The M&M Boys: A Profile in Civility

Growing up I was an avid Yankee fan and Mickey Mantle was my hero. I wore his humber and played center field and dreamed of following in his footsteps. Needless to say I did not make it. Later in life I read about his personal life where he admitted to excessive alcohol use, being unfaithful to his wife and not being a good father. My hero was tarnished. As far as Ruth's record is concerned, Maris did not break it. It is like saying that the 100 yard dash record is broken when someone runs 90 yards in less time. 162 is not 154. At the same time all records in all sports are tarnished because the nature of the games change. Still Maris got a bum rap because he was not the image of what a hero should be.

My father was dying of cancer but insisted on taking me to my first baseball game at Comiskey Park in Chicago on July 15, 1961. Roger hit his 35th home run that day and threw out Luis Aparicio attempting to score on a sac fly in the bottom of the 9th inning. He dominated the game on offense and defense. His home run was a typical Maris shot, a line drive that hit the upper deck in right field and appeared to be still rising when it landed...massive! By the way, the Yankees won 9-8 in 10 innings.

How can Roger Maris not be in the Hall of Fame? This makes no sense at all.

(I saw them both a long time ago, and in another country.)

I was 9 years old in 1961 , living in New York and it was my first year of really getting hooked on the game and becoming a Yankee fan. I picked an awesome year to become a die hard Yankee fan. It turned out to be one of the great Yankee teams with the home run record chase serving as backdrop. First ever baseball game was Whitey Ford Day, Maris hit #56 and the Yankees rallied from 3 down in the 9th to win! I do remember how the press - and the fans - really rode Maris hard., and being a 9 year old child I simply could not understand the resentment.
I happened to be at a Met game in 1967, which was Maris's first year with the Cardinals after the Yankees traded him there. In typical Maris fashion, he gave all chasing a foul ball and get hurt pretty bad when he ran into the wall in a vain attempt to get the out. He was LOUDLY booed as he was helped off the field and still vividly remember the moment. Brutal

I was 14 and living in northern Delaware. Since the Phillies were one of the worst teams in history, I was a die-hard Yankee fan. Every year my father's boss, who lived and worked in Baltimore, would treat us to an Orioles ballgame (probably instead go giving Dad a raise). I always chose a game against my beloved Yankees. In every game I had ever seen live, going back to 1957, Mantle struck out several times and never got a hit. In the 1961 game Maris, whom I was pulling for, didn't hit any homers, but he just missed 4. He hit 3 screamers that hugged the right- field line, before hooking foul in the last 10 feet, but had the distance. He straightened out the last one, but the right fielder caught it with his back to the wall. I am glad Mark McGwire honored Maris's family when he finally broke Maris's record--one that incidentally lasted longer than the Babe's.

Then CORRECT another wrong to Maris and reinstate him as the all time regular season HR holder!
A great family man who wanted to harm nobody only to get harmed by NY fans and baseball fans in general- Unfortunately thats the way it was then. in todays game records are embraced by fans and media alike.
Back then it was the protection of what many held sacred-Babe Ruth-Though if Mantle had broke it-it would have been a lovefest.
Poor Roger deserved better and thanks to the St Louis Cardinals and their fans for giving him 2 of the most peaceful years of his baseball career!

It was so wonderful to see them together. I am too young to remember this but I am from the Bronx and I was a child then. So sad that both died young, but we have a memory of their character.

Maris hit no home runs in the Yankees' first 10 games in 1961. So he hit his 61 homers in less than 154 consecutive games -- just not the first 154.

Many say 1961 was a fluke, but Roger Maris hit 39 homers and was the MVP for the Yankees in 1960. Besides holding the single-season home run record for 37 years, Maris hit 275 career home runs. His fine defensive skills were often overlooked although he won the Gold Glove Award for outstanding defensive player. Despite his extraordinary contributions to the game of baseball, it is a true shame Roger Maris has never been elected to The Baseball Hall of Fame.

The unlikely friendship of Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle inspired me to write THE M&M BOYS, a fictionalized account of the summer of *61 when the two baseball heroes lived together in Queens as they competed to break the Babe's home run record. The book is available on Amazon.com.

