My bad in 1961 after Also winning his first MVP award Roger was card Number 2 Dick Groat Who was NL MVP was Card Number 1. In 1960 Number 1 was Cy Young award winner Early Wynn. my point being that Topps recognized Maris 2 years in a row.
And Peter for completeness Mike Trout has also won 2 MVP awards and is not in Hall of fame. And AL pitchers won as many Cy young awards during Maris's Career as NL pitchers. But yes NL was deep in pitching talent. But during Rogers two years in NL his batting average did not drop dramatically.
The point of my OP was that Maris had a significant Major leauge career. He was not a one year wonder.
I was born in 1961 so don't remember that HR race. But I remember Sosa Mcgwire race and what it did for baseball. So if 61 and Mantle and Maris was anything ( My dad said it was bigger) like that then Maybe Maris deserves to be in the hall of fame for his contribution to the game.
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