Here’s a guy whose natural ability, athleticism and passion made him the true, legitimate home run king. A player who is the reason why the New York Yankees won five pennants and two World Series championships between 1960 and 1964, the reason why the St. Louis Cardinals were World Champions in 1967 and National League Champions for the second consecutive year in 1968. Maris did his job every day, sometimes not even at 100 percent health and took nothing. He didn’t take steroids, performance enhancing drugs, absolutely nothing. He just played ball.
Yet Maris’ plaque at the National Baseball Hall Of Fame does not exist, his overall status is a one-season wonder.
Meanwhile all these players get linked to drugs or caught with drugs banned by baseball and they still get to play.
They still get to climb back from cheating and try to rejuvenate their careers. But Maris who did nothing wrong never gets acknowledged. What else does a man have to do? Seriously.
The ballplayers who get caught these days — well truthfully at any time — are nothing but a bunch of cowards, nothing more than men who know they can’t amount to anything in this game because they rely on drugs. They don’t deserve the blessing, the honor, the distinction of being called a professional baseball player. Baseball is a game of true, honest men who work hard every day in hopes of winning the World Series.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If you use drugs you’re out for a year. Do it again, you’re done for life. It’s simple. That’ll make folks think twice.
And Maris shines brighter and brighter each time a player comes up red handed. His natural efforts will never be justified though until he is enshrined in Cooperstown.
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1. RMc and His Roster of Rubbish Posted: February 01, 2013 at 05:40 PM (#4360344)Plus the fact that, you know, he hit a lot of home runs.
Not be a one-season wonder?
Also, did Maris get banned from playing after setting the record? I don't understand what point he is making.
How do we know this? There was no testing in place at the time, was there? If a player in today's game put up HR totals like Maris - going from 16 to 39 to 61 - the press would be howling for his blood (so they could test it of course). I always love the articles where the players of the author's youth are pure and above suspicion, while today's players are guilty by simple association.
somebody alert Bob Gibson, Orlando Cepeda, Tim McCarver, Curt Flood, Nelson Briles, Dick Hughes etc.....
#lowhangingfruit
Yea, his numbers went up after joining the New York Yankees, the very same organization that later employed Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. COINCEDENCE? I THINK NOT.
I was just looking at the numbers; I hadn't considered the NYY angle. It all makes so much sense now.
Now?? I see you joined less than two years ago, so you might be a little surprised to know these articles have been one of the primary staples of the site for about the last eight years!
Maris with the Cards: 258/330/392 111 OPS+
Maris with the A's: 260/331/452 112 OPS+
Maris with Cleveland: 231/326/407 100 OPS+
Pretty clear something was going on in NY. His first two years he went from a guy with a lifetime 107 OPS+ to a 160 and 167. 122 OPS+ after that for his career. So he isn't a one season wonder, he is a 2 season wonder. Since he is a boomer favorite who played with the Yankees lets put him in.
Now 50 years later, he is held up as the paragon of what a record holder should be.
He sure does love him some Roger Maris, though, as he apparently wrote this in all seriousness:BTW, never say that Maris was a "one-year wonder", because your opponent will point out that he won two MVPs and you'll look stupid. That's about it, though. My favorite part of the Maris-as-an-all-time-great riff is that it always contains the claim that he was the key player on the '67/'68 Cardinals. (And BTW, it's not entirely ressentiment against Bonds et al., because I've been hearing about this since I was a kid, and that was before then.) I mean, I now understand that those were huge pitchers' years and so his stats aren't quite as pedestrian as they look, but, sheesh.
