Roger Eugene Maris (September 10, 1934 – December 14, 1985) was an American professional baseball player who played four seasons in the minor leagues and twelve seasons in the major leagues. Maris played right field on four Major League Baseball (MLB) teams, from 1957 through 1968.
Maris set the MLB record for home runs during the 1961 season with 61 of them, breaking Babe Ruth's single-season record of 60 home runs in 1927. This record was challenged by then-baseball commissioner Ford Frick (who had been a friend of Babe Ruth), who said that Maris needed to break the record in 154 games instead of the current schedule of 162 games. His accomplishment of 61 home runs in a season came back to the forefront in 1998, when the 61 homer mark was exceeded by Mark McGwire, and later that same year by Sammy Sosa. Barry Bonds currently holds the single-season home run record of 73, which he accomplished in 2001. However, all those who exceeded Maris's single season record did so during baseball's so-called "steroid era", and every one of those players who surpassed 61 has been linked to steroids. As such, many baseball fans still consider Roger Maris's 61 HRs in 1961 to be baseball's legitimate single season home run record.