Peter, the romance surrounding Roger Maris is most assuredly not misplaced! Roger Maris is very worthy. Roger is also worthy of being enshrined in the Hall. It's the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of a Long and Great Career with Sufficient Numbers that satisfies even the most cynical and begrudging card curmudgeons. Just as Dizzy Dean had his 1934, and Lou Boudreau had his 1948, and Hack Wilson had his 1930, Roger Maris was 1961. People love an underdog. Everything and everybody, except Roger's family, teammates including Mickey Mantle, and a few devoted fans, were AGAINST him. They put the words AGAINST ALL ODDS on Roger's tombstone, and so it was. Even in the World Series, the Reds were starting to come back and really make a fight out of it, holding the Yanks to a tie late in the game, but Roger Maris broke their backs with a home run that broke the tie and eventually won the game. The Reds said it was Roger's HR that destroyed their momentum.
Taking the whole mess that Roger went through, and I feel cut his life by 25 years, he gave baseball so much in '61, and achieved more fame in that one year than a third of the HOF members.
I agree Roger's career stats do not come close to a typical hall of fame career. Be that as it may, his lasting legacy is one of remarkable respect and admiration. He was a complete player--great fielder, good base runner, and a clutch player.
Let's not bring Norm Cash into the discussion. His "great" 1961 season has a hollow ring to it----he achieved it by using a hollow bat!
Roger Maris is in my personal hall of fame, and I have enjoyed collecting his cards for over 50 years. I never bought his items believing they were gonna appreciate in value. I bought them because I've always appreciated Roger.
I believe he is misunderstood and underappreciated, but this may be due to the masses of tunnel-visioned malcontents that only see HOF credentials by, again, those "sufficient numbers".
MLB continues to do a disservice to dear Roger. They've dragged their feet in the wet Yazoo clay at dealing with the guys who were on the steroids--the cheaters. Roger Maris should still hold the single season home run record! Again, Roger Maris should ALSO be elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame.
---Brian Powell