Capping off his record-breaking home run season, on this day in 1961, Roger Maris of the New York Yankees was named the American League Most Valuable Player. It was the second year in a row that Maris won the award. This time, he edged teammate Mickey Mantle by four votes, 202-198.
The Maris-Mantle dynamic duo never gets tiring to me. They were such polar opposite personalities, yet according to what I’ve read and seen in that movie 61, they were very compatible-Mantle as life of the party and Maris as quieter, more introverted type. By the way, I just looked up Maris on wikipedia. I had no idea he was from Hibbing, Minnesota. I think that’s where Bob Dylan was born as well.
61 is one of my favorite baseball movies, and yeah, that relationship between them is fascinating. I don’t know why, but I feel like it’s fitting that Maris should be born in the same town as Bob Dylan.
Now there’s a concept to explore. My initial thought is them both preferring shadows.