Roger Maris, 61 Still Stand Alone
September 20th, 2006 by Michael Stephens
Entering tonight’s game, Philadelphia first baseman Ryan Howard (right) has 57 home runs. With 11 games to go, he has a chance to reach the once-mythic 60 home run pantheon. Has anyone noticed? Does anyone care?
The answer is that no one knows how to react. What was the most hallowed individual record in sports is now so tainted that Howard’s pursuit of 60 is an afterthought. The media surely hopes he won’t get there, so they won’t have to discuss it.
People seem to believe that with improved testing and suspicion hanging over Major League Baseball, the 26-year-old phenom cannot be on steroids.
Likewise, I’ve never heard it suggested that today’s top power hitters — Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz, Albert Pujols, and idiot savant Manny Ramirez — are juiced, and I firmly believe they aren’t.
But what do I, or any observer, know at this point? The 60-homer mark is damaged goods, has been since 1998, and will be for decades to come. It’s a sad, undeniable fact. As Howard makes his push to join this elite club, let’s take a look back at the last man to join it without a cloud of suspicion over his head, and whose achievement 45 years ago still stands head and shoulders above the rest.
In the fall of 1961, Roger Maris closed in the unthinkable single-season record of 60 home runs held by the great Babe Ruth. Steroids were decades away from transforming the game, but the Yankee outfielder was universally maligned by media during his pursuit, with everyone from average fans to the commissioner of baseball hoping Ruth’s record would remain intact.
When Maris shattered it with his 61st homer, the new mark immediately came under attack. Commissioner Ford Frick, an avid Ruth supporter, wanted an asterisk placed next to Maris’ achievement in the record books, as Maris appeared in 161 games out of a possible 162. When Ruth hit 60 back in 1927, Frick argued, the season was comprised of 154 games (of which Babe played 151).
Ironically, it is only now that Maris’ feat deserves an asterisk — one that designates the last untainted single-season home run milestone.
The 60 homers swatted by the Bambino in ‘27 broke his own total of 59 set six years earlier. It stood as the most venerable record in all of sports.
Thirty-four years elapsed before someone approached the milestone, and when Maris eclipsed it on the final day of the ‘61 season, he did so amidst unpopularity and intense scrutiny.
Traditionalists hoped the Babe would not be surpassed. New York fans hoped that Maris’ teammate, the iconic Mickey Mantle (who hit 54 homers that year himself), would be the one to rewrite history. In time, controversy waned and the aura of the single-season pinnacle became even more mythic.
Maris and 61 became synonymous. The fact that the record was held by a relatively average player — Maris was an All-Star, but not one of legendary status — contributed to its mystique. But most of the appreciation for 61 came through its longevity.
Only twice from 1962-1989 did a player reach 50 home runs — Willie Mays (52) in 1965 and George Foster (52) in 1977. It was not until the mid-to-late 1990s that a binge of home runs transformed the game and left the record in its wake.
Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were credited with revitalizing the sport in 1998 as they staged a dual assault on 61. Baseball captivated the nation that summer, with the NL Central rivals leading the way. McGwire hit his 62nd home run with several weeks to play, in a game against Sosa’s Cubs, setting off a massive celebration in St. Louis that included members of Maris’ family (Roger passed away in 1985).
Big Mac finished the year with an astounding 70 round-trippers, edging the 66 produced by Slammin’ Sammy. The following season, the pair launched 65 and 63, respectively. In 2001, Sosa broke new ground with his third 60-plus effort (64), but again fell short of even winning his own league’s home run title. Barry Bonds blasted 73 that year to wrest the single-season record from McGwire.
While his 61 is still the highest produced by an American League player in one year, Maris’ once-untouchable total has been reduced to seventh-best in major league history. None of the six totals that surpassed him are exempt from serious doubt at this stage, however, with accusations of performance-enhancing drugs running rampant.
McGwire (right) has been implicated repeatedly as a steroid abuser, and declined to deny use of illegal drugs under oath. Sosa dodged similar accusations about as guiltily as one can.
Bonds, whose record 73 homers may last a century, is an admitted steroid user, with the full extent of his cheating yet to be determined. There’s no doubt that 1995-2004 will be remembered as an era in which the game’s integrity was forever tarnished.
It’s hard to say what to make of all this, other than how badly it hurts to be captivated by something like the 1998 home run chase, only to have it revealed as a farce.
Yet what’s even more upsetting is that younger and/or casual fans have little understanding of what Maris accomplished. A career .260 hitter with 275 home runs, he is not (and may never be) a Hall of Famer. This, and playing in the shadow of Yankee greats Ruth and Mantle, kept his record from being properly respected in its own time. Thanks to baseball turning a blind eye to its steroids problem for over a decade, it won’t be appreciated in this era, either. That is a travesty.
So as you watch Howard pursue 60, give some thought to the last man to get there without disgracing himself and the spot. A forgotten man whose feat, 45 years later, still stands alone.
October 21st, 2006 at 12:59 pm
I’ve read of the hardships that Maris faced. He was not as marketable as Mickey Mantle. I could not have even imagined how much worst it would have been if he was an African American or Jewish.
April 8th, 2007 at 12:52 am
ahhhhh rubbish. Mark Mcgwire is the greatest power hitter ever followed by bonds and then by Ruth. Maris had that one lucky year and Manlte was overrated.