Today in history: October 1, 1961

Roger Maris hit home run # 61 (that’s the 61st in the photo there), breaking the long-standing record held by Babe Ruth. It was a record that not a lot of people wanted to see broken. It was sacred. Maris wasn’t a “real” Yankee, etc. Also – he was neck and neck with his teammate – Mickey Mantle – and Mantle, of course, was the ultimate Yankee. If anyone SHOULD break the record, it should be Mickey!! (Oh, and what the hell – this is a post about Maris, but whatever: just thought I’d link to Bob Costas’ eulogy for Mickey Mantle. If you’re a baseball fan, I know you have read it. It is … well. It’s beyond words.)

But Maris beat Mantle – and the controversy then ensued – that Babe’s record should stand – because Ruth hit his 60 home runs in a shorter game schedule. The commissioner of baseball decreed (ha, what a ma-roon) that Maris had actually NOT broken Ruth’s record because of this discrepancy – and then there was the whole asterisk debacle – that Maris’ record should be listed with an asterisk after it, to show that he hadn’t REALLY broken Ruth’s record. It’s all rather annoying, but still – baseball fans and experts are legitimately insane (I should know) – and this was all important stuff to them. Finally – in 1991 – Maris’ record was decreed as “real” and it could stand without the asterisk. Of course Maris was dead by this point so a lot of good it did him!

Billy Crystal’s movie 61* is one of my favorite sports movies. It really GETS it. I mean, I wasn’t alive in 61 – so I don’t know – but from my standpoint, as a person who grew up with baseball, who has the same achey nostalgia and passion about the same thing – Crystal completely expresses THAT in his film – along with the story itself of the battle between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle to break Babe Ruth’s record. Great movie.

Congrats, Maris … ya done good.

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6 Responses to Today in history: October 1, 1961

  1. Jeff says:

    There was a great article in the Village Voice a couple of weeks ago about how the fans have turned on Alex Rodriguez this year, and an old-time writer (name escapes me) commented that the boos for Alex this year have not come close to what Mickey Mantle had to endure from 1958 through 1960. It was only when Maris came along that the fans went back to Mickey, and took out their frustrations on Maris. Who, in the end, was unable to handle it; his hair actually started coming out in clumps.

    Maris got a raw deal all around – might have been a Hall of Famer had he been able to handle the abuse – but who could have?

  2. red says:

    The hair coming out in clumps thing always kills me. Wow.

  3. red says:

    I just love that picture – his arm looks like – a drawing for an anatomy class. Those muscles. Just a powerful swing there.

  4. jean says:

    holy shit – look at his forearm – i’m in love. i just have a softspot for a beefy forearm…

  5. mitch says:

    I was raised with this almost-liturgical devotion to the rightness of Maris’ cause; he was a Fargo boy (my dad used to play Legion ball against him in the early fifties; in NoDak, there’s like one degree of separation between everyone), and so us locals were pretty fervent in our support, even if (like me) we were too young to know why.

  6. red says:

    Of course!! Local boy not just made good – but caught up in this historical moment. Must have been amazing.

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