Okay, having all the experience at this topic of a brief web search after having seen the film 61*, which in my humble opinion was rather good, I'd like to know from those of you suffering baseball withdrawl symptoms...
Why isn't Roger Maris in the Hall of Fame? Why is his bat there, but he isn't?
Kurt, we could debate this one until the cows come home.
The impression I get (I don't know for sure) is that the powers that be think Maris' career stats place him in the "good, but not great" category. The 61-homer season was an anomaly for him ... his next best season for homers happened the year before, with 39. Getting compared with other Yankee greats (Mickey Mantle, Joe Dimaggio, et al.) probably doesn't help, either.
It's called the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of consistently good hitting statistics.
What principle is it that suggests that a once-in-a-lifetime season is rendered invalid because the guy never reached those heights again?
Was Bob Beamon's 29'2" long jump any less amazing, or full of "fame" because he never once came within 2 feet of that jump again?
If this keeps up, the Baseball Hall of Fame will be full of plodders, grinding out numbers like sausages. The 17 year, 3000 hit veterans will get inducted before the guy with the 3 year career who burned too brightly and burned out.
Maris was one of the best players of his era. He was hurt greatly by playing alongside Mantle. He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame IMO, and not just because of the 61 homers.
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