In an epic drama spiced with unlikely twists and turns, New York Yankees stars Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris faced off in 1961 to break Babe Ruth’s Major League baseball season record for the home runs. Their pursuit of the magical mark of the 60s, set by the Yankees legend in 1927, captured the imaginations of baseball fans nationwide and dominated American sports sections.
Mantle, a 29-year-old center fielder from Oklahoma, was a longtime Yankees star, fan favorite and the face of the franchise. “In 1960, that was a myth,” recalls George Vescey, who, as a 22-year-old newlywed and beginning reporter for New York’s News day covered the Yankees in 1961. “Fans had finally taken to Mantle after booing his [butt] for five, six, seven years.
Maris was the odd one out, a 26-year-old Midwesterner whose years with the Kansas City Athletics and Cleveland Indians hadn’t prepared the right outfielder for the bright lights of New York. “A wonderful player,” recalls Vescey, who had a long career as one of the New York Times’ the best columnists.
Ruth’s double chase was a preseason scenario and the intensity of the chase built up at the end of June, when Maris and Mantle were ahead of Bambino’s 1927 pace. Then the pressure really increased this scorching summer.
MLB commissioner Ford Frick and the Asterisk controversy
Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs for the New York Yankees in 1927, setting a Major League Baseball record.
Getty Images via Bettman
On July 17, MLB commissioner Ford Frick announced at a press conference that record holders should have two separate categories for a season home run record – one for Ruth, set over the course of the season. ‘a 154-game season, and one for any record set in a 162-game season. For the 1961 season, the American League expanded its schedule from 154 to 162 games after going from eight to 10 teams.
Influential New York sports columnist Dick Young even suggested marking any new home run record with an asterisk.
A former semi-pro baseball player, Frick came to New York City in the 1920s as a sports reporter. He covered the Yankees and became friends enough with Ruth to write a book in 1928 with him. Frick was one of the few visitors allowed to see Ruth at the hospital before the Bambino died of cancer in 1948.
Years later, Frick wrote that he had never ordered that an asterisk be placed on the record – he had no such authority – but the media perceived he had. Maris and Mantle seemed in a hurry to set the record in 154 games.
READ MORE: 10 Things You May Not Know About Babe Ruth
In August, a new scenario emerged, one that staged a hostile competition between Maris and Mantle. But “The M&M Boys” shared an apartment in New York with left fielder Bob Cerv, Yankees left fielder, and they all got along well.
In mid-September, Maris led his teammate 56 homers to 53. Next, Mantle developed an infection in his hip, forcing him to stop playing. Just like that, the two-man race became a solo act, with all the pressure on Maris, who was crumbling under the weight of media demands for his time.
“Irritating,” Maris described the attention he was receiving, according to Illustrated sports. “I like bull sessions with guys [reporters]. But it’s different, the questions day after day, the big story. “
Within 10 days that month, Maris slammed Yankees fans and a referee and declined to meet with the media after a double-scheduled in Detroit. “Not so gay Roger,” later called him a sports writer. Yankees fans even booed Maris at times.
“The only time Roger can relax is during a football match,” Cerv told reporters. Maris put it more bluntly to Mantle himself: “I’m going crazy, Mick.” he said, according to the Orlando Sentry. “I can’t take much more of this.”
Towards the end of the season, Maris even started to lose his hair in bunches – his wife, Pat, said he looked like a molting bird. “It wasn’t until Roger started to lose his hair that we realized what kind of pressure he was under,” Yankees third baseman Clete Boyer recalled after the chase ended.
Roger Maris reached number 61 on October 1, 1961
Roger Maris poses with 19-year-old Sal Durate, the fan who caught the No.61 home run at Yankees Stadium.
Jim Mooney / NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images
On September 26, against the Baltimore Orioles, Maris hit his 60th homerun to tie Ruth’s mark. Five days later, on the final day of the regular season, the American League champions Yankees faced the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. Most of New York was focused on the upcoming World Series against the Cincinnati Reds.
Vecsey wasn’t even at Yankees Stadium that day – his diary decided that a New York Titans football game at the Polo Grounds was the bigger story. “Someone in the press gallery had a transistor radio,” he recalls. “I remember hearing someone say, ‘He did it.'”
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Maris flew to left field in his first batting appearance against Boston rookie Tracy Stallard. In the fourth inning, Maris made two pitches, both balls. Then he hammered the third step at the height of Stallard’s waist 10 rows in the stands of right field.
Most of the 23,154 fans in attendance cheered as Maris got around the basics. He reached the canoe then went out to wave his cap and wave to the crowd. “It was the biggest,” Maris told reporters afterwards. “I don’t remember much after hitting. I was happy.”
Smiling and looking relieved, Maris and his wife appeared in a photo on the front page of the next day’s newspaper. Daily New York News.
When asked about The Great Home Run Chase after the season, Maris – the American League MVP in 1961 – was blunt: “As a baseball player, I would love to do it again. As an individual, I doubt that I can cross it. again. “
Maris’ Home Run record broken in 1998
In 1998, Maris’ season home run record was broken by Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals, who hit 70 beating Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs. Three years later, Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs, beating McGwire’s mark. But Bonds, McGwire and Sosa have been tarnished by claims of performance-enhancing drug use.
In 1984, the Yankees retired No. 9 from Maris. A year later, at age 51, he died of lymphoma. Mantle, who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974, died in 1995.
“I wish Maris had lived long enough to enjoy it,” Vecsey said of the home run record. “Maris was a great guy this season. The picture is that he was a cranky SOB, a cranky one. But he was much more accessible than Mantle. “
