Born #OTD 1934: remembering the great Roger Maris on what would have been his 90th birthday

Topps 1963

Roger Maris is arguably the most glaring omission from the National Baseball Hall of Fame. While some folks today may believe he had only one standout season (1961), Maris was, in fact, a seven-time All-Star, a back-to-back AL MVP in 1960 and 1961, and a Gold Glove winner. He is most famous for breaking Major League Baseball’s single-season home run record with 61 in 1961. Although this record has since been surpassed in the National League (McGwire, Sosa, Bonds), it is worth noting that no American League player exceeded this total until Aaron Judge hit 62 in 2022. Maris was also instrumental in the Yankees’ World Series victories in 1961 and 1962, as well as in the St. Louis Cardinals' seven-game triumph in the 1967 World Series, where he hit .385 and recorded seven RBIs. While he may not have displayed the consistent brilliance of players like Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays, it is absurd for the Hall to not recognise his historical significance. Maris made history, and he remains a household name decades after he departed this ruthless and unappreciative world.

Copyright 2024, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on X, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.

Quotables 18 May 2024: Baseball great Reggie Jackson on the value of ‘the will to win’, Mickey Mantle, tolerating failure versus accepting it, the batter’s box belonging to him alone, and bringing his star to New York City

1977 Topps baseball card for Reggie Jackson

Words of wisdom from the all-time excellent right fielder Reggie Jackson, born on this day, 18 May 1946, in Abington Township, Pennsylvania:

‘The will to win is worthless if you don’t get paid for it’.

‘Just like every other kid in my grade school, I was listening to my little radio plug in my ear when Mickey Mantle hit 18 post-season homers and won series after series for the Yankees. I listened and I learned from that. I think he was the original "Mr. October", but thank god it didn't stick’.

‘I feel that the most important requirement in success is learning to overcome failure. You must learn to tolerate it, but never accept it’.

‘Fans don't boo nobodies’.

‘I’m a businessman. I bring my bat and glove and attache case to the office and go to work. I don’t give a damn if the other workers at the office like me or not’.

‘When I stepped into the box, I felt the at-bat belonged to me. Everybody else was there for my convenience. The pitcher was there to throw me a ball to hit. The catcher was there to throw it back to him if he didn’t give me what I wanted the first time. And the umpire was lucky that he was close enough to watch’.

‘There are at least three kinds of advantages that the pitcher and batter contest. There’s the physical advantage, the strategic advantage, and also the psychological advantage. I didn’t want two out of three. I wanted them all’.

‘So many ideas come to you and you want to try them all, but you can't. You're like a mosquito in a nudist colony, you don't know where to start’.

‘In the building I live in on Park Avenue there are ten people who could buy the Yankees, but none of them could hit the ball out of Yankee Stadium’.

‘I didn’t come to New York to be a star. I brought my star with me’.

Quotes via https://www.azquotes.com/author/7277-Reggie_Jackson, https://quotefancy.com/reggie-jackson-quotes, and https://www.allgreatquotes.com/authors/reggie-jackson/

Copyright 2024, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on X, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social, and @arthurnewhook on POST. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.