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Roger Maris played six seasons for the New York Yankees and yet we rarely hear about him. Although his career in the Major Leagues of baseball began earlier, Roger was traded to the Yankees in 1959 by the Kansas City Athletics. His first season with the Yankees was in 1960 and he had a remarkable year. He finished second in home runs hit behind Mickey Mantle. Maris actually led the league that year in slugging percentages, runs batted in, and extra base hits.

Another famous New York Yankee, Babe Ruth, held the record for the most home runs hit in a single season. The beloved Babe obtained that record in 1927 with 60 home runs. Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle decided in 1961 to try to break that record. The two teammates decided that the 34 year old record needed to be broken and they were just the guys to do it. Yankee fans and the media weren’t real crazy about the idea but if anyone was going to do it then their bets were on Mickey Mantle. New York loved Mickey and so did the press. For some reason they did not like Roger Maris and they certainly didn’t want him to break the Babe’s record or heaven forbid do better than Mantle.

Maris was actually booed and cussed at when he would step up to the plate that year by the very folks who should have been his fans. No matter how hard he played or how far he hit that ball, the fans just would not get behind him. That wasn’t the case in a rural town in Indiana though. As a young girl of 9 who loved baseball, I wanted Roger Maris to break that record so badly. He was someone that us kids in the Hoosier State could look up to.

Roger Maris did break that 34 year old record in 1961 with 61 home runs smacked with his bat. I’ve heard a lot of people say that it was Mantle but their memories are clouded. 61 in 61 tells the story of what happened that year to a baseball hero named Roger Maris before the sport was plagued with steroid use.

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