The  ROGER MARIS  Page!

Nowbatting19.net Presents... The ROGER MARIS Page!

Roger Maris - "The Reluctant Hero"

ROGER MARIS. The name sounds like a Hall of Famer. The greatest baseball story in the 1960's, 1961 to be precise, was Mickey Mantle & Roger Maris (aka. "The M&M Boys ") chasing after Babe Ruth's cherished single season record of 60 Home Runs. While Mantle's regular season ended prematurely due to injury, he still slugged 54 HRs to finish 2nd in the thrilling HR chase. Maris of course went on to not only tie Ruth's Record of 60, but also hit 61 for a new record. He also won his 2nd consecutive American League Most Valuable Player Award in 1961; no small feat considering Mantle had already won 2 consecutive MVP Awards himself (1957 & 1958; Mantle added a 3rd A.L. MVP in 1962). 

While Roger Maris is NOT in the Baseball Hall of Fame as a player, he might as well be! The Hall of Fame has numerous game-used or related memorabilia, including the baseball bat he used to hit home run number 61. His name and story have been told just as much, if not more, than actual HOF players! Maris was a consummate team player, Gold Glove right fielder, 4-time All-Star who helped his teams to 7 Pennants (5 with the Yankees, 2 with the Cardinals) and 3 World Championships (2 with Yankees, 1 with Cards).  Maris's home run record has since been broken, mainly by tainted sluggers who were the exact opposite of Roger Maris. They played for themselves. Maris played for his team. 1961 was a career year for Roger Maris, but he couldn't wait for it to end. 

On this page we will feature many Roger Maris baseball cards and other tidbits. Hopefully you will (if you don't already) find a new-found appreciation for this relunctant hero! I got to meet him briefly in 1980 prior to the All-Star Game here in Los Angeles. He graciously gave me his autograph and I remember he was wearing a suit and had that famous crew cut. I had never seen him play, but I knew all about him. I was a big baseball fan back then. 

1962 Topps 313 Maris Blasts 61st

1962 Venezuela Topps #1 Roger Maris - Rare version of a Topps Classic!

1962 Venezuela Topps 1 Roger Maris

1962 Venezuela Topps 1 (Back)

Topps Chewing Gum issued Roger Maris baseball cards from 1958 to 1968. One of most iconic cards from the 1960's is the 1961 Topps 1 Roger Maris. The "card" was used as a prop on an episode of Star Trek - The Next Generation ("artifact with Bubble Gum smell intact")! Topps also issued baseball cards in Venezuela, including #1 Roger Maris. The 1962 Venezuela Topps cards are identical in front, but with cruder printing (quality control was not a concern it seems). However, the backs of the Venezuela Topps cards have printing in Spanish, not English. The Venezuela Topps cards are RARE and are mainly found in low grades due to the common practice of pasting the cards in a scrapbook. PSA has authenticated only 57 1962 Venezuela Topps 1 Roger Maris cards. Compare that to the 3,731 regular 1962 Topps 1 Roger Maris cards to be authenticated by PSA. and you can see how rare they are. The highest graded example of the 1962 Venezuela Topps 1 Roger Maris is a PSA EX 5 (PSA Population reports as of 2/6/2023)

1957-58 Cleveland Indians Real Photo Postcards Roger Maris (Autographed)

1957-58 Cleveland Indians Real Photo Postcards Roger Maris (Vintage Autograph)

Most collectors are familiar with the first TOPPS baseball card of Roger Maris, 1958 Topps #47, which is considered his "Rookie card."  But there are 2 other card issues (or related) of Maris that  actually pre-date his 1958 "Rookie," 1957 Sohio Gas Cleveland Indians and this 1957 Cleveland Indians Real Photo Postcard Roger Maris. These real photo postcards feature a glossy black & white photo of the player.. The backs are like regular postcards. They were likely created for the specific purpose of fan autographs through the mail, or maybe even sold at the stadium. This particular example is a vintage autograph, signed by Maris with a ball point pen. 

With the addition of youngsters Rocky Colavito, Roger Maris, and Herb Score, and future Hall of Famers Bob Lemon,  Minnie Minoso, & Early Wynn, Cleveland looked like they had a promising future. But it was not to be. After 2 brilliant "Hall of Fame" type seasons, Score was badly injured by a batted ball during a game, and his career was never the same. Maris had belted 23 HR with 78 RBI for the Indians in 167 games and was traded away to the Kansas City Athletics (which was just fine for Maris, as he was from the mid-west), and fan-favorite Colavito was traded after leading the A.L. in Home Runs in 1959. The trade of Colavito was bad enough, but trading Maris after not even 2 years seemed premature.  Maris thrived in Kansas City and belted 35 HR with 125 RBI in about the same time he was with the Indians, batting 20 points higher as well. Just a few years later, Cleveland traded away youngsters  Jim "Mudcat" Grant, Tommy John & Luis Tiant, so I hope some heads rolled in the Indians front office.