I was eleven and, to be honest, I don't remember rooting for one over the other. Had (somehow) the competition taken place a half-dozen years earlier, I'd have been cussing a blue streak, as I'm from Brooklyn & the Dodgers were still tops in my book. In 1961, though, I was just tickled to death that there were two Yankees en route to breaking Ruth's record. Everybody adored the Mick - that's true - but all I cared about was "keeping it in the family." Thank you, Mr. Beschloss; you, and Phil Pepe & Billy Crystal have kept this "great race" alive for me and for countless other fans.

It's a shame that Roger Maris isn't in the Hall of Fame. His 1961 season was a landmark achievement.
Thanks for this profile on the friendship between Maris and Mickey. That really is a wonderful photo of the two of them.

I remember that season well.
Would have been nice if Mantle had stayed healthy and also broken the record.
Roger Maris should be in the Hall of Fame.

I was 10 years old that summer, and I remember all of it. I was pulling for The Mick, but toward the end of the season my friends and I knew Mickey was going to come up short. Then we pulled for Roger. He broke that record honestly, and as far as I'm concerned Roger Maris still holds the single-season home run record at 61. It's not even arguable in my record book.

First-things-first: Thanks to Mr. Beschloss for another good History Source essay.

Wrt the Ruth-Maris comparison, some basic arithmetic may be helpful:

Maris averaged 2.64 games/homer in 1961 (nearest 0.01) whereas Ruth averaged 2.57 games/homer in 1927.

However, Ruth averaged 11.52 plate-appearances/homer in 1927 whereas Maris averaged 11.44 plate-appearances/homer in 1961.

But, however, Maris averaged 9.67 at-bats/homer in 1961 whereas Ruth averaged 9.00 at-bats/homer in 1927.

[Perhaps someone will add their homers/PAs/ABs in the 1927 and 1961 World Series to these stats to see if there's a clearer difference...]

HTH;^)

PS: Thanks to The Times for the article by Mr. Schonbrun on Saturday's semifinal games in the NCAA men's lacrosse Final Four, a pair of games that were thrilling. (Looking forward to Monday's National Championship Game and Mr. S's article on it on Tuesday, even though I'm a longtime SU follower, which lost its quarterfinal game, 16-15, despite a memorable last-minute comeback. (Syracuse was down 16-12 with one minute to play.))

I still recall listening to game 154 on the radio. The Yanks were in Baltimore, a night game. I had two radios going in my room (I was 11; 7th grade) as I listened while doing my homework. One radio had the game on, the other an AM rock & roll station where the DJ played Gene McDaniels' "Tower of Strength" each time Maris came to the plate that night. Maris hit one home run early in the game...when he came to the plate for his last at bat late in the game against Hoyt Wilhelm I put on my baseball uniform, got my bat, and stood in the middle of the room taking swings as each pitch came in. Even as an 11 year old kid I knew that he would have trouble with Wilhelm's famous knuckleball. Maris tried to check his swing, but rolled a dribbler out to Wilhelm on the mound and was thrown out...But I connected and actually tied Ruth's record within the 154 game rule. Little known fact. No asterisk.

I remember the year very well. As a confirmed Yankee hater, I chose to root for Maris against Mantle. I am glad to know that after all Maris and Mantle were gentlemen, even if the baseball management and sportswriters were not.

Frick might have put the asterik next to Ruth's record, it having been achieved against white's only pitching.

What a great picture of Mantle and Maris, taken coincidentally on my 10th birthday, by which time I was a slightly seasoned Yankee fan. i loved Mantle, for all the reasons everyone loved Mantle, but I also loved Maris, because...he was a Yankee and he was having a magnificent year for a brilliant, perfectly crafted team that hit 240 homers in total. (I didn't care where Maris had played before.) Will we ever see two players on the same team chase a record like this simultaneously again? Probably not.

I was thirteen years old living about 40 miles from Yankee Stadium in New Jersey. I had learned how to cut school and board the bus going to NYC for only a dollar, and took advantage of the fact nobody was calling my home to find out why I was not appearing to school (whenever the Yanks were playing at home, during the showdown that was taking place between Mick and Roger. I loved them both, but it was true that Mantle had more of the Yankee hero status like Gherig, Ruth and Berra. I was able to see Roger hit # 58, 59 and 60 but misseed the big 61.....but I was there none the less in spirit. It was a heady time for baseball and Yankee lovers.

