he no longer had to be forced to play and enjoyed the game. [9] Maris' parents had a turbulent marriage and divorced in 1960. The Maris family moved to Grand Forks,North Dakota,in 1938,and to Fargo,North Dakota,in 1946. [7] Maris entered Fargo Central High School in 1948. In 1950,Maris,a Catholic,transferred to Bishop Shanley High School in Fargo,and graduated from there in June 1952. Maris played both baseball and football for the Shanley Deacons. In football,Maris set a national high school record,which still stands,for most return touchdowns in a game,with four (two kickoff returns,one punt return,and one interception return). In that 1951 game,he also scored a fifth touchdown on a 32-yard run from scrimmage. [10] He met his future wife,Patricia,in the tenth grade at a high school basketball game. [11]
Maris began play for the Indians' minor league organization at Fargo (the Fargo-Moorhead Twins) in 1953. He was named rookie of the year in the Northern League,then moved on to Keokuk,Iowa,the next season. In four minor league seasons from 1953 to 1956,Maris hit .303 with 78 home runs and 353 runs batted in (RBI). [12] In Game 2 of the 1956 Junior World Series,Maris,playing for the Indianapolis Indians of the American Association (Triple-A league),set a record by driving in seven runs. [13] With all five teams for which Maris played in the minors,the clubs' win-loss records improved from the prior season. [13]
Maris made his major league debut on April 16,1957,with the Cleveland Indians. He finished the game 3-for-5 with a run scored in a 3–2 loss against the Chicago White Sox. [14] Two days later,he hit the first home run of his career,a grand slam off Detroit Tigers pitcher Jack Crimian at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. [13] He finished his rookie season with a .235 average,14 home runs and 51 RBI in 116 games. [15] On June 15,1958,after playing in 51 games and hitting .225 with nine home runs and 27 RBI for the Indians,he was traded to the Kansas City Athletics with Dick Tomanek and Preston Ward for Vic Power and Woodie Held. [15]
After the trade,Maris played in 99 games and hit .247 with 19 home runs and 53 RBI for Kansas City in 1958. [15] In 1959,he played in 122 games and batted .273 with 16 home runs and 72 RBI; [15] he missed 45 games during the second half of the season as a result of an appendix operation. He was selected to play in the second of two All-Star Games held that year. [16] [1] In the late 1950s,Kansas City frequently traded their best young players to the New York Yankees—a practice which led them to be referred to as the Yankees' "major league farm team" [17] —and Maris was no exception. In a seven-player deal completed on December 11,1959,he was sent to the Yankees with Kent Hadley and Joe DeMaestri in exchange for Marv Throneberry,Norm Siebern,Hank Bauer,and Don Larsen. [18]
In his Yankees debut on April 19,1960,Maris hit a single,double,and two home runs in an 8–4 win over the Boston Red Sox. [19] He was named to the AL All-Star roster again and played in both games. He finished the season leading the AL in slugging percentage (.581),runs batted in (112),and extra base hits (64). He also hit 39 home runs and had a .283 batting average in 136 games. [15] He won the American League's Most Valuable Player award and was recognized as an outstanding defensive outfielder with a Gold Glove Award. [20] The Yankees won the American League pennant,the first of five consecutive pennants,but lost a seven-game World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates culminating in Bill Mazeroski's dramatic walk-off home run. [21] Maris hit .267 with two solo home runs,six runs scored and a double in the series loss. [22]
Years | Games | PA | AB | Runs | Hits | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | OBP | SLG | BA | Fld% |
12 | 1,463 | 5,847 | 5,101 | 826 | 1,325 | 195 | 42 | 275 | 850 | 21 | 652 | 733 | .345 | .476 | .260 | .982 |
Maris's major league awards: [15]
Award / Honor | Time(s) | Date(s) |
---|---|---|
American League All-Star | 7 | 1959, 1960 (2) 1961 (2) 1962 (2) |
American League Most Valuable Player | 2 | 1960, 1961 |
American League Gold Glove Award (RF) | 1 | 1960 |
Mark David McGwire, nicknamed "Big Mac", is an American former professional baseball first baseman who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1986 to 2001 for the Oakland Athletics and the St. Louis Cardinals. He won two World Series championships, one with Oakland as a player in 1989 and one with St. Louis as a coach in 2011. One of the most prolific home run hitters in baseball history, McGwire hit 583 home runs during his career, which ranked 5th-most in MLB history at the time of his retirement and currently ranks 11th. He holds the major-league career record for at bats per home run ratio (10.6), and is the former record holder for both home runs in a single season and home runs hit by a rookie. McGwire was one of several central figures in baseball's steroids scandal.
