Posted By:
Kevin CummingsWhen I was a kid and we were playing Wiffle Ball or stickball I always wanted to be Roger Maris while my friends wanted to be Mickey Mantle. (Maybe there's something to my wife's comments about my sanity.)
He was a good player and probably would have had better lifetime statistics if the pressures of the chase for 61 didn't burn him out. His batting accomplishments in New York overshadowed his considerable defensive skills (his ball retrieval/relay throw in the last game of the 1962 World Series saved the game for the Yanks) and despite just an average regular season in 1967 he was instrumental in winning the Series for the Cards.
Despite being a big Maris fan, I can readily admit he doesn't belong in the Hall.