1957 Sohio Gas Cleveland Indians Roger Maris - The "Other" Roger Maris Rookie Card!

In 1957, Sohio Gas (Standard Gas of Ohio) issued player photo cards of both Cincinnati Reds & Cleveland Indians players. They were given away as a premium (for getting gas, presumably) in perforated 3-player panels. A team album was also supplied to house the 5" x 7" cards. The card front feature a glossy black & white photo; the backs are blank to paste in the album. The Indians team features Chico Carrasquel, Rocky Colavito, Bob Lemon (HOF), Roger Maris, Early Wynn (HOF), and more (the Reds players included an early card of Hall of Fame slugger Frank Robinson). 

Because this is a "regional issue," released only in Ohio, these cards are often overlooked. Because the 1958 Topps 47 Roger Maris was a mainstream release, it is considered his rookie card, but you can't ignore this issue! And while the Sohio Gas Roger Maris card is harder to acquire, the good news is that is also far less expensive! 

There are also some extremely RARE Minor League Issues of Roger Maris when he was playing for the Fargo Moorhead Indians in the early to mid-1950s.  These cards (I believe there are two different poses, but don't quote me on that), are so RARE you might not ever see one. If one ever does come up for sale I would expect it would set a record for a Roger Maris card.  There are many more scarce and rare Roger Maris issues during his playing career. We will try to include pictures of many of them, so stay tuned! 

1957 Sohio Gas Cleveland Indians Roger Maris

October 1, 1961 - Roger Maris Blasts Home Run #61 

Roger Maris connects for 61st home run at Yankee Stadium, 10/1/1961. Called by Yankees broadcaster Phil Rizzuto. 

 1962 Post Cereal Roger Maris baseball cards

1962 Post Cereal #6 Roger Maris (Perforated from LIFE magazine insert)

1962 Post Cereal #6 Roger Maris (Hand cut from box)

Imagine being a kid (& baseball fan) in 1962. Roger Maris was a household name and the new single-season Home Run King! So you sit down for breakfast and mom puts down some milk and a box of Post "Toasties" Corn Flakes. Your eyes pop out as you see several FREE baseball cards on the back of the cereal box! And even better one of them is ROGER MARIS! Yippeeekiyay! Post Cereal really knocked it out of the park in 1962. There were 2 ways you get get a free Maris card- Post put out a 1-page advertisement for FREE baseball cards ("Get 200 top stars in all on Post Cereals!") in a LIFE magazine issue (featuring Liz Taylor & Richard Burton in "Cleopatra" on the cover). Inserted in the magazine next to the ad was a panel of 2 baseball stars:  MICKEY MANTLE & ROGER MARIS! The cards were perforated so you could separate them and get a jump start your collection. How's THAT for a promotion! Genius! 

The other way to get a free Post Cereal Roger Maris card was to have your mom buy a box (or boxes) of Post Cereal from the market. Hopefully she would bring home one with Maris, but remember there were 200 different players! Other stars included all the big names- Aaron, Banks, Clemente, Kaline, Koufax, Mays, Yaz etc. So you really couldn't really go wrong. And the cards were FREE thanks to Post. The cards on the cereal boxes were intended to be cut out, traded & collected. While the cereal box and the LIFE magazine  cards are similar, they are not the same. The cereal box cards are on sturdy, cereal box cardboard. They have blank backs. The LIFE magazine Mantle & Maris cards were printed on lighter and thinner card stock. If perforated, they are slightly larger than the cards cut from the box. Some collectors trim these cards so that they are the same size of the cereal box size, but I prefer to keep the perforated cards uncut.  The LIFE Mantle & Maris cards have a printed ad on the back (see picture below). There are still some LIFE magazines still out there, complete with the Mantle & Maris cards still attached! Another difference between the Post cereal box and LIFE Mantle & Maris cards is in the statistics area. The cereal box cards will have thin lines separating the batting statistics, while the LIFE cards do not. 

