61* (2001)
Aug 9th, 2007 by Ashley
A
What a coincidence. I didn’t notice it until now. This is the 61st movie I watched this year and the movie is about a great player who broke the single-season home run record in 1961. In the very last game of the season, he hit his 61th homer.
Roger Maris is the name should be remembered.
Born in North Dakota, Roger Maris is a gentle, low-key and the most misunderstood player in baseball. He didn’t have the star personality but he’s decent, he worked hard and he’s a family man. I don’t care if he’s one or two homer short from single-season record as of 2007 without the help of wonder drug, he is my record holder.
The Roger Maris Barry Pepper portrayed reminded me a lot of Mark Ellis, our quiet, respectable and earnest A from South Dakota. But unlike Maris, Ellis is appreciated, if not loved, and here in oaktown, we don’t boo our own player, not very often. It pained me to see Maris being wronged by most of the world and he was helpless in defending himself. It is a wonderful movie. Yes, it almost made me cry. Yes, it made me appreciate Maris and Mantle more (as I didn’t know them at all before the movie.) But no, it didn’t make me love the Yankees. (The owner saying “forget the numbers, we’re paying you to hit home runs!” and those swings at the first pitch are just too… not-the-way-I-was-brought-up, by Moneyball.)
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I thank Billy Crystal for bringing the story to us. I thank Billy for Maris.
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*Oh my gosh, I just realized something. They kept talking about Maris being in KC before he was traded to the Yankees. I thought it was the KC Royals. But it was actually the KC Athletics! Maris was an A!