He really didn't do anything following that great season." "But it's like after that, he was just an average ballplayer. I followed it closely and was pulling for him to break Babe Ruth's mark of 60," Brown said.
Brown admired the 61 homers but said little else made Maris stand out. Longtime Suns fan Steve Brown, who attends about a dozen games at the Baseball Grounds each year, followed Maris' career.
"He drove in over 100 runs just three times and had more than 40 home runs in only one season, 1961, when he broke the record." Mike Schmidt, he didn't have a particularly high on-base percentage. He didn't have a long career, he didn't hit for a high average and unlike some great players who didn't hit for average, i.e. It isn't just that his career performance did not merit the honor, though that is true. "Roger Maris does not deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. In fact, the gap between Mickey and Roger in those years was substantial. " Mantle not only tops him in 1960, but is considerably higher in 1961. "It can be argued that Maris wasn't even the best player in the league in either of his two MVP seasons," wrote Allan Barra of The Village Voice in New York.
Going through the pressure-packed '61 season, he kept the writers at a distance. More deserving than Maris? Many say yes, including some sports writers, a group Maris never warmed to. Mazeroski was inducted into the Hall in 2010, mainly because of his eight Gold Gloves and hitting the clinching homer in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series against the Yankees. 260 career hitter with 138 home runs in 17 seasons who never finished higher than eighth in MVP voting. The career numbers don't seem worthy of the Hall of Fame.īut others point to former Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski, a. 260 batting average, 275 homers, 1,325 hits, 851 RBI and an on-base percentage of. Why isn't Maris in the Hall of Fame? Most will say it's because - other than the 61-homer season in '61 and the 39 homers he hit the previous year, when he won the first of two consecutive MVP awards - Maris' numbers don't warrant Hall of Fame consideration. It's kind of like what Bobby Richardson said at Roger's funeral, 'He's in God's Hall of Fame. "But he wasn't someone who would ever say anything like that or talk like that. He really didn't get a lot of credit, even from the Yankees. He did do something nobody was able to do. "I think it's kind of sad that Roger wasn't appreciated the way he should have been. If it doesn't it doesn't," she told the Fargo Forum. Once again this year, Pat Maris won't be waiting by the phone for a call from the Hall of Fame committee with the news that her late husband was voted in. In Fargo, N.D., where Maris grew up and starred as a standout in football, basketball, baseball and track, the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks of the independent American Association honored Maris before a game June 25. Members of the Maris family are expected to attend. New York will honor him in a pregame ceremony on Sept. Others will pay tribute to Maris, including the Yankees. I hope we can create a little more interest in helping him get in by drawing attention to him with this plaque give-away." "I think it's a crying shame that he's not in. "I think that for Roger Maris to break that record, with all that pressure, is one of the most famous things in all of baseball and that he should definitely be in the Hall of Fame," Bragan said. "For somebody to do that in baseball back then when drugs weren't in baseball, that's a big accomplishment to hit that many home runs in a single season."Ĭount Suns president and general manager Peter Bragan Jr. "I'm young, and maybe it's different for people like my dad's age, but to me, for sure he deserves it," Montz said. Suns catcher Luke Montz believes Maris should be enshrined. We're not really doing anything out of the ordinary." "Dad never really wanted to promote it or promote himself. I'd say dad made a pretty good impact on baseball throughout his career. "Kind of, 'What did you do for the game of baseball?' How big of an impact you had on the game of baseball.