October 1, 1961 was a Sunday so I'm pretty sure that I was watching the TV when Roger Maris hit his 61st Home Run off Red Sox pitcher Tracy Stallard, 50 years ago today. The HR came in the 4th inning and sailed over the 344 sign in right field at Yankee Stadium. If the game had been a weekday afternoon contest, I probably would have missed it. I was a high school junior and would not have been home in time. I lived in Bayside, Queens and took a bus and subway to school in lower Manhattan. I recall having a reduced fare student pass. The regular fare for bus or subway was 15 cents.
I still have my 1961 Yankee Yearbook. It's only 48 pages with no color photos. The write-up with stats on Roger appears on page 13, facing Mantle's on page 12. As I mentioned in my post of September 18, 2008, the price was 50 cents! A program with scorecard costs 15 cents. Heck, box seats were only $3.50! I used to buy unreserved grandstand seats at $1.30 rather than the 75 cent bleacher tickets. Reserved grandstand was $2.50. To buy tickets in advance, which I never did back then, you had to visit the stadium box office or order by mail. Make your check or money order out to "The Yankees" and add 25 cents for handling and mail charges.
While I didn't make it to the historic 61st Home Run game, I did see 8 games at the stadium in 1961. Especially memorable was a July twi-night doubleheader against the White Sox in which Roger hit HR #'s 37 and 38 in the 1st game and #'s 39 and 40 in the nitecap. The Mick hit one that night too, his 38th. With the M&M boys chasing Babe Ruth's 1927 record of 60 home runs, it was an exciting season.
1961 was also an expansion year with the addition of the Los Angeles Angels and a new Washington Senators team. The old Senators team became the Minnesota Twins that same year. Eleven years later the "new" Senators became the Texas Rangers. (In 2005, the Monteal Expos became the Washington Nationals of the National League.)
Roger's record has been broken but, as most baseball fans know, questions have arisen about the validity of the accomplishments of those who have eclipsed his record, sluggers Sosa, McGwire and Bonds, due to possible steroid use. Roger's assault on Ruth's record was not exactly welcomed by the baseball world. Most Yankee fans wanted Mantle to break Ruth's record if anyone did. Roger's detractors pointed out several factors that contributed to his record breaking performance:
- the 8 games added to the traditional 154 game schedule.
- dilution of talent because of expansion.
- batting in front of Mickey Mantle didn't hurt as evidenced by the fact that Roger received zero intentional walks.
- a dead pull hitter, Roger benefited from the short porch in right at Yankee Stadium, 296' down the line increasing to only 344' in straightaway left.
In fairness to Roger, it should be added in regard to the last point that 31 of his 61 HR's were hit on the road. Finally, Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick, perhaps in an effort to be fair to Babe Ruth, hung his hat on the first point when he ordered that Roger's record have an asterik placed next to it because of the longer schedule.
If you search Baseball-almanac.com under "Players" you will find an article on Maris' 61 HR's which you can access by clicking on "Fabulous Feats". It mentions that famous asterik and other difficulties Roger faced. Speaking in 1980, Maris said: "They acted as though I was doing something wrong, poisoning the record books or something". The article concludes "Now, with great pride, Baseball Almanac presents, Roger Maris' truly remarkable record-breaking sixty-one steroid free home runs." It provides the game number in which each HR was hit, the opposing pitcher and team, and home or away status. If you click on the dates, you get the box scores for all the games in which Roger homered beginning with his first HR in game 11 on April 26, 1961.
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