Roger Maris jersey worn in ‘asterisk game' of his 61 home run season going to auction

New York Times

14-04-2025

Roger Maris' chase of Babe Ruth's single-season home run record in 1961 is a seminal moment in baseball history. It captured the imagination of the sports public at the time and has since been dramatized in a hit movie, the title of which contained the most famous asterisk in history.
The jersey Maris wore in one of the key moments of his historic 61 home run season is on display at Sotheby's starting today, at its York Avenue location in New York City. This is in advance of an auction that will begin on April 21 and conclude on May 2. This same jersey last sold in 2022 for $244,240 through Grey Flannel Auctions. In today's red-hot sports memorabilia market and with the worldwide audience commanded by Sotheby's, it's now expected to fetch upwards of $2 million.
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Maris was wearing this road jersey when he blasted home run No. 59 off Milt Pappas on September 20 in Baltimore during the third inning. The jerseys that Maris wore for this 60th and 61st homer, both in his home pinstripes, are on display at the club's museum, according to Brahm Wachter, Sotheby's Head of Modern Collectibles. So they're unlikely to ever be available to the public.
It turns out that this is also the asterisk jersey, as this 59th home run came in the 154th game played by the Yankees, the number of games teams played when Ruth established the then single-season record of 60 in 1927.
In June of 1961, then MLB commissioner Ford Frick ruled that any AL record for a season would have to be established by game 154 or it would get an asterisk with the prior holder remaining in the record books. (The NL still played 154 games in 1961.)
'I tried and all I got was one,' Maris said after the game. 'I'm happy and lucky to get what I got. I'm relieved, too.'
Of Frick's dictum that he could no longer replace Ruth in the record books now that he was stuck at 59 homers by the deadline, Maris said, 'He makes the rules.'
As far as Maris was concerned, failing to hit No. 60 by game No. 154 ended the perilous journey, one that cost him hair and gained him ulcers. UPI reporter Oscar Fraley wrote of Maris' countenance after the game, 'You'd see more expression on the fish who stole your bait, the lady who won 20 cents on her two-buck ticket on the favorite to show, on the guy whose wife didn't pick his pocket of the poker winnings.'
Maris was spent. And the jersey has the DNA, literally and figuratively, of the near crippling anxiety felt by Maris in the face of a very vocal pushback against his quest, first in competing neck-and-neck with the beloved Mickey Mantle for the record and then in favor of Ruth.
According to Wachter, a jersey is 'the pinnacle of identifying an athlete with an event' or, in this case, an entire period of time. 'It's also closest to the immense pressure he was under.'
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The jersey has been photo matched by multiple authenticators as having been worn by Maris as far back as Game 6 of the 1960 World Series, nearly a year earlier.
'The road flannel has contrasting stitching,' Wachter noted. 'Then you juxtapose it to New York and the bold No. 9 and you can perfectly line up the threading on the entire garment.' In addition, 'You can also see in photos the No. 9 starting to dethread and this jersey has it reinforced.' It also has a collar tag that reads 'Maris '60' and the Wilson tag with his size, 42.
Though Sotheby's does on-site authentication, Wachter said this jersey was sent to multiple authenticators. He said jersey collectors know the authenticators similar to how baseball card collectors know graders and that certain authenticators command more value at auction.
Back in the early '60s, people associated the ball with a baseball event more so than the jersey. In fact, the fan who caught Maris' home run that day refused to give it up and, according to Maris, was said to want $3,000 for it.
'As far as I know, he's still got it,' Maris said in 1984. 'Jerseys were viewed then as equipment,' Wachter noted. Maris' has evidence of repairs, in addition to the reattached number.
According to Wachter, the jersey was owned by a private collector for nearly 50 years. Its current auction estimate is based on a more recent 1961 Maris jersey sale that exceeded seven figures. In February, a full Maris 1961 home uniform — jersey, pants, belt, and stirrups — photomatched to the games in which he hit home runs 29, 30, 46, 52, and 53 sold for $1.586 million through Heritage Auctions.
This jersey has not only closer proximity but also is the historical artifact symbolizing the asterisk immortalized in the Billy Crystal-directed movie, '61*,' which starred Barry Pepper as Maris and which was released on the 40th anniversary of the epic quest.
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Maris pushed back against the notion that he was a one-hit wonder by reminding people that he was the AL MVP the year earlier (1960). Other than Pete Rose, he's arguably the most collectable non-Hall of Famer in the expansion era. And if anything comes close to equalling the Hall of Fame as a testament to the historic relevance of a baseball player, it's Monument Park at Yankee Stadium, where Maris has been honored since 1984.
Maris' plaque there contains no asterisk. The mythical mark was officially removed from the record books nearly 30 years after Maris hit No. 61, by an eight-person panel, the Committee for Statistical Accuracy. Maris didn't live to see that day, passing away from cancer in 1985 at age 51.
'This change allows Roger Maris to receive the recognition he deserves,' then commissioner Faye Vincent said.
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