The death of Hank Aaron reminded all of us about the pain that he faced when chasing and eventually breaking Babe Ruth's record of 714 home runs. At the time, I was old enough to openly root for Aaron and his quest.
Roger Maris also faced adversity when he was in the process of breaking Ruth's single season record of 60 home runs and in fact, his record of 61 was not even recognized by the baseball establishment. Perhaps it was because Maris played for the same team that Ruth did and maybe a good many Yankee fans had clear memories of the Babe, still perhaps baseball's most treasured icon.
At the time the Yankees were the only MLB team in New York. The Dodgers and Giants had left for California and the Mets wouldn't arrive until the next season.
Maris is not in the Hall Of Fame. This season will be the 60th anniversary of Maris breaking the record.
Maris died in 1985.
Maris was robbed. One of the first lessons learned is favoritism and politics are a scourge of people who deserve recognition.
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