Roger Maris takes a curtain call after hitting his historic 61st home run breaking Babe Ruth’s single-season record of 60 home runs in 1927. Maris homered off Boston Red Sox pitcher Tracy Stallard in the fourth inning of a scoreless ballgame, it was also the only run of the game as the Yanks would win the season finale 1-0.
Despite the historic significance of the day only 23,154 showed up to see possible history, which might not be a surprise as many were split about their support on Maris’ gallop into the history books. Baseball commissioner Ford Frick, a close personal friend of Ruth, delved into the controversy feet first declaring during the season that unless the home run record was broken in 154 games, that an asterisk would put in the record books next to Maris’ achievement. Baseball great Roger Hornsby compared Ruth’s 1927 batting average of .356 to Maris’ .269 clip of 1961 and said, “It would be a disappointment if Ruth’s home run record were bested by a .270 hitter”
Eventually Maris’ 61 home run season would be recognized fully for the achievement that it was, but it still left Maris bitter in his golden years, lamenting in 1980 “They acted as though I was doing something wrong, poisoning the record books or something. Do you know what I have to show for 61 home runs? Nothing. Exactly nothing.”
