Card
thoughts: For years, Maris had an “asterix” affixed to
his 61 home runs, because they came in 162 games, rather than 154, like Babe
Ruth’s 60. ‘Course with Barry Bonds,
Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire all surpassing that single season record
with the aid of steroids, such a big caveat has been added to the single season
home run record to almost render it meaningless.
Rear
guard: More home runs were hit in 1961 than any season
ever. Previously in the 50s, the league generally averaged about 2000 home runs
a season; in 1961, it was 2730, only partially because of expansion (only the
AL played 162 games that year; the NL still played 154). The record was
surpassed the next year, with over 3000 home runs hit.
It wasn’t just the big time sluggers who were
whacking the ball out of the park. The Yankees, who hit a major league best 240
home runs (mostly because Maris hit 61, and Mickey Mantle hit 54), also had
Bill Skowhorn (28), Elston Howard (21), Yogi Berra (22) and Johnny Blanchard
(21) hit over 20 home runs.
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