1962 Post Cereal Mickey Mantle & Roger Maris 2-card advertising panel (intact in LIFE magazine, April 13, 1962)

"FREE!" 1962 Post Cereal Mickey Mantle & Roger Maris 

Baseball Trading Cards from LIFE Magazine, Apr. 13, 1962


This is how the 1962 Post Cereal Mickey Mantle & Roger Maris cards were inserted in LIFE magazine, April 13, 1962. Also note the Post Cereal ad featuring Whitey Ford pitching "FREE Baseball Trading Cards on all 12 Post Cereals!" A great bit of advertising, especially after the epic home run chase the previous year! I hope whoever thought this promotion up was given some sort of award! 

 1962 Jell-O #6 Roger Maris - Scarce Midwest Issue

1962 Jell-O #6 Roger Maris

In 1962 JELL-O, makers of gelatin & pudding, also issued a similar 200-card set on their small packages (1 card per box). However the 1962  JELL-O cards differ in that they have a solid yellow color in the statistics area, while the 1962 POST cereal cards have a thick blue (National League) or red (American League) band around the stats area. Another difference is the availability. The Jell-O cards were only issued in the mid-west, unlike the Post Cereal issue. This means that the 1962 JELL-O cards are far scarcer. Being that the Jell-O cards took up nearly the entire back of  the box, they are very hard to find cut full size. The 1962 Jell-O 6 Roger Maris card above is a well cut example, but does display wear and creasing. That's what kids did with their cards back then- they handled, sorted, traded, studied and maybe "flipped" them in a game of chance.. Then they were bundled up with rubber bands and stuffed in a shoebox for safekeeping. Remember cards were not "worth" money then! They were meant to be enjoyed by kids, and this 1962 Jell-O 6 Roger Maris was certainly well-loved!

1963 Jell-O #16 Roger Maris... or is it Post?

1963 Jell-O #16 Roger Maris (Hand cut from box)

As mentioned previously, JELL-O brand desserts printed baseball cards on their packages in 1962 & 1963.  The 1963 Jell-O cards, at first glance, appear exactly like the 1963 POST cereal cards. There are some differences to tell them apart. For starters, the 1963 JELL-O cards are 3-3/8" x 2-1/2." Post  Cereal cards measure (standard size) 3-1/2 x 2-1/2,"  which are exactly 1/4" longer (width-wise) than the Jell-O cards. This is because of the smaller size Jell-O boxes that were used. The problem is, if the Post cereal cards were cut significantly shorter than intended, you might not be able to tell the difference between the two cards. So here is another way to tell- the red line that divides the statistics stops right past "Avg." statistics. On the POST cereal cards, that red line extends much further. Also, the text on the JELL-O cards is slightly smaller than the Post cereal cards (to accommodate the smaller card size). A final way is to check out the card number, team & position underneath the player name. On the 1963 Jell-O cards that text is more of a Magenta color. On the 1963 POST Cereal cards, that text is more a traditional red color. For some reason, the 1963 Jell-O Roger Maris cards are much easier to find than the 1963 POST cereal cards. 

St. Louis Cardinals 1967-1968 - 2 More Pennants, 2 More World Series For Maris!

The Yankees had reached a low spot after being in the 1963 & 1964 World Series and losing both contests. Their star players were aging, specifically Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford & Mickey Mantle. Injuries caught up to Mantle, and after 1964, he was on the down side of his career. Roger Maris was still relatively young in comparison (only 31 in 1966), but injuries, specifically to his hand had curtailed his home run production. The Yankees, as owners did back then, downplayed this and hinted to the press that Maris was not really injured at all. In reality, Maris had a broken hand and was playing (in pain) despite this! This was before the player's had a Union. Roger was fed up with New York as well, and on Dec. 8, 1966, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for a player named Charley Smith. If not mistaken, Maris was informed by this trade via Western Union Telegraph. I had a picture of it at one time. After 7 years, 2 MVP Awards, Gold Glove, 5 A.L. Pennants, 3 World Series Championships, not to mention the record breaking 61 Home Run season, the tactless Yankees unceremoniously severed ties with him. Via telegram. Goodbye & good luck. Roger did not forget that.

Fortunately the trade rejuvenated Roger Maris. He was going back to the mid-west, playing for a contender, and away from the intense pressure the media had put him under in New York. He was on a team with stars like Lou Brock, Orlando Cepeda, Curt Flood, Bob Gibson and more, so Maris did not feel the pressure of having to "carry the team" through hard times. How did Maris respond? He had a fine season, helped the Cardinals win not only the Pennant, but the World Series as well! In the World Series, Maris shined, batting .385 with 10 hits, including a HR & 7 RBI. The following season he helped the Cardinals to another Pennant and World Series, but this time they lost to a very good Detroit Tigers club. Roger had announced he would retire after the World Series and the St. Louis Cardinals gave him and his family a warm celebration. Maris even got a Beer Distributorship from the Cardinals owner, so he and his family did not have financial worries in the future. That was a class act by the St. Louis Cardinals.  Maris had nothing to do with the Yankees until George Steinbrenner made amends and retired his famous number 9 alongside other Yankee greats like Babe Ruth (3), Lou Gehrig (4), Joe DiMaggio (5), & teammate Mickey Mantle (7). 

