Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth
Deep into the 61 season Mantle was still very much in the chase. I was not yet aware of baseball, were people rooting against him too?
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Not to the same degree. Mantle was the hometown hero. He'd been on the Yankees for a decade already. Maris had just gotten there and despite winning MVP, I don't hear too many people talk about Maris as their favorite Yankee.
To further demonstrate how much the house stacked against Maris and wanted to down play everything about what he was doing, the commissioner actually released a statement right around the all star break that down played any accomplishment associated with a potential home run chase unless it was done in 154 games.
For whatever reason, the public, the press, even the commissioner of baseball, was against Roger Maris in every way.
I think a common opinion expressed in the press at the time was something along the lines of "if someone's going to break Ruth's record, it should be Mantle."