MVP Profile: Roger Maris, 1960

Outfielder, New York Yankees

 

Age:  26 (Sept. 10)

1^st season with Yankees

Bats – Left, Throws – Right

Height: 6’0”    Weight: 197

Prior to 1960:

Born in Minnesota, Maris moved with his family to Fargo, North Dakota at a young age. A star athlete at Bishop Shanley High School, in football he once returned four kickoffs for touchdowns in a single game. Playing American Legion baseball, he impressed scouts with his all-around ability. Signed by the Cleveland Indians at age 18 in 1953, he was initially assigned to Fargo-Morehead of the Class C Northern League where he appeared in 114 games and batted .325 with 9 home runs and 80 RBIs. Advancing to the Keokuk Kernels of the Class B Illinois-Indiana-Iowa (or Three I) League in 1954, Maris hit .315 with 32 home runs and 111 RBIs. In the field he tied the league record for put outs by an outfielder with 305. Having gone from being a contact hitter to a pull hitter who could hit for power, he hit a total of 20 home runs in 1955 for Reading of the Class A Eastern League and Tulsa of the Class AA Texas League while batting a combined .278. Promoted to Indianapolis of the Class AAA American Association in 1956, Maris batted .293 with 17 home runs and 75 RBIs. The team won the Junior World Series and Maris made it to the Indians in 1957 where he flashed more of his potential by hitting 14 home runs with 51 RBIs while batting a disappointing .235 as he played in pain from broken ribs suffered in May. He appeared in 116 games, 99 of them starts. During the 1958 season, Maris was traded to the Kansas City Athletics where he moved into right field and proved to be a star in the making as he batted a combined .240 with 19 home runs and 53 RBIs. An All-Star for the first time in 1959, Maris hit .273 with 16 home runs and 72 RBIs. In the offseason, the Yankees swung a deal for him, and it was anticipated that he would take over Hank Bauer’s vacated spot in right field and pair up well with star center fielder Mickey Mantle in the middle of the batting order.  

1960 Season Summary

Appeared in 136 games

RF – 127, CF – 8, PH – 5

[Bracketed numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]

Batting

Plate Appearances – 578

At Bats – 499

Runs – 98 [2]

Hits – 141

Doubles – 18

Triples – 7 [3, tied with four others]

Home Runs – 39 [2]

RBI – 112 [1]

Bases on Balls – 70 [11]

Int. BB – 4

Strikeouts – 65

Stolen Bases – 2

Caught Stealing – 2

Average - .283 [12, tied with Gene Woodling]

OBP - .371 [11]

Slugging Pct. - .581 [1]

Total Bases – 290 [2]

GDP – 6

Hit by Pitches – 3

Sac Hits – 1

Sac Flies – 5 [15, tied with ten others]

League-leading RBIs were +7 ahead of runner-up Minnie Minoso

League-leading slugging percentage was +.023 ahead of runner-up Mickey Mantle

Midseason snapshot: HR - 27, RBI - 69, AVG - .320, SLG PCT - .703

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Most hits, game – 4 (in 5 AB) at Boston 4/19, (in 5 AB) at KC A’s 6/15 – 12 innings

Longest hitting streak – 7 games

HR at home – 13

HR on road – 26

Most home runs, game – 2 on six occasions

Multi-HR games – 6

Most RBIs, game – 6 at KC A’s 8/6

Pinch-hitting – 1 for 4 (.250) with 1 RBI & 1 BB

 

Fielding

Chances – 273

Put Outs – 263

Assists – 6

Errors – 4

DP – 1

Pct. - .985

Postseason Batting: 7 G (World Series vs. Pittsburgh)

PA – 32, AB – 30, R – 6, H – 8, 2B – 1, 3B – 0, HR – 2, RBI – 2, BB – 2, IBB – 0, SO – 4, SB – 0, CS – 0, AVG - .267, OBP - .313, SLG - .500, TB – 15, GDP – 0, HBP – 0, SH – 0, SF – 0

Awards & Honors:

AL MVP: BBWAA

Gold Glove

All-Star (Started for AL in RF in both games)

Top 5 in AL MVP Voting:

Roger Maris, NYY.: 225 pts. - 8 of 24 first place votes, 67% share

Mickey Mantle, NYY: 222 pts. – 10 first place votes, 66% share

Brooks Robinson, Balt.: 211 pts. – 3 first place votes, 63% share

Minnie Minoso, ChiWS.: 141 pts. – 2 first place votes, 42% share

Ron Hansen, Balt.: 110 pts. – 1 first place vote, 33% share

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Yankees went 97-57 to win the AL pennant by 8 games over the Baltimore Orioles while leading the league in runs scored (746), home runs (193), RBIs (699), slugging (.426), and total bases (2251). The Yankees got hot in June but slumped to fall behind the White Sox and upstart Orioles. Regaining the lead, the Yanks held on in September, winning 19 of their last 21 games, to nail down their last pennant under manager Casey Stengel. Along the way, Maris and Mantle combined for 79 home runs. Lost World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4 games to 3. The back-and-forth Series in which the Yankees outscored the Pirates 55-27 was capped by Bill Mazeroski’s Game 7 walk-off home run.

