Roger Maris

Roger Eugene Maris ( born September 10, 1934 in Hibbing, Minnesota, † December 14, 1985 in Houston, Texas, USA) was an American baseball player. He played for the Cleveland Indians (1957 /58), the Kansas City Athletics (1958 /59), the New York Yankees ( 1960-66 ) and the St. Louis Cardinals (1967 /68). He played seven times in the final of the MLB World Series (1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1967, 1968), and won it three times ( 1961.1962 and 1967). He hit 275 home runs in his career.

Roger Maris was famous for his single -season 61 home runs in 1961, he surpassed the old record of this Babe Ruth with 60 home runs from 1927 and was awarded the Sportsman of the Year Award from the Associated Press. Maris competed doing very with his teammate Mickey Mantle, who, though probably the better overall player, never reach this number of home runs in a season due to injuries could. For contemporaries, 1961 was important that Maris benefited by the increase in the Major League Baseball by an increase in the total number of cycles compared to Ruth. Ruth had in 154 games opportunity for Home Run, Maris in 162 games. In the 154th Season Maris scored his 59th home run, so that Ruth's record in the view of purists remained untouched.

Only in 1998 surpassed Mark McGwire with 62 of his total of 70 single -season home runs Maris ' record. About this new record ( and the other by Barry Bonds ) course is a shadow, probably because performance-enhancing drugs (steroids) may be partly responsible for these records.

Roger Maris ' jersey number # 9 is no longer awarded for players of the New York Yankees. His jersey was hung on July 21, 1984 in a ceremony at Yankee Stadium.

Maris is one of the few record holder in baseball, which was not included in the Baseball Hall of Fame; a decision that causes lack of understanding among many fans. Maris died of cancer and is buried in his hometown of Fargo, North Dakota. The City of Fargo has named a street after him, among others, and a Roger Maris Museum established.

The story of Roger Maris ' 61 home runs was * filmed in 2001 in the TV movie 61 by Billy Crystal on a script by Hank Steinberg. Roger Maris was played by Barry Pepper.