For no apparent reason, as a 9 year old I rooted for Roger Maris. It was a source of amusement and scorn from the rest of my family and Yankee world: all Mantle devotees. Everyday I'd hear about my heroes' low batting average, he wasn't as fast as Mickey, etc. That he had been the MVP the prior year didn't matter. I didn't root against Mickey, I just worshiped Roger. His background, his haircut, his quietness had no relationship to a 9 year old loud kid from Queens. But, it was true adoration. I can picture where I saw the half swing on the 154th game when he was "stuck" at 59. Of course, #60 and #61 are vivid memories. The wait from 59 to 60 I came to believe was harder on me than him! I recall being horrified how few people were there when he hit 61. The Stadium would have been filled had it been Mickey. How disrespectful of true greatness.
The news of his trade to the Cardinals was devastating. I rooted for the Cardinals for those years and couldn't bear hearing the name Charlie Smith, the Yankees new infielder. The Cardinals success, and the Yankees abject failure those years, provided some solace. It took me 10 years to come back to the Yankees. The team had broken my heart.
During the McGuire chase of 61 I was reassured by the dignity of the Maris family, As a middle aged man I wanted to reach out and tell them I loved their father and husband. Your article, some of which I knew and some of which are new to me, brought me joy and was life affirming. Thank you.

Mr. Beschloss,
Your article was truly remarkable. At 69 in the late autumn of my life, it took me back to a different time and place. It makes me want to go back in time through reading those books you cite on Maris and Mantle. Keep up the great work!

Excellent article--Sitting in a safe deposit box is a baseball signed by Mickey and Roger--Haven't been able to part with it. Thanks for the sharing the back story.

the asterisk after Roger Maris' achievement should remain but the notation should change to " hit 61 home runs without taking steroids or other enhancing substances."

Maris broke baseball's most famous record and won the American League MVP two years in a row. He definitely should be in the Hall of Fame.

A very nice story. The fact that a prominent historian is setting the record straight about Maris is appropriate. As was the film produced by Billy Crystal. As was Mark McGuire acknowledging Maris' family when he broke the record.

I have to think Roger is resting well.

This story also redeems Mantle. Mickey apologized several times. It's good to see some kind words.

My father and I (8 years old at the time) were at the game when he hit #61. Somewhere in my attic is the ticket stub. A treasured memory we shared often until he passed away 15 years ago.

A lot of memories of my first visit to the stadium in '62 include Maris' catch of a fly ball against the fence in right and then throwing a perfect strike to Berra at the plate to nail Aparicio trying to score from third on the sac fly.
What an arm and what a fielder Roger was.
His 61 homers the year before was his lock for entry into the Hall of Fame.
The fact that he is not in is a shame.

To Times Readers:

Like other commentators here, my father took me to Yankee Stadium that summer of 1961. We would always sit in the right field seats, hoping for a home run ball. Maris would be playing the outfield maybe 30 or 40 feet from where we sat.

My dad was a WWII veteran and American Legion member. Our entourage to the Stadium would include a couple of his Legion buddies and me, the kid. He'd try to balance the guest list between Yankee fans and Yankee-haters. Of course the haters hated no Yankee more than Maris.

One of my dad's buddies tried to pace himself to one beer per inning. Remember, these were the days of single admission Sunday double headers. Maris would mostly play both games, and by the second game this Yankee-hater would be very vocal against Maris. Even at 11 years old, I remember telling him to drink his beer and sit down.

I was not named after Roger Maris, but I did identify with him and his solid work ethic. And he won wherever he went. Shame on the HOF for not honoring him. He's still the home run record holder.

Submitted by ROGER LATZGO www.rogerlatzgo.com Germansville PA

Thank you for a wonderful article. In 1961 I was 7 years old and it is the first baseball season that I can remember at all. I remember going to see a movie called 'Safe at Home' around that time with my parents which starred Roger and Mickey. Mickey Mantle was my childhood hero, but I also rooted for Roger. The sports press was cruel to the man.

The Mick and his legend may have turned out to have feet of clay, but his heart was as big and generous as anyone's

Of all the records that baseball keeps track of only the home runs per season was required to have a distinctive mark in the books after the season increased to 162 games. Frick was clearly a jerk and an embarrassment to baseball.

The M and M boys were a thing of beauty that has yet to reappear. The media and a large percentage of fans again had it all wrong and now offer this mea culpa. The present matters as the past is but nostalgia rewritten to sooth the wronged.

