Roger Maris
From BR Bullpen
Roger Eugene Maris born Roger Eugene Maras
- Bats Left, Throws Right
- Height 6' 0", Weight 204 lb.
- Debut April 16, 1957
- Final Game September 29, 1968
- Born September 10, 1934 in Hibbing, MN USA
- Died December 14, 1985 in Houston, TX USA
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[edit] Biographical Information
[edit] Introduction
"As a ballplayer, I would be delighted to do it again. As an individual, I doubt if I could possibly go through it again." - Roger Maris, about his 61-home-run season
Roger Maris is the player with the highest single-season total for home runs among players never suspected or accused of using steroids.
A small-town boy born in Hibbing, MN under the name Roger Maras, he grew up in Fargo, ND (he changed his name while in the minor leagues because of the fans' tendency to call him "Mare-Ass"). His small-town background probably made it even more difficult to handle the publicity, pressure, and criticism engendered by hitting 61 home runs in a season in The Big Apple.
[edit] Jim Bouton's assessment
According to Jim Bouton in Ball Four, "Rodg always went to first base as though he had sore feet. If he didn't hit a home run it didn't matter, of course. But every time he popped up or hit a routine grounder, it would take him a half-hour to get to first base - if he got there at all. He'd often just peel off halfway down and head for the dugout."
He was an underrated ball player who possessed winning intangibles that were difficult to measure.
Jim Bouton's assessment was written in 1969; they were teammates from 1962 to 1966. In reality, Roger Maris was a solid and sometimes spectacular player for the Yankees.
[edit] Career through 1960
While Maris was playing for the Tulsa Oilers in 1955, manager Dutch Meyer kicked him off the team. Maris was hitting .233 at the time. However, that was not typical of his minor league apprenticeship: he was a top-ranked prospect, labelled by almost everyone who saw him play as "can't miss". In four years in the Cleveland Indians farm system, he led teams in Keokuk, Reading, Fargo-Moorhead and Indianapolis to the playoffs from 1953 to 1956, the latter two to league championships. Going into spring training in 1957, he was written up as one of baseball's top rookie outfielders, combining speed, power, a high batting average and excellent defense.
Maris impressed manager Kerby Farrell in spring training and broke into the major leagues with the Indians in 1957 where he hit .233 in 116 games. However, those statistics are misleading: on Opening Day, April 16, he went 3 for 5 off Billy Pierce of the Chicago White Sox then hit the first home run of his career two days later off Jack Crimian of the Detroit Tigers on his way to hitting safely in his first nine games. Things began to go sour when he broke two ribs trying to break up a double play on May 10 against the Kansas City Athletics; he was hitting .315 at the time, but slipped to .258 by June 1. He then went on the disabled list in late June after fouling a pitch off his right instep. He was still hitting .271 as of July 17 when he went into a slump that lasted until the end of the season, leaving him with unimpressive numbers overall. After the season, both General Manager Hank Greenberg and Farrell were fired, and their replacements, Frank Lane and Bobby Bragan, had no particular stock invested in the young outfielder.
Maris began the 1958 season hitting well; he was at .280 with 3 home runs when he pulled a muscle in his lower back in early May. Bragan thought that Maris was exaggerating his discomfort and labelled him a malingerer, after which he only played sporadically. He did not help his case by being well-known as a brooding player, who would constantly rehash in his head the things that were going wrong. By June 15, he was hitting .225 with 9 home runs and 27 RBI when he was included in one of Lane's innumerable trades. He was packaged with infielder Preston Ward and pitcher Dick Tomanek to the Athletics in return for infielder Vic Power and utility player Woodie Held. Even at the time, the trade was speculated to be only a way-stop on the road to the New York Yankees: on June 18, Eugene Fitzgerald wrote in the Fargo Forum that "It is no secret that the Yankees would like to have Maris. His transfer to Kansas City may delay his arrival at Yankee Stadium. Whether the charges are true or not that Kansas City is a [major-league] farm club for the Yankees, it must be recognized that Maris has a better chance now to join the Yankees than he had while in the employ of the Cleveland club". Fitzgerald's words would turn out to be prophetic: he played a season and a half for Kansas City, batting .247 with 19 home runs in 99 in the remainder of the 1958 season and hit a solid .273 with 21 doubles, 16 home runs and 72 RBI in 122 games in 1959. Now ready for the big stage, he was traded to the Yankees on December 11, 1959, along with Joe DeMaestri and Kent Hadley for veterans Don Larsen and Hank Bauer and unproven youngsters Norm Siebern and Marv Throneberry. It was a trade typical of a time when the Yankees seemed to send all their washed up veterans and a few promising youngsters in need of playing time to Kansas City, in return for young players like Maris who had just established themselves as legitimate major leaguers and would emerge as full-fledged stars while wearing pinstripes.
When Maris joined the Yankees, he had already had some accomplishments, such as finishing 7th in the American League in runs and home runs in 1958, and being named as the A's representative to the second All-Star Game played in 1959. He played in the Cleveland outfield with Rocky Colavito, who was one year older than him, for 1 ½ years. When Maris was traded to Kansas City, he played in the outfield with slugger Bob Cerv, who later spent parts of 1960, 1961, and 1962 with the Yankees as Maris's teammate.
