Friday, November 12, 2021

Hall of Fame? Rookie Card: Roger Maris

Roger Maris is on the Golden Era Days Hall of Fame ballot. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about Maris because I'm sure most of you reading this are familiar with his exploits.

I picked up his rookie card recently off of Twitter from Breakout Cards. It's got a crease all the way across and a scuff mark below that and the corners and centering aren't prefect, but all of these issues combined put it in my price range.


Rog, as the back of his 1958 Topps card refers to him as, will forever be a part of baseball history for breaking Babe Ruth's single season home run record in 1961.


While certainly a part of baseball history, I don't think Maris will make the Hall of Fame this year or any year. His career numbers just don't warrant his selection, in my opinion. Let's look at the big three. Roger had a career .260 batting average, 275 home runs, and 850 RBI over his 12 year career. Those just aren't Hall of Fame numbers.

What do you think? Does Roger Maris get into the Hall of Fame?

5 comments:

  1. No. He had a 4-year stretch where he was among baseball's best, but that's it.

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  2. No. I'm a Yankees fan, and I know he isn't a hall of famer.

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  3. Yeah, under 40 WAR doesn't cut it for the Hall. They should put in Luis Tiant, Minnie MiƱoso, and maybe Jim Kaat.

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  4. He's kind of like Mattingly - an all-time great peak (even more so than Mattingly) and pretty much nothing else. For some reason HOF peaks get punished in HOF voting. You can't tell the story of baseball without Roger Maris. Though you certainly could tell it without mentioning Baines, Trammell, Gossage, Santo, etc.

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  5. Yeah, one needs to take in the full story when considering Maris for the Hall, not just reviewing his career stat line. Huge figure in the lore of the game. I'd be good with him getting in, but not expecting it.

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