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61* is a 2001 American sports drama television film directed by Billy Crystal and written by Hank Steinberg. It stars Barry Pepper as Roger Maris and Thomas Jane as Mickey Mantle on their quest to break Babe Ruth's 1927 single-season home run record of 60 during the 1961 season of the New York Yankees. The film first aired on HBO on April 28, 2001.
The 1960 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1960 season. The 57th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the National League (NL) champion Pittsburgh Pirates against the American League (AL) champion New York Yankees. In Game 7, Bill Mazeroski hit the series winning ninth-inning home run, the first time a winner-take-all World Series game ended with a home run, and the first World Series to end on a home run. Mazeroski's home run gave the Pirates their third title overall and their first since 1925.
The 1961 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1961 season. The 58th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the American League (AL) champion New York Yankees against the National League (NL) champion Cincinnati Reds. The Yankees won in five games to earn their 19th championship in 39 seasons. Yankees pitcher Whitey Ford was named the World Series Most Valuable Player, winning two games over 14 scoreless innings, including a complete game shutout in Game 1.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1998 throughout the world.
Robert Henry Cerv was an American professional baseball left fielder. Prior to his professional career, he was a collegiate baseball and basketball player at the University of Nebraska. He was born in Weston, Nebraska, and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1961 throughout the world.
The "M&M Boys" were the duo of New York Yankees baseball players Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, who were teammates from 1960 to 1966. They gained prominence during the 1961 season, when Maris and Mantle, batting third and cleanup (fourth) in the Yankee lineup respectively, both challenged Babe Ruth's 34-year-old single-season record of 60 home runs. The home run lead would change hands between the two teammates numerous times throughout the summer and fueled intense scrutiny of the players by the press. Maris eventually broke the record when he hit his 61st home run on the final day of the season, while Mantle hit 54 before he was forced to pull out of the lineup in September because of an abscessed hip.
During Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1998 season, Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs pursued the league's long-standing and highly coveted single-season home run record (61), set in 1961 by Roger Maris. The season-long chase culminated on September 8, 1998, when McGwire, facing Sosa and the Cubs, hit his 62nd home run of the season to break the record. McGwire finished the season with 70 home runs, while Sosa finished with 66. The 1998 home run record chase, as well the previous year's pursuit of the record, was widely credited by sports analysts with restoring interest in MLB among its fan base following the 1994 strike that resulted in that season prematurely ending and the cancellation of the 1994 World Series. McGwire's record was later broken in 2001 by Barry Bonds, who hit 73 home runs.
The 1998 Major League Baseball season ended with the New York Yankees sweeping the San Diego Padres in the World Series, after they had won a then AL record 114 regular season games. The Yankees finished with 125 wins for the season, which remains the MLB record.
The 1961 New York Yankees season was the 59th season for the team. The team finished with a record of 109–53, eight games ahead of the Detroit Tigers, and won their 26th American League pennant. New York was managed by Ralph Houk. The Yankees played their home games at Yankee Stadium. In the World Series, they defeated the Cincinnati Reds in 5 games. This season was best known for the home run chase between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, with the former beating Babe Ruth's single season record by hitting 61.
The 1961 Detroit Tigers won 101 games but finished in second place, eight games behind the Yankees. The team's 1961 record tied the 1934 Tigers team record of 101 wins, and only twice in team history have the Tigers won more games: 1968 and 1984.
The 1961 major league baseball season began on April 10, 1961. The regular season ended on October 1, with the Cincinnati Reds and New York Yankees as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the 58th World Series on October 4 and ended with Game 5 on October 9. In the second iteration of this World Series matchup, the Yankees defeated the Reds, four games to one, capturing their 19th championship in franchise history, since their previous in 1958. The season is best known for Yankee teammates Roger Maris' and Mickey Mantle's pursuit of Babe Ruth's prestigious 34-year-old single-season home run record of 60. Maris ultimately broke the record when he hit his 61st home run on the final day of the regular season, while Mantle was forced out of the lineup in late September due to a hip infection and finished with 54 home runs.
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...all players who were named to the AL or NL roster were credited with one appearance per season.