Great accomplishment tainted by the meaness and lack of interest from New Yorkers. For the record: Barry Bonds 73 in HR represented a 48.9% increase over his 2nd best season. Maris' 61 was a 56.4% increase over his next best season. Bonds discrepancy is #9 among all players with at least one 40 HR season. Roger comes in ahead of him, holding firm at #6. The pressure Maris was under for simply not being Mantle was incredible.

If anyone would have wanted to see the Babe's record broken, it would've been Mantle.

And what team did Maris play for when he broke that record? HEH!

A very good moment by a good player who had a great year and never came close to matching it again, but he did have more games to play in than Ruth did, and he only broke it by 1.

This was sad in a way. Maris had some advantages, such as playing in a 162-game season, and having the extended seating section to aim for. But he also was under tremendous pressure, and from what I've read, some of his hair even fell out from the stress. He had one great year, but Babe Ruth was great for many years and deserved the record a lot more. Even so, Maris was an interesting and exciting player to watch. I just wish if someone were going to beat Ruth's record that year, it could have been Mantle instead.