[edit] A Superstar with the New York Yankees
In the brouhaha about Maris's 61-homer season, it is often forgotten that he was an MVP prior to that. In 1960 he won the American League MVP award, defeating teammate Mickey Mantle for the award by a scant few points. His year in 1960 was approximately as good as his 1961 season; for instance, in 1960 he led the league in slugging percentage, while in 1961, even with 61 home runs, he was only 4th in that category. He led the league in RBI both seasons. He was second in the league in OPS+ in 1960, but only fourth in 1961. He won a Gold Glove in 1960 but not in 1961. However, he won the MVP award again in 1961 as a result of his record-breaking home run total.
Maris was a power hitter and in 1961 was locked in a season-long battle with teammate Mickey Mantle to achieve the single-season home run record, breaking the record of 60 set by Babe Ruth in 1927. The Commissioner of Baseball in 1961, Ford C. Frick, who was a friend of the Babe, decreed that the single-season home run record had to be set in 154 games or less, which was the length of the season that Ruth had set it in. In 1961, as a result of expansion, the American League season was 162 games. Maris set the record of 61 home runs on the last day of the season, hitting a shot into the right field seats at Yankee Stadium off Tracy Stallard of the Boston Red Sox. A famous asterisk was placed on the record, but to many a fan's eyes, the achievement was valid and quite prolific. Not until the 1990s did anyone even come close to breaking it again.
The treatment of Maris by the New York press in 1961 did much to smudge his image as a player. They focused on the record, he focused on winning and he was a private person, not a good mix. Yet, he was considered a great teammate, and a good family man as well. He was blessed with a superlative arm and played the tricky right field corner at the pre-1976 renovation Yankee Stadium as well as any Yankee in history. He was as good a clutch hitter as the Yankees ever had, and with Mantle represented a one-two punch that rivaled even the Murderer's Row of the 1927 Yankees. The 1961 team hit 240 home runs, which was a record that also stood for many seasons.
[edit] Career from 1962 to 1966
Maris was with the Yankees from 1960 through 1966; during that time, the team went to five World Series and won two of them. His play in the ninth inning of the 1962 Series against the San Francisco Giants, when he made a throw from right field to hold Matty Alou at third base, is considered the play that saved the World Series for the Yankees.
In 1963, he hit 23 home runs in only 90 games, which works out to 41 home runs per 162 games.
In 1965 when the entire Yankee team began to age almost at once, Maris sustained a wrist injury. For two seasons he insisted the injury was real, and the Yankees contended it was not. These were the Yankees that were owned by CBS, not by George Steinbrenner, who would have gotten the best medical treatment available for a player of Maris's caliber. The injury sapped his power and strength and rendered him a very average hitter. As such, the press considered Maris to be lazy and a malcontent, none of which was true, and he was really hurt. As an injured player and with all of the negative public treatment he received, Maris lost the edge he had as a winning player and at times, it appeared that he was "dogging" it, which was totally untrue.
[edit] His years with the Cardinals
The Yankees traded Roger after the 1966 season to the St. Louis Cardinals for Charley Smith a journeyman third baseman. Maris helped the Cardinals get to two World Series, one of which they won in 1967 against the Red Sox. Many players from that Cardinal team have said continuously over the years that the presence of Maris on that team brought an awareness to winning and dedicating themselves to having the right work ethic and attitude. Hardly the kind of endorsement one would get if he were a slacker.
Maris hit .385 in the 1967 World Series, hitting third in the lineup behind Lou Brock and Curt Flood, and ahead of Orlando Cepeda. He returned to the Series one last time in 1968 against the Detroit Tigers but only went 3 for 19 (.158) with a double and one RBI. These were his last games as a player.
[edit] Career analysis
Roger Maris was a solid player who helped his team win by doing the little things right and being a team player. While his numbers are not good enough for the Hall of Fame, his 61 homers stand as one of the greatest seasons by a power hitter in the history of baseball. 100 of his career total 275 home runs were hit in just two years of his career, 1960 and 1961. Roger's career was often beset with injuries.
One of the most similar players to Maris, using the similarity scores method, is an interesting one, Eric Davis. Although few fans would come up with Davis as a match for Maris, they both had incredible talent that couldn't quite last for enough seasons to get into the Hall of Fame.
[edit] Notable Achievements
- 4-time AL All-Star (1959-1962)
- 2-time AL MVP (1960 & 1961)
- AL Gold Glove Winner (1960/RF)
- AL Slugging Percentage Leader (1960)
- AL Runs Scored Leader (1961)
- AL Total Bases Leader (1961)
- AL Home Runs Leader (1961)
- 2-time AL RBI Leader (1960 & 1961)
- 20-Home Run Seasons: 6 (1958 & 1960-1964)
- 30-Home Run Seasons: 3 (1960-1962)
- 40-Home Run Seasons: 1 (1961)
- 50-Home Run Seasons: 1 (1961)
- 60-Home Run Seasons: 1 (1961)
- 100 RBI Seasons: 3 (1960-1962)
- 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 1 (1961)
- Won three World Series with the New York Yankees (1961 & 1962) and the St. Louis Cardinals (1967)
| AL MVP | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | 1960 | 1961 |
| Nellie Fox | Roger Maris | Roger Maris |
| 1960 | 1961 | 1962 |
| Roger Maris | Roger Maris | Mickey Mantle |
[edit] Further Reading
- Daniel Dullum: "Roger Maris and the Indians", in Brad Sullivan, ed.: Batting Four Thousand: Baseball in the Western Reserve, SABR, Cleveland, OH, 2008, pp. 31-33.
