WHY I THINK ROGER MARIS SHOULD BE IN COOPERSTOWN

WHY I THINK ROGER MARIS SHOULD BE IN COOPERSTOWN

By- Damien

Roger Maris hit 61 homers in 1961 despite the worst abuse and heaviest pressure in baseball history. Fans sent hate mail and sportswriters wrote terrible things about him. The stress caused Maris’s hair to fall out. People thought that Mickey Mantle should’ve done it, not Maris, who had just joined the team. While Yankees fans threw cheers at Mantle, they threw soda cans and even chairs at Maris. Even so, Roger Maris was one of the game’s greatest sluggers, a complete player, and the ultimate workingman’s ballplayer. He always did what he was told by his manager, coming out every day to do his job. A lot of people only remember Maris for his home run record of 61 dingers in 1961, but there was a lot more to him than that. He won AL MVP awards in 1960 and 1961, hit 275 career home runs in twelve seasons, batted .255 in “The Year of the Pitcher” (1968), had 100 RBI’s for three straight years and led the AL twice in that span, and was the best defensive rightfielder of his time. He played in seven World Series, five of them with the Yankees. In 1964, when Mickey Mantle got hurt, Maris moved over to centerfield to help the Yankees win their fifth straight pennant. A lot of people think that Maris was no good for anything other than for hitting the longball. That’s not true at all. What those critical people don’t know was that Maris batted over .280 twice, hit well against good pitchers, won three fielding titles, and had a rocket of an arm in rightfield. Roger Maris started out his career with the Indians in 1957 with 14 homers and was traded to the Philadelphia Athletics in 1958. He came over to New York in 1960 and won the AL MVP Award in his first year with the Yanks with a .283 batting average, 39 homers and a league leading 112 RBI’s. He also won the Gold Glove award in rightfield that year. The next year he hit those 61 homers to go along with a .269 average. Interestingly, Maris struck out only 67 times that year, and was intentionally walked exactly zero times. The next year he hit 33 home runs and drove home 100 runs once again. Maris had an off year in 1963 (90 games but 23 homers and a .269 average) with a hand injury but came back in 1964 to hit .281 with 26 home runs. Maris slumped in his next two seasons and was traded to the Cardinals for the 1967 season. He helped them to win two pennants, including a World Series Championship in 1967, before retiring. Roger Maris defied incredible pressures and odds to have the career he had, but still, incredibly, hasn’t yet made the Hall of Fame. 

LIFETIME STATISTICS

Games career: 1,463 season high: 161 in 1961

At Bats career: 5,101 season high: 590 in 1961 and 1962

Hits career: 1,325 season high: 159 in 1961

Doubles career: 195 season high: 34 in 1962

Triples career: 42 season high: 7 in 1959, 1960 and 1967

Home Runs career: 275 season high: 61 in 1961 led AL: 61 in 1961

Runs career: 826 season high: 132 in 1961 led AL: 132 in 1961

Runs Batted In career: 850 season high: 141 in 1961 led AL: 112 in 1960, 141 in 1961

Stolen Bases career: 21 season high: 8 in 1967

Walks career: 652 season high: 94 in 1961

Strikeouts career: 733 season high: 85 in 1958

Batting Average career: .260 season high: .283 in 1960

On Base Percentage career: .345 season high: .372 in 1961

Slugging Percentage career: .476 season high: .620 in 1961 led AL: .581 in 1960

Total Bases career: 2,429 season high: 366 in 1961 led AL: 366 in 1961

Sacrifice Hits career: 12 season high: 3 in 1957

Fielding Percentage career: .982 season high: .996 in 1964 led AL RF: .989 in 1960, .995 in 1964 led NL RF: .991 in 1967

Double Plays career: 15 season high: 4 in 1958 and 1959 led AL RF: 4 in 1959

Putouts career: 2,649 season high: 316 in 1962

Assists career: 76 season high: 15 in 1958

DID YOU KNOW?

-batted lefthanded and threw righthanded 

-his number 9 is retired by the Yankees and is he honored with a plaque in Monument Park 

-was a seven time all-star and a three time World Series winner

-was the 1961 Major League Player of the Year

-led AL rightfielders in games in 1961 (150) 

-led the AL in extra-base hits in 1960 (64) and 1961 (81)

-went 3-for-5 on his Major League debut

-led the AL in home run percentage in 1960 and was second in 1961 to teammate Mickey Mantle, who hit 54 home runs that year (his 1961 mark is still the 16th highest mark of all time)

-batted as high as .385 in the 1967 World Series and homered in five different Series, including two in 1960 

-finished 25th in the AL MVP voting in 1964 

-also played 257 games in centerfield, 27 in leftfield, 121 as a pinch hitter, and three as a pinch runner 

-first career home run was a grand slam