Very Rare 1967 Venezuela Topps 328 Roger Maris

1967 Venezuela Topps 328 Roger Maris

1967 Venezuela Topps 328 Maris (Back)

1968 Venezuela Topps 330 Roger Maris - RARE!

1968 Venezuela Topps 330 Roger Maris

1968 Venezuela Topps 330 Roger Maris (back view)

1968 Topps 330 Roger Maris (regular)

1968 Topps 330 Roger Maris (regular, back view)

Topps issued cards for the Venezuela baseball fans in 1959-60, 1962, 1964, 1966-68. As mentioned earlier, the Venezuela Topps cards are extremely RARE, and most are found in lower grades. Compare the Venezuela Topps to the regular Topps card. Photo is about the same, but up close you would see the regular card has a slight sheen, or "gloss" on the surface. The Venezuela card does not. Also the back color is different, and if you enlarge the card backs you will see the Venezuela card is "Hecho en Valenzuela," while the regular Topps is "Printed in U.S.A."

1961-62 Bazooka Roger Maris - More FREE on the box baseball cards!

1962 Bazooka Roger Maris

Yep, even MORE free baseball cards were issued on the backs of Bazooka Bubble Gum retail boxes, from 1960-1968, & 1971. 3-cards were printed on the bottom of the small Bazooka cartons. These are smaller cards,  smaller than average size and they have blank backs. Like the Hostess, Jell-O, & Post Cereal cards, theBazooka cards were designed to be cut out as "singles," though there are uncut panels and complete boxes still out there. Usually all the "Bazooka Joe & Gang" comics with bubble gum are gone, however. I remember buying Bazooka gum for a penny apiece at the local little corner market down the street. The cards today are worth a lot more. Imagine how many empty boxes were simply thrown out. Of course in 1962, this Roger Maris card would have been prized by any kid; he had just broke Babe Ruth's single season HR Record and was the "talk of baseball." What would Roger do in 1962? He socked 33 home runs with 100 RBI & 92 runs scored. He also played in both All-Star Games that year, the Yankees won the Pennant, and they won the World Series! Yet the press labeled Roger Maris "Flop of the Year." It was that kind of unfair treatment that really soured the relationship between Maris and the press. 

1962 Topps Baseball Bucks Roger Maris

1962 Topps Baseball Bucks Roger Maris

(Back view)

Topps was always experimenting with new ideas and gimmicks to get kids to spend their money buying gum. One of these ideas were these 1962 Topps Baseball Bucks. Issued with gum, they came in a separate wrapper, and I guess the idea was to let kids exchange players like currency. Which is sadly the state of the game today. Money. I guess at the time these baseball "bucks" were not terribly popular, because Topps only did this the one year (1962). You gotta give Topps credit. They tried other items as well, including stamps, coins & more. Some worked, some didn't. But Topps sure did get an "E" for effort!

1964 Venezuela Topps 331 A.L. Bombers Maris, Cash, Mantle, Kaline

1964 Venezuela Topps 331 AL Bombers Maris, Cash, Mantle, Kaline

1964 Venezuela Topps 331 AL Bombers (Back)

This really the only Topps card that pictures both of the "M & M Boys" actually together (they do appear on 1961 & 1962 Topps League Leader cards). An added bonus is the two Detroit Tigers sluggers, Norm Cash & Al Kaline. This is the rarer Venezuela Topps issued. Note the off-white color on the borders and the card back (Venezuela Topps cards used a different card stock), There is no gloss on the card front, but the best way to tell a Venezuela Topps from a regular Topps card is to look at the back. If it has black borders & text, it is a Venezuela Topps. Regular Topps cards have orange backs with orange text. And as usual, the Venezuela Topps cards are usually found in lower grades. 

1967 Topps Roger Maris YANKEES Proof

1967 Topps 45 Roger Maris

1967 Topps Roger Maris YANKEES Proof

More Roger Maris cards coming soon! 

Questions? Comments? Please send me an email at nowbatting19@yahoo.com