The Mistreatment of Roger Maris

Roger Maris was a no-nonsense kind of guy. Recruited to play football at Oklahoma for the legendary Bud Wilkerson, Roger Maris arrived in Norman and finding no one there to greet him, turned around and left. During his record breaking season of 1961, when he hit 61 home runs to eclipse Babe Ruth's mark, Roger Maris was asked by a sportswriter why he had bunted during a contest. "I was trying to win the game, you stupid $#@*&", came his reply. Roger Maris suffered greatly from the media's portrayal of him, so much so that at an All-Star Game before his death he said of his run to the record 61 round trippers, "They acted as though I was doing something wrong, poisoning the record books or something. Do you know what I have to show for 61 home runs? Nothing. Exactly nothing!"

Roger Maris was born in Hibbing, Minnesota on September 10th, 1934. His family moved to North Dakota when Maris was eight, and they lived in Fargo. Roger Maris was a standout in high school, especially on the football field where he once returned four kickoffs for touchdowns in one tilt to achieve national recognition. He played American Legion baseball because the long Dakota winters would not allow for a baseball season in high school. Maris led his squad to a state title before embarking on a career in the professional ranks after his brush with Oklahoma football. Roger played for four seasons in the minors before he was called up to the Indians in 1957, where at the age of 22 the lefty hit 14 homers with 51 runs batted in. He was traded to the lowly A's in 1958; combining his stay with both teams Maris had 28 homers and 80 runs knocked in.