1961 Home Run Chase

The 1961 season is remembered above all for the race between Yankee teammates Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle to break Babe Ruth's single-season record of 60 home runs, set in 1927. Mantle dropped out of the lineup in late September with a hip infection and finished with 54, while Maris hit his 61st home run on October 1, the last day of the regular season. The record was disputed because Ruth had set his mark in a 154-game season, while the American League had just moved to 162 games; Maris, though, hit his first homer in the team's 11th game, so all 61 came within a 151-game span. His major league record stood until Mark McGwire passed it in 1998, and his American League record until Aaron Judge hit 62 for the Yankees in 2022. The Yankees went on to beat the Cincinnati Reds in five games in the 1961 World Series.