Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle had one of the greatest season baseball history. They were both chasing Babe Ruth’s home run record. Roger Maris hit 61 home runs while Mickey Mantle hit 54. Roger Maris won the Most Valuable Player award that year. Even though Roger Maris had more home runs, Mickey Mantle had a slugging percentage of .687 while Roger Maris had a slugging percentage of .620. In the end, Mickey Mantle had a WAR of 10.2. As you can see, both Micke Mantle and Roger Maris had an incredible season in 1961.
Category: Memory Lane
Remember the greatest players and memories of the past with this honorable category.
Mickey Mantle or Roger Maris 1961 Breakdown
| Stats | Mickey Mantle | Roger Maris |
| Games | 153 | 161 |
| At-Bats | 514 | 590 |
| Hits | 163 | 159 |
| Doubles | 16 | 16 |
| Triples | 6 | 4 |
| Home Runs | 54 | 61 |
| Stolen Bases | 12 | 0 |
| Walks | 126 | 94 |
| Strikeouts | 112 | 67 |
| WAR | 10.2 | 6.7 |
| Batting Average | 0.317 | 0.269 |
| Slugging | 0.687 | 0.62 |
| Most Valuable Player | 0 | 1 |
Steal Facts: Yogi Berra
Yogi Berra
- Yogi Berra was a Yankee superstar. He won 10 World Series with them.
- Yogi Berra won the Most Valuable Player award in 1951, 1954, and 1955.
- Yogi Berra caught Don Larsen’s famous World Series perfect game. He jumped into Larsen’s arms after the feat.
- Yogi made lots of iconic quotes such as “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.”
- Yogi managed both the Yankees and the Mets. Yogi’s number 8 is retired by the Yankees.
Berra sadly died a natural death at the age of 90 in 2015.
Joe DiMaggio’s Hitting Streak Turns 75
75 years ago, Joe DiMaggio got a base hit in 56 consecutive games. With young superstar Jackie Bradley Jr. hitting in 25 consecutive games, Joe’s record might be threatened. Despite the challenge, analysts have decided that it is highly unlikely for a play to rewrite DiMaggio’s iconic record.
1956
In the never to be forgotten season of 1956, immortals would rise from the crowd. A 25 year old from Oklahoma would make headlines. A young but experienced pitcher would do the unspeakable in October. The Yankees were the home to many superstars that season. A switch hitting slugger named Mickey Mantle would lead the American League in home runs, RBIs, and batting average all in that same year for a Triple Crown. It was also good for the League MVP award, too. Meanwhile, downtown in Brooklyn, an iconic player who would not only change baseball but the nation would enter his final year in Major League Baseball. Jackie Robinson, the man who Rickey Branch signed to break the color barrier, would enter the final year of his legendary 10 season career. The year before, in 1955, Jackie Robinson and the rest of the Brooklyn Dodgers would beat out the Yankees in a great series. The 1956 World Series, as Mickey Mantle would say in one of his autobiographies, My Favorite Summer 1956, ‘’It would be a rematch of 1955.’’ But both teams didn’t get there just like that. They had to put up a fight.
1961
1961. The year history would be rewritten. The year before, in 1960, the Yankees had come of a devastating lost in Game 7 of the World Series when a Pittsburgh Pirate would hit a home run over the ivy to walk of the World Series. One of the most memorable long shots in baseball history. Mickey Mantle was crying on the plane ride home. Another one of his teammates said that it was just a game. Mickey Mantle would explain in his autobiography that it wasn’t ‘’Yankee Type.’’ But 1961 had high hopes for the Yankees. Five years earlier Mickey Mantle won the Triple Crown and the MVP award. Also in the offseason of 1959, the Yankees acquired Roger Maris in a trade with the Kansas City Athletics.