Aftermath of ‘60:

 In 1961, under new manager Ralph Houk, the Yankees again won the AL pennant and Maris, who started off slowly, combined with Mantle in an epic home run race. From May 17 to June 22, Maris hit 24 home runs in 38 games, taking the lead over his teammate. The low-key Maris became tense and testy from the pressure fed by the media frenzy. His hair began falling out and he became short-tempered. With expansion having caused the AL to expand the schedule from 154 to 162 games (the NL would follow in 1962), commissioner Ford Frick ruled that any home run record would need to be accomplished in 154 games or would be accompanied by an asterisk in the record books. Maris entered September with 51 homers, but his pace began to slow down the stretch. An injury took Mantle out of the race, putting the spotlight entirely on Maris. He hit his 59^th home run at Baltimore in the 154^th game of the season. Number 60 came at Yankee Stadium on September 26 and the record-breaking 61^st in the season finale at home against the Red Sox and RHP Tracy Stallard. Beyond the 61 home runs he topped the league in runs scored (132) and total bases (366) and tied for the lead in RBIs with Baltimore’s Jim Gentile with 141. In addition, he batted .269 with a .372 on-base percentage and .620 slugging percentage. He was pretty much a non-factor in the five-game World Series triumph over Cincinnati, but he was once again the AL MVP. Maris followed up with a respectable season in 1962 in which he hit .256 with 33 home runs and 100 RBIs. He also made a big defensive play in the World Series against the Giants wnen, in the ninth inning with two outs, a one-run lead, and the fleet-footed Matty Alou on first, batter Willie Mays hit a ball into the right field corner. Maris cut the ball off and threw to second baseman Bobby Richardson to force Alou to hold at third. First baseman Willie McCovey lined out to end the game and the Series in the Yanks’ favor. Limited to 90 games in 1963 due to an assortment of injuries, Maris still managed to slug 23 home runs along with 53 RBIs and a .269 average. Rebounding somewhat in 1964, when he occasionally filled in for the ailing Mantle in center field, Maris batted .281 with 26 home runs and 71 RBIs. With the drop of the Yankees to sixth place in 1965, Maris, who was limited to 46 games by a hand injury, hit just .239 with 8 home runs. Following another injury-marred season in 1966, in which he batted .233 with 13 home runs and 43 RBIs while playing in 119 games, the Yankees traded Maris to the St. Louis Cardinals for nondescript third baseman Charley Smith. Pleased with the opportunity for a fresh start, he was an effective player for a pennant-winning club in 1967, hitting .261 with 18 doubles, 7 triples, 9 home runs, and 55 RBIs. He also batted .385 with 7 RBIs in the seven-game World Series victory over the Red Sox. Dealing with injuries again in 1968, he hit .255 in 100 games and retired following one last World Series appearance at age 34. For his major league career, Maris batted .260 with 1325 hits that included 195 doubles, 42 triples, and 275 home runs. He further scored 826 runs and compiled 850 RBIs and drew 652 walks. With the Yankees he hit .265 with 797 hits, 520 runs scored, 110 doubles, 17 triples, 203 home runs, 547 RBIs, and a .356 OBP with 413 walks drawn. Appearing in 41 World Series games, Maris hit .217 with 6 home runs and 18 RBIs. An All-Star during four seasons as well as a two-time MVP, the Yankees eventually retired his #9 and placed a plaque in his honor at Monument Park in Yankee Stadium. In retirement, Cardinals owner Gussie Busch set Maris up with a beer distributorship in Florida that he operated until his death from cancer at age 51 in 1985. A player too-often dismissed as a one-year wonder, Maris was a productive hitter and very good outfielder. A small-town man, he was uncomfortable dealing with newfound notoriety in New York, although he came to be held in greater esteem in retrospect. His 61 home runs in 1961 remain the AL record to date. 

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MVP Profiles feature players in the National or American leagues who were winners of the Chalmers Award (1911-14), League Award (1922-29), or Baseball Writers’ Association of America Award (1931 to present) as Most Valuable Player.