Roger Maris

On December 11, 1959 the Kansas City A's traded outfielder Roger Maris and shortstop Joe DeMaestri to the New York Yankees in exchange for outfielders Hank Bauer, Norm Siebern, first baseman Marv Throneberry and pitcher Don Larsen.  Maris had been an all-star the previous year; he had hit 16 home runs and had a .273 batting average with a .464 slugging percentage.  His adjusted OPS was 123 which was only the second time in his short career that he had been above average in that category.  It was unlikely that anyone could predict what was going to happen next.

In 1960, he hit 39 homeruns which was a career high.  It would be easy to say that Maris took advantage of the short right field porch in Yankee Stadium.  However, it would be quite untrue.  Maris hit 13 home runs at home and 26 on the road.  His slugging percentage was .581 which led the league.  His OPS which was .952 was second in the league.  He led the league in WAR which only time travelers had heard about.  He won the 1960 American League MVP Award over his teammate and outfieldmate Mickey Mantle.  It would be easy to say that Maris was selected the MVP because of his RBI's (he led Mantle 112 to 90).  It may very well be true.  Maris' value was increased by his defense.  Mantle's offensive WAR was ahead of Maris but defensively Maris was on top.  This season would be the best of Maris' career, at least, according to WAR.

1961 was the most memorable season of his career and may have been the most damaging to his career.  Maris hit 61 homeruns during the season, which most of you know.  The previous record was held by the best baseball player of all-time, Babe Ruth.  Ruth had hit 60 home runs in 1927.  1961 was the first season in Major League baseball where there was a 162-game schedule.  The American League played 162 games, meanwhile, the National League played the 154-game schedule.

After the first 15 games of the season Maris had only hit 1 home run.  This was not the start of a record-breaking home run season.  In the month of May, Maris had hit 11 home runs.  He only had 12 heading into June.  Mark McGwire when he broke the record in 1998 had hit 30 home runs at the same time.  Maris was on fire in both June and July.

Maris' stat line for the month of June is as follows: 32 Games. 123 At-bats.  15 Home Runs.  .276/.375/.707.  His OPS+ for that month was 185.

73 games into the season Maris had hit 27 home runs.  He was now starting to feel the pressure of possibly challenging the home run record. 

In the month of July, Maris was even better.  In 28 games in the month of July, he hit 13 more homeruns.  His OPS+ that month was 199.  In 101 games he had already hit 40 home runs.  The pressure was beginning to mount.  During this time Maris started lose clumps of hair.  His hair was falling out due to the pressure.

In August, he began to slow down, well because he is not the home run hitter Ruth was and continuing at that pace is humanly impossible.  Maris' August was 31 games and 11 home runs.  His stats slipped all over the board that month.  As his stats were falling, so was his hair. 

Maris entered September with 51 homeruns. 

He hit 9 homeruns and had tied Babe Ruth in less plate appearances.  Maris hit his 60th home run in his 684th plate appearance.  Ruth had hit 60 homeruns in 689 plate appearances. 

In the final game of the season of 1961, Maris finally hit the 61st homerun to break the record. 

According to many sources, there was no official asterisk when Maris held the record.  Former baseball commissioner Ford Frick, a former Ruth biographer, noted his opinion that if a player broke the mark in the 154 games that they would be considered to be the new record holder but if it took more games it would have to have some mark that it took the new record holder more games to break the record.

Another idea to discredit Maris has been to mention that Maris took advantage of the short right field porch to break the record.  He actually hit 30 of his 61 home runs at home and the other 31 were hit on the road.  All of his other stats were higher at home than they were on the road but he actually had more home runs on the road.  (It should be noted that he had played 3 more games on the road than he did at home).  However, if he was taking advantage of the right field porch, we would see Maris hitting way more home runs at home than on the road.  We do not see evidence of this.

One of the most interesting things about Maris' record-breaking season is that he did not hit a grand slam the whole year.  Maris only had two at-bats the entire season with the bases loaded which seems incredibly low.  I never realized how few at-bats Maris had with the bases loaded.

The story of Roger Maris has always intrigued me.  Maris who had never hit 40 home runs before or after this season was able to break the single season home run record.  The story of a player improving that dramatically has always intersted me.  If it wasn't for stories such as Roger Maris I would not be a sports fan, still.