October 1, 1961 Yankee Stadium Bronx, NY Maris Hits 61st HR - Ellipses The Babes Single Season Record Fifty-three years ago today, Yankee slugger Roger Maris hit a 2-0 pitch offered by Boston Red Sox starter Tracy Stallard into the lower right field stands of the original Stadium for his 61st home run of the season - setting a single-season record for a 162-game season which stood until 1998, when both Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa eclipsed that mark. Maris eclipsed Yankee immortal Babe Ruths prior record of 60 home runs, set in 1927 during a 154-game season. Much controversy has transpired over the years concerning this moment, particularly: (1) until 1991, six yeas afore Maris death, Major League Baseballs refused to recognize Maris 61 home runs as the true single-season record because then-Commissioner Ford Frick - a ghost writer for Ruth during Ruths career - declared that Maris had not broken Ruths record within the confines of a 154-game period; and (2) the Great Chase of 1998 between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire and the eventual record setting mark of 73 set by Barry Bonds in 2001, were likely fueled by those respective players use of PEDs. Unfortunately, the feat accomplished by Maris occurred in a time when Maris was, in essence, vilified by the New York press and many Yankee fans because he, instead of Mickey Mantle, who finished the 1961 season with 54 home runs, broke Ruths hallowed record. Maris was a multiple-winner of the American League MVP Award, and was considered one of the finest defensive outfielders of his day, yet he never received the proper adulation for setting this record. Here is the clip of this historic hone run, as called by Red Barber and Mel Allen on WPIX-TV in New York. Also, below is the game story from that day published by the New York Times. Maris Hits 61st in Final Game Yank First to Exceed 60 Home Runs in Major Leagues By JON DREB Roger Maris yesterday became the first major league player in history to hit more than sixty home runs in a season. The 27-year-old Yankee outfielder hit his sixty-first at the Stadium before a roaring crowd of 23,154 in the Bombers final game of the regular campaign. That surpassed by one the sixty that Babe Ruth hit in 1927. Ruths mark has stood in the record book for thirty-four years. Artistically enough, Maris homer also produced the only run of the game as Ralph Houks 1961 American League champions defeated the Red Sox, 1 to 0, in their final tune-up for the world series, which opens at the Stadium on Wednesday. Maris hit his fourth-inning homer in his second time at bat. The victim of the blow was Tracy Stallard, a 24-year-old Boston rookie right-hander. Stallards name, perhaps, will in time gain as much renown as that of Tom Zachary, who delivered the pitch that Ruth slammed into the Stadiums right-field bleachers from No. 60 on the next to the last day of the 1927 season. Along with Stallard, still another name was bandied about at the Stadium after Maris drive. Sal Durante, a 19-year-old truck driver from Coney Island, was the fellow who caught the ball as it dropped into the lower right-field stand, some ten rows back and about ten feet to the right of the Yankee bull pen. For this achievement the young man won a $5000 award and a round trip to Sacramento, Calif. offered by a Sacramento restaurant proprietor, as well as a round trip to the 1962 Worlds Fair in Seattle. Maris was fooled by Stallard on an outside pitch that he stroked to left field for an out in the first inning. He let two pitches go by when he came to bat in the fourth with one out and the bases empty. The first one was high and outside. The second one was low and appeared to be inside. Waist-High Fast Ball The crowd, interested in only one thing, a home run, greeted both pitches with a chorus of boos. Then came the moment for which fans from coast to coast had been waiting since last Tuesday night, when Maris hit his sixtieth. Stallards next pitch was a fast ball that appeared to be about waist high and right down the middle. In a flash, Rogers rhythmic swing, long the envy of left-handed pull hitters, connected with the ball. Almost at once, the crowd sensed that this was it. An earsplitting roar went up as Maris, standing spellbound for just an instant at the plate, started his triumphant jog around the bases. As he came down the third-base line, he shook hands joyously with a young fan who had rushed onto the field to congratulate him. Crossing the plate and arriving at the Yankee dugout, he was met by a solid phalanx of team- mates. This time they made certain the modest country lad from Raytown, Mo., acknowledged the crowds plaudits. He had been reluctant to do so when he hit No. 60, but this time the Yankee players wouldnt let Roger come down the dugout steps. Smiling broadly, the usually unemotional player lifted his cap from his blond closecropped thatch and waved it to the cheering fans. Not until he had taken