It's almost poetic justice conceived by the fates that Sal would pass away in the same year that saw Aaron Judge break the record Maris set with 62 home runs. Maris's 61st homer was set in the 1961 season. There was the expected hubbub of setting the record and breaking Babe Ruth's season record of 60 homers playing in 162 games vs. the 154 game season Ruth played in. More games, more chances at bat. Is Maris's record tainted?
A record book asterisk was always called for the by sportswriters of the era to denote that the record was achieved with more games in the season. An asterisk, or a dagger, never was appended to the record.
I was 12 when Maris and Mantle were knocking the cover off the ball. I followed the team at the time, despite not being a diehard baseball fan. It was hard to ignore the news as Maris crept closer to Ruth's record.
What I always remind anyone who cares, the controversy over Maris vs. Ruth and 162 games vs. 154 would be moot if the homer that Roger hit toward the end of the season in Baltimore entered the books rather than being wiped out by a rain delay that stopped the game before it was an official game. What might have been. I don't know if Ruth had any homers nullified due to an unofficial game. His 60 might have been more. Water under the bridge.
Sal caught the treasured ball in the right field bleachers. You had to appreciate the dimensions of Yankee Stadium at the time that put those bleacher seats a mere 296' from home plate.
Sal had the look of a male, NYC 19-year-old teenage. His hair was slicked back, leaving a dip in the front; he wore a t-shirt under a leather jacket. It was guys like him and their leather-clad girlfriends that kept me from ever eating 15¢ slice pizza. The older teenagers of the era hung out in pizza joints and were scary to me. I was afraid I'd get beat up.
Since bleacher seating at he time was general admission, those that got there early enough always headed for those seats. They might have cost 75¢.
I remember heading for those seats with my father. There were always broken pint booze bottles and other debris when you sat down. The people who got there early were not ones you wanted to sit next to. My father always steered us away from the undesirables.
As the record was neared in 1961 it was very much like what went on this season when Aaron Judge was pursuing Ruth's and Maris's record. Fans were clustering in the seats where the ball might land. The difference was the price and the reserved seating.
Sal apparently wanted to give the ball to Maris, but Maris insisted Sal keep it and make some money from it. What I remember is that eventually some restaurant guy on the West Coast gained possession after buying it from Sal for $5,000, a titanic sum at the time. At some point the ball has been donated to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
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