Roger Maris Ties Babe Ruth’s Home Run Record, But Not “Officially”  – 1961

Yankee Stadium, N.Y.: Yankee slugger Roger Maris holds up the baseball that he hit for home run number 60 in the third inning of the game with the Baltimore orioles, Sept. 26. Maris hit his 60th homer of the season off pitcher Jack Fisher to tie Babe Ruth in home runs hit in a baseball season. But Maris’ 60th came in game number 158 and therefore doesn’t qualify to tie the record according to baseball commissioner Ford Frick’s ruling. credit: UPI 9/26/61

What the photo slug does not say is how Maris got the baseball back.

Unlike Maris’s 61st home run on October 1, which would set off a melee in the right field stands for the baseball, the retrieval of the 60th was relatively simple.

Maris’ home run traveled 375 feet landing in the stands within reach of Orioles right fielder Earl Robinson. Robinson got the ball, threw it to first base umpire Ed Hurley who in turn rolled the ball to the Yankees dugout where Joe DeMaestri excitedly snagged it. Maris finished rounding the bases to the loud applause of 19,401 fans and as he reached the dugout, DeMaestri presented the ball to Maris. Maris examined the ball for a few seconds then stuffed it into his hip pocket.

A Controversial Record

Baseball commissioner Ford Frick was a newspaper baseball writer in the 1920s and 30s and  close friend of Babe Ruth. The 1961 season was the first with a 162 game schedule.  As it became apparent late in the season that Ruth’s record was in peril with Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris outpacing Ruth, Frick made a decree. Any new home run record would have to be accomplished in 154 games – the same amount Ruth had to set his record in 1927.

The Yankees played 163 games in 1961 with one game being a tie. Maris played in 161 of them.

Mantle had tallied 50 home runs as of September 4.  As the season wound down Mantle played, with an abscess on his hip, often in great pain. From September 18 through October 1 Mantle played in only four games with nine total at bats. Mantle Mantle finished the season with 54 homers in 153 games.

Frick’s decision was popular with most fans, believing that Babe Ruth should be recognized as the true home run king.

By the way, the Yankees won the game 3-2.