DECEMBER 14, 1985 | HOUSTON, TEXAS – The Man who broke Babe Ruth’s single season home run record died of lymphatic cancer on this date in 1985. Roger Maris was just 51 years old.
Maris and New York Yankee teammate Mickey Mantle gave most baseball fans one of the most exciting summers in baseball history in 1961 as they both chased Babe Ruth’s record of 60 home runs in a season.
But as Jerome Holtzman wrote in the Chicago Tribune, “His heroic accomplishment, which began as a dream, turned into a nightmare” because Maris was going against a popular teammate, and the memory of the charismatic Ruth.
Even baseball commissioner Ford Frick, a sportswriter during Ruth’s playing career, appeared to minimize Roger Maris’ feat because it was done during a 162-game schedule, whereas the schedule was 154 games when Ruth set the record in 1927. Frick wanted there to be an asterisk next to Maris’ name in the record books because of that.
Maris later pointed out that that he’d had four few at-bats than Ruth when he hit his 61st home run.
CONTRIBUTING SOURCE:
Jerome Holtzman, “Maris dies, a star with an asterisk,” Chicago Tribune, Dec 15, 1985
Baseball-Reference.com
