Roger Maris

Roger Maris arrived in New York after stints with Cleveland and Kansas City, and his debut season with the Yankees was a tremendous success — he drilled 39 home runs and drove in 112 runs while being named to the American League All-Star team, earning a Gold Glove award, and being voted the American League’s Most Valuable Player. Maris still delivered an unbelievable encore. During the summer of 1961, Maris and teammate Mickey Mantle waged a two-man assault on Babe Ruth’s single-season home run mark of 60. The New York media and fans favored Mantle, the homegrown talent and favorite son, but a leg injury ended Mantle’s season and left Maris with the only shot at eclipsing Ruth’s record. Baseball commissioner Ford Frick had stated that unless Ruth’s record was broken in the first 154 games of the season, the new record would be shown in the record books as having been set in 162 games while the previous record set in 154 games would also be shown. Despite the adversity, Maris persevered, cracking his 61st home run in the very last game of the season.