This pic. of the M&M Boys immediately went on my Laptop background. Oh, for those two guys to be young again (myself included) and swatting balls out of the old Yankee Stadium.

Yes...those were the good old days...gentlemen in public, drugs and money did not ruin the game, baseball was integrated. It was truly the golden age of baseball.

However, it wasn't perfect. Mantle was an ugly drunk in private and a wife abuser. Many players had drinking problems. The south did not accept blacks in basement.

Nevertheless pre 1947, the ugly stain of racism tarnished the game and post 1980 ish drugs and money ruined the game, so one could say from 1947-1980 was the golden age.

Growing up in the far-orbit of Yankee Stadium in the late '50s and early '60s, when it wasn't difficult to root for the Bronx Bombers at all, I was gung-ho for Mantle to beat Maris for the new home run crown, "asterisk" or not, and keep it in the "real" Yankee family. It was only years later, when I had the opportunity to observe Maris go into an early career twilight with dignity and class, that I realized how much I, and others, had underestimated the man. The Mick was my boyhood hero (tied for that honor with Yogi Berra), but as I entered adulthood I came to understand that the true hero of that '61 season was Roger Maris. Thanks for an excellent column, Mr. Beschloss.

Oh, my! This is taking me back. Roger and Mickey were who this 10-year old girl was in love with! I didn't care about TV and movie stars. I loved baseball and baseball players. I cut out stories and pictures from papers and magazines, made scrapbooks, listened to games on radio, and watched one on TV every weekend, Saturday afternoon, if I remember correctly. The Cardinals and Yankees were my favorite teams. The good old days. I take my granddaughters to watch the Cardinals now, and we also go to AAA Memphis Redbirds games.
Maris and Mantle hitting home runs and smiling to the fans are very good memories.

You should see my scrapbook from the 1961 season. I have clippings from game 1 for many (not all) of the home runs the M&M boys hit that season. It was a glorious time to be a boy in the Bronx.

I was at a Phila.Eagles home game when ,during a time out , the stadium announcer was heard to say," On this day ,the last of the 1961 baseball season ,
Roger Maris has hit his 61st home run." The sold out Franklin field crowd rose as one to give him a standing ovation.

As usual Michael B leaves a reader with a smile. The 61 Yankees: the best team I ever saw! Drove to Cincinnati with my bro & friends for World Series.

Here on the Left Coast, we had our own M & M & M boys: Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Juan Marichal. (The Giants threw Mike McCormack just for grins.)
Mays ended up with 660 homers, all except about 12 with the Giants, McCovey ended up with 521, all except about 30 with the Giants and Marichal ended up with 276 wins and a lifetime ERA of 2.76 though never a Cy Young Award, not even in the season he went 26-8, cause Sandy Koufax was always just a bit better. (But they only gave one until the 1960s.)
Mays' highest total was 52 homers in 1965-his second MVP year. McCovey's best was in 1969, with 44, also his uniform number and he won MVP (along with Harmon Killibrew in the American League.)
Mays ended his career as a Met; McCovey on his second time around with the Giants and Marichal as an ugh...Dodger.
They are all fondly remembered for wearing the orange and Black.

Just as so many of us know Hank Aaron holds the true all-time career home run record (755) regardless of the 762 hit by juiced-up Barry, the same is true for Roger Maris holding the single-season HR record with 61. The only guys to have hit more than Roger are Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa--none of whom were clean when they did so.
Maris might have lacked the greatness "profile" that so many seemed to feel was necessary for anyone who displaced the Babe, but isn't that what helps make baseball such a great game? He was a very good player, a consummate professional. And look at photos of him at the time--a relatively lean, not big individual. A typical American guy. If he could do what he did ... well, any one of us can dream big.

My only disappointment when Maris hit # 61 off of Tracy Stallard, was that I could not get home in time to see it happen. There I was between the subway cars of the #2 train, as a boy of 10, transistor radio glued to my ear, informing the rest of the travelers with my scream that HE DID IT! I bet my father told that story at least 1000 times. Mantle and Maris were like Gods to me.

