ROGER MARIS

Roger Maris was a professional Major League Baseball right fielder from the 1950s to the 1960s for several teams, including the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals. While a New York Yankee playing alongside Mickey Mantle, he set a new major league baseball single-season home run record with 61 home runs in 1961; the record remained unbroken until 1998, when it was broken by Mark McGwire. He broke Babe Ruth's old record of 60 home runs, and that incensed fans, and because the season had been enlarged to 162 games, rather than the 154 that Ruth had, his record was marked with an asterisk! Maris continues to hold the American League record for most home runs in a season! He passed away in 1985 at the age of 51 from cancer.