four bows did his colleagues allow him to retire to the bench. Ruths record, of course, will not be erased. On July 17, Commissioner Ford C. Frick ruled that Ruths record would stand unless bettered within a 154-game limit, since that was the schedule in 1927. Maris his fifty-nine homers in the Yanks first 154 games to a decision. He hit his sixtieth four games later. However, Maris will go into the record book as having hit the sixty-first in a 162-game schedule. Maris finished the season with 590 official times at bat. Ruth, in 1927, had 540 official times at bat. Their total appearances at the plate, however, were nearly identical--698 for Maris and 692 for Ruth. According to the official baseball rules, a batter is not charged with an official time at bat when he hits a sacrifice bunt or sacrifice fly, is awarded first base on four called balls, is hit by a pitched ball or is awarded first base because of interference or obstruction. Though it had taken 162 games (actually, 163, since the Yankees played one tie), a player finally had risen from the ranks to pass Ruths majestic record. Maris himself missed only two of these games, although he sat out a third without coming to bat, when, after playing the first inning in the field, he was bothered by something in his eye. For thirty-four years the greatest sluggers in baseball had striven to match Ruths mark. Mickey Mantle fought Maris heroically through most of the season, but in the closing weeks he fell victim to a virus attack and his total stopped at fifty-four. The two who came closest in the past were Jimmy Foxx and Hank Greenberg. In 1932, Foxx hit fifty-eight. In 1938, Greenberg matched that figure. Indeed, Greenberg had the best chance of all to crack the record. When he hit No. 58, he still had five games to play in a 154-game schedule. When Stallard came to bat in the fifth the fans, who earlier had booed him when it seemed he might walk Maris, now generously applauded the hurler. In the sixth, Maris, coming up for the third time, tried mightily to oblige the crowd with another home run. This time, however, Stallard struck him out on a 3-and-2 pitch. With the Boston right-hander then stepping out for a pinch hitter, Chet Nichols, an experienced 30-year-old left-hander, opposed Maris on his last turn at bat in the eighth. Roger ended the inning with a pop fly that the second baseman, Chuck Schilling, caught for the third out. Apart from Maris, the Yankee hitters did not overly distinguish themselves, but Manager Ralph Houk saw enough to satisfy him. Superlative pitching made the biggest home run of 1961 stand up to the end. Bill Stafford, who is to pitch in the third game of the series against the Reds, hurled the first six innings and allowed only two hits, both by Russ Nixon. The first was a single, the second a triple. Hal Reniff then retired three Red Sox in the seventh and Luis Arroyo held them to one single in the last two innings. 31 Homers on the Road A breakdown of Maris home runs this year shows that he hit thirty-one on the road. The one he hit Sunday was his forty-ninth off a right-hander. Mantle hit thirty of his fifty-four homers on the road. Mickey connected forty-two times off right-handers. Maris won the American League runs-batted-in championship with his sixty-first homer. That run brought his total to 142, one more than Jim Gentile of the Baltimore Orioles finished with. Schilling, playing his first year in the majors, set an American League record today when he finished the season with only eight errors. He had 400 putouts and 452 assists. The major league mark for second basemen--seven--is held by Jackie Robinson of the old Brooklyn Dodgers. The best previous low in the American League was nine, a mark shared by Bobby Doerr of the Red Sox and Nellie Fox of the White Sox. Dr. Sidney Gaynors report to Houk on Mantle virtually assured the Switchers appearance in the Yankee line-up for the series opener. According to the Yankee physician, Mickey will be released early today from Lenox Hill Hospital where he underwent minor surgery for an abscess on his right hip. If he feels spry enough, he may even dash up to the Stadium, don a uniform and engage in a light workout. In any case, hell surely work out tomorrow and, according to Houk, he definitely will be in center field on Wednesday. The Reds and Yankees will stage workouts today and tomorrow at the Stadium. The Yanks will take the field at 11 A. M., the Reds at 1:30 P. M. The Yanks closed the season with 109 victories, one short of their record in 1927. That year, of course, the Yanks played only 154-game schedule--as, by this time, every baseball fan in the country must know. The crowd gave the Yanks a home attendance total of 1,747,726, their best at the Stadium since 1951 when they reached 1,950,107. On the road, the Yanks set a major league mark of 1,946,292.
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 09:40:57 +0000
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