Back to the New York Yankees Newsfeed

Yankees: The Day That Roger Maris Hit Number Sixty-One In ’61

The Yankees and their fans had already crowned Babe Ruth as the Greatest Yankee of All Time years ago. The Sultan of Swat, the Great Bambino, he had so many nicknames they had to give George Herman Ruth another one and finally settled on simply Babe.

Roger Maris, who claimed his hometown as Fargo, North Dakota, never wanted to be Babe Ruth. In fact, at times it was pretty obvious that he would have preferred not being in the limelight of New York City, and he would have been perfectly happy finishing out his career with Kansas City or St.