Roger Maris hit #61 in team game 163, not 162. Only 60 in first 162 games.

In 1961 not only did Roger Maris not reach 60 Home Runs (HR) in his team's first 154 games, Maris did not reach 61 HR in his team's first 162 games. Maris hit 60 HR in his team's first 162 games.

Note: In 1961 Maris hit his first Home Run in Yankee game 11. Maris played in the first 10 games but did not homer. So some may say that Maris hitting his 61 HR in 152 team games is some kind of record. It's interesting but that's all.

The current lazy conventional wisdom is that Roger Maris might be the true record holder for Home Runs in a season because he did not use Performance Enhancing Drugs (PED), including steroids, and that Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa did use PED.

News flash: Babe Ruth did not use PED.

Aaron Judge? Who knows? Alex Rodriguez was the poster boy for the guy who did it right until he wasn't.

Nolan Ryan, Tom House and steroids. Monday, August 11, 2014

Nolan Ryan could have been using steroids and other performance enhancing drugs (PED), not just late in his career, but also in the 1970s. Tom House "estimated that six or seven pitchers per team were at least experimenting with steroids or human growth hormone".

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The case against Roger Maris 61 Home Runs in 1961: expansion (25% more teams) and EIGHT (5.2%) more games. Wednesday, August 31, 2022

So, basic common sense is that Roger Maris did not break the season record of Babe Ruth because Maris did not do it in his team's first 154 games. It seems pretty clear and fair. Maris hit his final two in these Yankee games:

159: 60

163: 61.

163

Come on. How much of a break does Maris deserve? Forget the steroids. Think about the number of games.

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60 Home Runs in 154 games: Ruth yes. Maris no. Bonds, McGwire, Sosa? Monday, June 12, 2017

Both the 1927 and 1961 Yankees played a tie game and so the team played 155 and 163 games respectively. Ruth broke his 1921 record of 59 HR when he hit number 60 in Yankee game 154 at the Stadium. Ruth did not homer in the final game, number 155.

In 1961 Maris for some reason was allowed that extra game, too, since the Yankees had already played their tie game way back on April 22, 1961 in Baltimore. Maris reached Yankee game 155 with 58 HR. Maris hit number 59 in that fateful night game Sept. 20, 1961, also in Baltimore. Maris would eventually tie and then pass Ruth in Yankee Stadium in Yankee games 159 and 163.

But what of Bonds, McGwire, Sosa? Here are the team game numbers for when they hit home runs 59, 60, 61.

Rk	Player	HR	AB	Year	59	60	61
1	Barry Bonds	73	476	2001	139	141	144
2	Mark McGwire	70	509	1998	139	141	143
3	Sammy Sosa	66	643	1998	148	149	150
4	Mark McGwire	65	521	1999	150	155	156
5	Sammy Sosa	64	577	2001	153	157	158
6	Sammy Sosa	63	625	1999	140	148	149
7	Roger Maris	61	590	1961	155	159	163
8	Babe Ruth	60	540	1927	152	154

Maris was last for all three home runs, taking the most team games to hit them. Bonds and McGwire were almost dead even for the lead. After they hit number 60, they had 21 games remaining. McGwire hit another 10 and Bonds hit another 13. Amazing no matter what they were using.

So the performance enhancing drug (PED) users out performed Maris.

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Stop staring at Batting Average and Home Runs. Look at their percentage above the league. Sunday, January 30, 2022

We baseball fans are simple. That's a euphemism for stupid. We stare at numbers and marvel at them even when they are completely lacking context...

Home Runs: uh, that's it. Just a total. Not even a simple average or rate like AB divided by HR to get the common sense stat of the average number of AB to hit a homer.

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Babe Ruth never batted against Satchel Paige. Neither did Jackie Robinson. Friday, May 29, 2009

Babe Ruth never batted against Satchel Paige. That is often mentioned by people who want to emphasize that blacks had been excluded from wide participation in MLB before April 15, 1947 when Jackie Robinson broke the modern color line by playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the National League.

Paige (born 1906) was eleven years younger than Ruth (born 1895). The Babe never batted against Satchel in a MLB game. But neither did Jackie Robinson. Paige finally pitched in MLB from 1948 through 1953, plus a one game three inning stunt in Kansas City in 1965...

Even if Paige had been allowed to pitch in MLB the chances were less than 50% that he would have pitched to Ruth. Paige could have pitched in the other league. Had Paige pitched in the same league as Ruth chances were one in eight that he and Ruth would have been teammates. That's less than 50%, not even dealing with the eleven year age difference. Paige would have been 20 in 1926 about the middle of Ruth's career. In 1920 when Ruth hit 50 homers for the first time, Paige was 14 years old.

There is no reason to think that Satchel Paige would have changed Babe Ruth's stats to a significant degree, even assuming that Ruth would have had difficulty hitting Paige.

Paige was probably a great pitcher but what other banned pitchers would have impacted Ruth?

Evidence is anecdotal. It may be uncomfortable for some to address this but great black players were and still are mostly non-pitchers. Why? I don't know.

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