Roger Maris Featured Card of the Week

If you’ve never seen the movie 61*, I advise you get yourself a copy from the video store tonight.

The movie details Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle’s race to 61 homers in 1961. A lot of it shows how the media treated both players differently and how fans felt about both too.

For your information, I have two more cards left from this era. Click here for a full archive of all the old cards I've featured this summer and fall.

Hector Lopez Featured Card of the Week

Hector Lopez played alongside Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris (keep those two players in mind later this month) in the Yankees’ 1961 outfield. Lopez never hit .300 in 12 major league seasons, eight of which with the Yankees.

Lopez is also well known for being the first black manager in Triple-A. Here are his career stats (B-R):

Comparing Jeter’s hit milestone to A-Rod’s home run milestone

The atmosphere at Yankee Stadium over the weekend was nothing compared to 9/11/09 when Derek Jeter broke Lou Gehrig’s hit record.

Last September, fans waited through an hour-and-a-half rain delay and stood for Jeter’s entire first at-bat. He didn’t break the record the first time, so the fans stood again for his second at-bat. That’s when he broke the record. Some fans chanted his name, some stood the entire inning hoping he’d score.

It was so much better than the atmosphere this weekend for Alex Rodriguez. OK, 600 *tainted* homers may not be as meaningful to the Yankee Universe as the all-time Yankees hit record, but 600 is still 600. Only six players in the history of baseball have reached the plateau. Fifty-four players had more hits than Gehrig before Jeter broke his record.

Still, very few people stood for A-Rod’s at-bats. He only heard “Let’s go A-Rod” chants by the die-hard fans who stuck around for five hours to see his fifth at-bat Sunday.

This weekend showed me just how much more Jeter is loved by the fans than A-Rod is, and how many people will ignore the records A-Rod will eventually set.

As my dad always says, Hank Aaron is still the all-time home run leader, and Roger Maris still holds the single-season record. I have a feeling he’s not alone in that belief.

What $103,579 can buy…

So many other things besides Alex Rodriguez’s 500th home run ball. The article from the Daily News lists a few other notable home run balls sold.

• Barry Bonds – 756 - $752,467
• Mark McGwire – 70 - $3 million
• Roger Maris – 61 – $5,000

I collect some memorabilia, but I’m not going to spend over $500 on anything. Maybe after I become rich and famous I will.