ROGER MARIS: BASEBALL’S RELUCTANT HERO by Tom Clavin and Danny Peary (Touchstone, March 2010, $26.99)
Wednesday, March 24, Borders, Time Warner Center, 10 Columbus Circle, free, 7:00
Tuesday, April 13, Mickey Mantle’s Restaurant and Sports Bar, 42 Central Park South, free, 4:00
www.borders.com
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In seeking to publish the definitive biography of Roger Maris, coauthors Tom Clavin and Danny Peary had a very specific goal in mind as they spent two years speaking with Maris’s family and friends as well as such Hall of Famers as Yogi Berra, Al Kaline, Ferguson Jenkins, Stan Musial, Tom Seaver, Ralph Kiner, and dozens of other baseball players, broadcasters, and executives.

“Like us,” the two writers point out in the acknowledgments at the end of the just-released ROGER MARIS: BASEBALL’S RELUCTANT HERO, “they passionately believed that Roger Maris never received proper recognition from fans and the media for his talent and achievements, his fine character, and his pivotal role in the emerging war between the press and uncooperative celebrities.”

The chapter titles alone reveal that this is not just some feel-good biography: “Family Turmoil,” “Defiance,” “The Villain,” “The Betrayal,” and “Rock Bottom.”

Peary, who has written some twenty books, recently took some time away from his hectic schedule to answer some questions about asterisks, steroids, and home run champs.

What was the most surprising thing you learned about Maris while researching the book?

In the book we document Roger’s war with reporters who were frustrated in their attempts to get him to exchange good quotes for friendly coverage. I knew before doing the research that Roger had a hard time dealing with celebrity and simply attributed that to his being shy and another midwesterner who cherished privacy. What I didn’t know was that he was so unwilling to answer personal questions because, also, there was a history of secrecy in his family dating back to before he was born (including much dysfunction, feuds, and grudges) and that Roger had always kept quiet about his parents hating each other, and his mother’s disreputable behavior.

An even bigger reason Roger was uneasy talking about himself and his on-field heroics was because he idolized his older brother, Rudy Jr., who was considered the better athlete until he got polio. Roger always felt guilty that he went on to have the baseball career that was intended for his brother, so he never felt comfortable tooting his own horn. Rudy Jr.’s polio affected him in profound ways, particularly in regard to the press as he broke Ruth’s record. The sad part is that Roger most definitely became a better athlete than his brother ever would have, but he never admitted it.

Do you think Maris should be in the Hall of Fame?

One reason I wanted to write this book, with Tom Clavin, is that I was there when Maris played and believe Roger’s history as written by sportswriters who didn’t like Roger personally is a distortion of the truth, which was he was a great player who is worthy of Hall of Fame consideration. That he was the guy who broke Babe Ruth’s record — no one else can make that claim — might be enough, as Hank Greenberg asserted, to qualify him for the Hall. But he accomplished a lot more, including two MVPs and All-Star appearances, matching an in-his-prime Mickey Mantle in stats in their seven years together, being the top left-handed batter in the league during his time in the AL, and being an exceptional clutch hitter even when his average was low.

What really qualifies him, I believe, is that he led his era in World Series appearances — seven in nine years — and the only two years his teams didn’t make it were when he was injured. He came to the Yankees when they were a third-place team and they won five straight pennants; he came to the Cardinals when they were a third-place team and they won titles both years he was with them (he was the only major addition to the team), and they stopped winning when he retired. I value greatness and accomplishments over stats, and Maris was great and was the most “winning” ballplayer of his time. (His teams in the minors also improved dramatically when he joined them, so he had a history of making moribund teams into contenders and champions.) Unfortunately, there is no stat for being a great all-around player and there is no stat for never making a mistake, which is how his managers described him. I agree with his teammates who played with him after 1962 who believe he should be in the Hall of Fame.

Maris initially had an asterisk next to his home run record, and now there are many people calling for asterisks to go next to the names Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire, who all hit more than sixty-one homers presumably while taking steroids. Who do you think is the current home run champion, in your mind and the mind of the public?

No asterisk was ever implemented for Maris, contrary to popular belief, but it didn’t matter because Babe Ruth’s name remained in the record books along with Roger’s as the home run champion for 154 games — no other category had such a thing. In 1991, commissioner Fay Vincent got rid of Ruth’s name. McGwire, while on steroids, erased Maris’s name from the record book, getting rid of his identity for the younger generation, a real travesty. Maris was the only one of the four players who bettered Babe Ruth’s record to do it without performance-enhancing drugs and of course should be regarded as the home run champion.

Many of his fans call him the Natural Home Run Champion, and that seems like an appropriate title. Unfortunately, we can never get rid of the other guys from the record books unless they admit they all took illegal substances — and unfortunately steroids weren’t officially illegal in those days. It would be great if the more than one hundred players in the Mitchell Report admitted what they did and we could put asterisks by all of their numbers, but that won’t happen. And remember, it’s not just home runs but singles, doubles, and triples in the record books that are suspect as well. All of the steroid users committed a grave crime against Maris and Ruth but also against the rest of us because the record book can never be fixed.

Tom Clavin and Danny Peary will be reading from and signing copies of ROGER MARIS: BASEBALL’S RELUCTANT HERO on March 24 at 7:00 in the Time Warner Center Borders and on April 13 at Mickey Mantle’s at 4:00, right after the Yankees’ home opener.