DanP, I think you might have transposed what someone was saying about the asterisk and pitchers.
In 1961 the American League expanded, added 2 teams, ie from 8 (as when Ruth played) to 10. If a team has 5 starters, then when there were 8 teams in the AL there were 40 ML calibre starters. In 1961 2 teams are added, 10 new starting pitchers who hadn't made the majors the year before (so the argument goes). In 1960 Maris would have faced 35 starting pitchers over 154 games (7 other teams X 5 starters). In 1961 he faces 45 starting pitchers over 162 games, 10 of which would not have been in the majors the prior year (9 other teams X 5 starters).
If he faces a pitcher 3.6 times in the season ( 162 games divided by 45 pitchers); then he'd face the 10 "minor league" pitchers in 36 games over the season.
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