Here are closer comps for Maris's overall career, outfielders centered on him in terms of PA and OPS+, ranked by WAR Fielding Runs:
Player Rfield PA OPS+Roger Maris 43 5847 127
Tommy Holmes 38 5564 122
Bob Allison 30 5923 127
Chick Stahl 29 5709 123
Jackie Jensen 22 6078 120
Sid Gordon 3 5813 129
John Titus -4 5818 127
Richie Zisk -9 5737 127
Topsy Hartsel -15 5793 128
Eric Davis -65 6147 125
Jay Buhner -77 5927 124
Danny Tartabull -120 5842 133
I always enjoy a Silent John Titus sighting. Some of these guys were legitimate stars, but those who were had some limiting factor (grievous injuries, fear of flying), and those who didn't just weren't all that great.
Chill ... not a year goes by where we don't see a "Maris should be in the HoF" article and it's been that way for ages.
What I think I just realized and is "interesting" is that it seems these articles are always by Card writers/fans. I'm guessing Maris's distributorship provided free beer for the Busch press box.
When Ramjet takes a Proton Pill,
The crooks begin to worry;
They can't escape their awful fate
From Proton's mighty fury!
That's right -- Ramjet used PEDS!
But what about the children?
with an Underdog super energy pill!
This is the part that gets me, unless it was his job to be hurt a lot. He missed a bunch of games.
GP highest to lowest
161, 157 (both with Yanks), 150, 141, 136, 125, 122, 119, 116, 100, 90, 46. Done retired at 33.
Yeah, right? When one of your top career hitting comps, adjusting for context, is Richie Zisk, this is one way the Universe is telling you you're not going to Cooperstown.
161, 157 (both with Yanks), 150, 141, 136, 125, 122, 119, 116, 100, 90, 46. Done retired at 33.
The 125 and the 100 are 1967 and 1968. In 1967, Maris had 125 G, 472 PA. Flood also missed some games. Bobby Tolan, 21 years old, had 110 games, 294 PA and Alex Johnson also got a fair amount of time. In 1968, Flood was healthier, but Maris was down to 100 G, 380 PA. Tolan had 92 G, 296 PA.
Now, the young Tolan didn't play particularly well in either of those two years, and Maris was clearly the best available RF for the Cardinals. If you ask what the Cardinals would have done had they not had Maris, the most likely answer would have been to make the young Tolan their full-time RF. Maybe that would even have forced his development forward a notch - after all, Tolan would eventually become a good player. Even if not, the difference between what Maris did and a hypothetical full-time Tolan (plus more time for Alex Johnson, Dick Simpson, et al.) is nowhere near large enough to have cost the Cardinals the pennant in either year.
It is interesting how much of the Maris sentiment after all these years comes from Cardinal fans, but that's really the casting of a rosy glow over everyone on the 67-68 team. It would be like a Brewer fan stumping for Ben Ogilvie.
No bacne. No steroids.
Yes, very clear. He's an experienced ML hitter, healthy, in his prime at 25 and 26 and playing in a home park which catered to left handed power hitters. It's not difficult to see why he had a big jump in performance.
Except that in those two MVP years, Maris hit 43 home runs in Yankee Stadium and 57 on the road. It wasn't the ballpark that made the big difference, it was the protection he got from batting in front of Mickey Mantle.
From 1960-64, Maris accumulated 24.4 WAR, Mickey Mantle had 29.5 (despite playing only 65 games in 1963 due to injury). WAR isn't everything, and Maris was a very good all-around player, perhaps on a HoF path for a short time, but never the same after he hurt his wrist. Mantle was the better player even if MVP voters had some difficulty figuring that out in 1960-61. Nothing wrong with reminding folks how good Maris was at his peak but the over statements undermine the argument.
Normally I would agree with that, but I hate to say it, the 1961 numbers are disturbing (courtesy of 1991 Elias analyst):
Maris when batting right in front of Mantle in the lineup (about 550 PA):
.293/.392/.682 averaged one HR for every 8.8 AB
When batting in front of anyone else (about 140 PA):
.174/.312/.365 averaged one HR for every 16.4 AB
When not having Mantle right behind him, not only did Maris' batting average plummet, but his power production dropped off a cliff, too.
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