Roger Maris appeared in seven World Series and seven All-Star games during his career. He hit 275 home runs in his career and received the Gold Glove Award for great defensive performance. In 1984, the New York Yankees retired his number "9." He remains the only player to hit more than 50 home runs while playing in just Yankee Stadium. The official record holder is Hank Aaron with 755.
Maris made his debut on April 4, 1961, against the Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium. He went on to play in 77 games that season, hitting 31 homers and driving in 100 runs. The following year, he set the single-season home run record with 52 long balls. That record has since been broken three times (see below).
In 1964, Maris became the first player to hit more than one home run in a game when he hit two bombs against the San Diego Padres. He finished the season with 57 homers, which was good for another National League title for the Yankees.
Maris's record was later broken by Jim Clark of the Cincinnati Reds with his first homer of the season. Maris returned in 1967 to break his own record, this time with 61 blasts. It took him four years but Pete Rose finally broke this record in 1971 with 66 homers.
The 6-foot, 197-pound outfielder blasted 39 home runs (one less than Mantle's league-leading 40), led the AL with 112 RBI and a.581 slugging percentage, batted.283 for his career, and earned his only Gold Glove. Maris blasted two home runs as the Yankees lost the World Series in seven games to the Pirates.
The Yankees won the game by a score of 1 to 0 and went on to win the World Series. Roger was named the American League's Most Valuable Player for the second year in a row, as he led the league in home runs and runs scored. He was also selected Male Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press.
Roger Maris appeared in seven World Series and seven All-Star games during his career. He hit 275 home runs in his career and received the Gold Glove Award for great defensive performance. In 1984, the New York Yankees retired his number "9."
Roger Eugene Maris (September 10, 1934 – December 14, 1985) was a right fielder in Major League Baseball. He is most remembered for setting a new Major League Baseball (MLB) single-season home run record with 61 home runs in 1961, which stood until 1998. When he retired after the 1966 season, his total of 62 homers was one short of the all-time mark.
Maris's 61 home runs in 1961 are also one more than the previous record of 60, which had been set by Bob Meyer of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1956. The 1961 record has since been broken three times: by Albert Pujols (2001), Barry Bonds (2007), and Alex Rodriguez (2014).
In addition to his major league career, Maris played two seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Yomiuri Giants from 1959 to 1960. During that time, he hit 69 homers, which at the time was a NPB record. The last remaining player who competed in both MLB and NPB during the same period as Maris is Vladimir Guerrero, who had an impressive career with the Expos/Blue Jays/Astros from 1996 to 2011. During that time, Guerrero hit 67 homers, which is just one fewer than Maris's total.
Guerrero currently holds several MLB records including most all-time hits by a position player (4th place), most seasons batting over.
He memorably shattered Roger Maris's single-season home run record in 1998, going on to hit 70 home runs. He spent 16 seasons in the major leagues, mostly with the Oakland A's and the St. Louis Cardinals. His reputation, though, will be eternally tainted by the drugs controversy that shook the sport in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Roger Maris set the record with his 61st homer, which was good for then-among other things - the last time it would not be broken for almost 12 years. The record has since been eclipsed three times (by Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, and now Aaron Judge), but it still stands as the most ever hit by a human being during a single season.
Maris's record was eventually broken by another St. Louis Cardinal, who played during a time when steroids were widely used by baseball players. Albert Pujols broke the record with his seventh homer of the 1997 season, which at the time ranked as the most ever hit by a hitter in a single season.
However, what many people don't know is that before he passed away in February 2019 at the age of 64, Pujols had already planned to retire after the 2012 season and hadn't played professionally since 2011 when he finished his career with St. Louis.
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