Don't forget another result of expansion, a weaker pitching. 20% of the pitchers should have been playing in the minor leagues.

billy crystal got it right

As a student in 8th Grade at Jr. H.S. No.4 in Trenton, N.J. in the offseason of 1960 into 1961 I predicted to everyone at the school that Roger Maris would beat Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs in a season in 1961. I based my prediction on the fact that he had hit 35 homers by the end of July in 1960. But he was then KO'd in a collision with Billy Gardner of Washington trying to break up a double play on August 7, and that injury limited him to 4 more homers the rest of the season. All he had to do was stay injury-free the next year. The 154-game edict issued by Commissioner Ford Frick on July 17 proved to be of no consequence, as it was overturned by the MLB Records Committee 30 years later. President Kennedy didn't think anything of Mr Frick's edict either. After Roger hit No.61 The President sent Maris a telegram congratulating him on setting a new home run record for a season. And he added the comment, "The American people will always admire someone who overcomes obstacles to achieve a worthy goal." This comment, from the author of "Profiles In Courage," in my mind made the entire 1961 season worthwhile for Roger Maris.

Greg, I want to remind you of the commish who died of a heart attack and preceded Selig whose name I am ashamed to admit I cannot conjur up. Had he lived he might have done a full unmaking of Rose for whast he is. Selig, not so much.

Mickey Mantle was correct in his statements about Maris at Maris' funeral. Maris was the all American hero and Mantle, my boyhood idol, learned his character lessons late in life. I was at Yankee Stadium on Opening Day when Maris made his first appearance at Yankee Stadium since he had been traded. He received the standing ovation that he was long overdue. I was glad that I was there to see it and to stand and cheer for the man that we had rooted against for no good reason.

The first game I ever attended was the day before Maris hit #61.
The Yankees won, 3-1, but no homers were hit that day.
Like most 7 year old kids, I wanted Mantle to get the record, and I've felt
a little guilty ever since about not liking Maris as much as he deserved.

When I grew up in the 1950's it was, for me, all about Mickey, Yogi and Whitey. When the Yankees got Maris all I could think was. having seen Maris many times before, that "Wow this guy should do great at the Stadium." Thank you George Weiss, Racist that you were. And he was great there and on the road also. having Mickey, Yogi, Skowron, Blanchard behind you in the line up meant seeing lots of great pitches. Bottom line he produced. It was also then that I learned to despise a columnist. Others followed over the years. Alcoholic Jimmy Cannon was the worst human in the media. As far as I was concerned. He seemed to take great pleasure in mocking Maris for even getting a hit. I remember Yogi saying to Cannon "What do you want him to do at bat, not try. You think Babe would like that?"

In 1960 and '61, when I was 6/7, my dad took me to one late-season game each year. The first was to see Ted Williams, but Williams got injured the day before. The second was to seem this home run race. Mantle and Maris both hit first inning home runs. We got stuck in traffic and didn't get into the park until the second inning. My son and I are big Oregon football fans. The biggest game we have attended was last year's championship game. Ohio State won by 20. Being a sports fan is mostly about pain.

Growing up in NY, all my friends, without exception, were Mickey Mantle fans. Roger Maris was my role model. He was a family man, an unselfish player who was a generous teammate and was much more than a guy who one year hit a bunch of home runs. He was direct and not a phony. It's been 55 years and I am happy to say that I picked the right guy. He's still my hero.

There were only 23,154 fans at Yankee Stadium when Maris broke the record. Maris received the Budweiser distributorship in central Florida as part of his contract when he was traded to the Cardinals. After he died, Anheuser-Busch tried to rescind the distributorship, defaming Maris for good measure, resulting in a defamation lawsuit by the family. Even in death Maris was disrespected.

And this lifetime Yankees fan who remembers that home run race says thank you Fay Vincent. He is the last commissioner of any major sport to put the sport first instead of the owners or money.

The home run race made It a great summer to be a young baseball fan...even in Cleveland.

I was a New Yorker and Yankee fan, transplanted to southern California by my parents in 1961. I followed the Maris and Mantle home run race from long distance. Every day the morning paper would carry the Yankee box score and I could see who had hit another home run. I rooted for Maris all the way. He played right field, and so did I in Little League. My father always said that Maris was a gentleman. And he was. When he set the home run record, nobody was happier than I was. In the age before steroids Maris was a great all around ball player.

A baseball friendship that survived petty differences and competition.
Just like A-Rod and the thin-skinned Mr. Jeter.