First published 2010
Roger Maris remains baseball's most misunderstood superstar. Thomas Clavin chronicles the life of the quiet North Dakota native who accomplished one of sports' greatest feats while enduring unprecedented hostility. The biography follows Maris from his Fargo childhood through his minor league years with Cleveland's farm system to his championship seasons in New York. Clavin focuses extensively on the grueling 1961 campaign when Maris battled not only opposing pitchers but also hostile fans who preferred Mickey Mantle and a vicious press corps that portrayed him as cold and unworthy of Ruth's legacy. The authors draw from over 130 interviews with teammates, opponents, family members, and friends to reconstruct Maris's ordeal as an outsider wearing Yankee pinstripes. Beyond the record-breaking season, Clavin traces Maris's later redemption with the St. Louis Cardinals, where he rediscovered his passion for the game and won another World Series title. The book reveals how Maris eventually earned respect from Yankees fans and secured his place in baseball history despite the brutal treatment he received during his moment of greatest triumph.
Genres: biography, 20th-century, american, sports, biography-memoir, baseball, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: outsider, redemption
Setting: Fargo, New York, St. Louis
Period: 1961
432 pages · Hardcover · Atria Books