Roger Maris Museum (Fargo, ND)

Well friends here we are nearing the end of another baseball season, and as I write this blog, I’m watching game one of the ALDS (American League Division Series) – NY Yankees against the Cleveland Guardians. For me this time of year is bittersweet because I absolutely love watching the ALDS and NLDS (National League Division Series) play offs and the World Series, but it also means the end of the baseball season…and summer. *Cue the tears*

Before the baseball season ends however, I’d love to share with you all about the Roger Maris Museum I visited in Fargo, ND that holds historical footage and memorabilia from Maris’ time in baseball. The Roger Maris Museum opened in Maris’ hometown of Fargo, ND in 1984, and per his wishes the museum is visible, accessible, and free of charge to everyone. Located in the Roger Maris Wing at West Acres Shopping Center, the glass-enclosed museum enables visitors to take in Maris’ legendary life. While museum officials don’t track museum attendees, there is almost always someone viewing the historical footage and memorabilia.

The Roger Maris Museum was fully renovated by the West Acres Shopping Center in 2003, and currently features:

• A video room for watching historic footage while sitting on actual Yankee Stadium seats from the Roger Maris era. Super cool seating!
• A replica of Roger Maris’ Yankee Stadium monument.
• A replica of Roger Maris’ 1961 locker.
• Displays and artifacts from Roger Maris’ youth and Major League Baseball (MLB) playing days.

If you don’t follow baseball closely you may be wondering why the Roger Maris Museum is such a big deal. Well, let me share with you a little bit about our fellow Midwesterner, Roger Maris.

Roger Maris is best known for setting an MLB single-season home run record in 1961 with 61 home runs (in 162 games) while playing for the NY Yankees. The previous single-season home run record was set by Babe Ruth in 1927 with 60 home runs (in 154 games) while also playing for the NY Yankees. Roger Maris’ home run record remained unbroken all these years[1] until Aaron Judge of the NY Yankees broke it just recently (October 2022) with 62 home runs (in 161 games). Man those Yankees are amazing! Ha! Congrats to Aaron Judge!

Roger Maris was born September 10, 1934, in Hibbing, MN, moving with his family to Fargo when he was 10 years old. It was at Shanley High School in Fargo where Maris began an incredible string of sports successes. Beginning in 1950, he competed in football, basketball, and track. What about baseball?!

Well, while football was Maris’ real passion, he did play baseball for the American Legion team in Fargo. “Baseball was just something to do in the summer,” Maris once said. Playing outfield and pitcher from 1949 through 1951, Maris was voted Most Valuable Player in 1950 when he hit .367.

Roger Maris began his minor league career in the Class C Northern League. In 1953, just a year out of high school, he was recruited by the Cleveland organization and attended spring training in Florida. Eventually, Maris was wearing a Fargo-Moorhead Chicks uniform and during his first season he batted .325 with nine home runs and 13 triples, earning the league’s Rookie of the Year Award.

Roger Maris quickly moved on to the Class B Three-Eye League in Keokuk, Iowa, for the 1954 season. Class AA Tulsa of the Texas League quickly followed, and he also played in Tulsa, OK and Reading, PA. During the 1956 season in Indianapolis, IN, Maris batted .293, hit 17 homers, drove in 75 runs, and went to the Little World Series Championship solidifying his potential for the major leagues.

The Cleveland organization had signed Roger Maris in 1953, and he began the 1957 season with Cleveland in the major leagues. In the off-season Maris was traded to Kansas City and then to the NY Yankees in 1958. The video that plays at the museum states that Maris really enjoyed playing with Kansas City and was not too happy about leaving to play with the NY Yankees. After the 1966 season, the NY Yankees traded Maris to the St. Louis Cardinals, where he played his last two years and retired in 1968 at the end of the season.

During that exciting summer in 1961, Roger Maris and his NY Yankees teammate, Mickey Mantle, received national attention as they chased for the single-season home run record. Although Maris got off to a slow start hitting only one home run in April, he quickly made-up ground hitting 11 home runs in May and 15 home runs in June. Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle (nicknamed “M&M” or the “M&M Boys” – this is something my dad shared with me when I talked with him about the museum, and he reminisced about that time) went back and forth leading the major leagues in home runs. Maris became the first player in history to hit 50 home runs by the end of August (and Mantle had 46). In September 1961 Mickey Mantle missed games at the end of the season due to complications with a flu shot, but he still finished with a career high 54 home runs. Roger Maris went on to set the MLB single-season home run record with 61 home runs.

“I still see him in my dreams. We lived together, we kidded around a lot, we enjoyed our time out there. Roger was a hell of a player, a Hall of Famer for sure in my book.” – Mickey Mantle

Roger Maris was a humble Midwesterner who did not like a lot of attention. When he hit his 61^st home run, his team mates literally pushed him out of the dug out to wave his cap to the crowd and acknowledge their applause. Maris had a bumpy road to the single-season home run record including stressful moments, losing his hair, and being mistreated by NY Yankee fans. It’s good to know that the fans were behind him now, cheering when he hit that 61^st home run!

“Sometimes I wish I never hit those 61 home runs. All I want is to be treated like any other player. I never wanted all this hoopla. All I wanted is to be a good ballplayer, hit 25 or 30 homers, drive in around a hundred runs, hit .280, and help my club win pennants. I just wanted to be one of the guys, an average player with a good season.” – Roger Maris

During the 1961 season Maris not only set a single-season home run record, but he also became:

1. American League All-Star
2. American League Most Valuable Player
3. Major League home run champion
4. American League leader in home runs, runs scored, and total bases
5. American League leader in RBIs and extra base hits
6. American League pennant team
7. World Series champion team

Wow! So many accomplishments!

The NY Yankees retired Roger Maris’ uniform number (#9) on July 21, 1984. A new Roger Maris plaque was also dedicated in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. The plaque calls Maris, “A great player and author of one of the most remarkable chapters in the history of major league baseball.” Maris participated in the ceremony wearing a Yankee #9 uniform.

After a two-year battle with lymphatic cancer, Roger Maris died December 14, 1985, in a Houston, TX hospital at the age of 51. Roger is buried at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Fargo.

I recently watched the movie, 61*, directed by Billy Crystal. What a great movie! I encourage you to check it out to get the full story of the “M&M Boys” and all the struggles Roger Maris went through on his path to the single-season home run record in 1961.

I spent about an hour or so at the museum watching the historical footage and looking at all the amazing memorabilia. It was so fascinating! Be sure to stop in and check out the Roger Maris Museum the next time you’re in Fargo. It’s also a good excuse to do some shopping at West Acres Shopping Center!

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[1] There is still controversy over whether the single-season home run records hit by Barry Bonds (73 home runs in 2021), Mark McGuire (70 home runs hit in 1998), and Sammy Sosa (66 homes runs in 1998) are official as they were taking performance enhancing drugs during the years they set the single-season home run records. In October 2022 it seems the number to beat was 61.