jmb@nvuxh.UUCP (J M Bennett) (01/02/86)
Roger Maris for most of his career was a good player. For two years, he was a very good player. In neither of those years (1960,1961) was he a dominating player. In particular, let us examine 1961, the year Roger hit 61 homers. True, he won the HR, RBI, and Run titles which is surely an impressive achievement. However, he won the RBI title by only 1 RBI over Jim Gentile and only 2 over Rocky Colavito. He won the HR crown over Mickey Mantle by 7 HRs, but he hit less homers per at bat than Mantle. He tied with Mickey for runs scored, 3 runs more than Colavito. He did not lead the league in slugging percentage with his .620 average. Surprisingly, THREE players had higher SPs than Maris in 1961: 1) Mickey Mantle .687 2) Norm Cash .662 3) Jim Gentile .646 This argument is not intended to denigrate Maris' great achievement that year. However, it is intended to indicate that it was not a DOMINANT year such as Mickey Mantle's in 1956 or Sandy Koufax's 1962-1966 (5 consecutive ERA titles). Since Maris' single most extraordinary year of his career was not that much greater than that of Gentile, Colavito, and Cash, I do not think he deserves to be included in the Hall of Fame on the basis of his two greatest seasons. I feel that Roger's inclusion would only further diminish the standards of the Hall which each year are continually eroded.