Firstly, I don't think the movie was implying that there had, indeed, been an asterisk in the record books. More, I think the title is a nod to the debate that raged about how the record should be handled. For nearly fifty years, there were two entries in the official Major League record book for home runs in a single season: one listing Babe Ruth's 60 in 154 games in 1927, and a second entry listing Roger Maris' 61 in 162 games in 1961.
As to the genesis of the myth, you can thank the Commissioner of Baseball at the time, Ford Frick:
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'Any player who has hit more than 60 home runs during his club's first 154 games would be recognized as having established a new record. However, if the player does not hit more than 60 until after this club has played 154 games, there would have to be some distinctive mark on the record books to show that Babe Ruth's record was set under a 154-game schedule.'"
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This was a statement of opinion. The "distinctive mark" never appeared in the record books, but it's easy to understand why people might assume it had. This happens all the time. Popular culture would have you believe the line, "play it again, Sam" came from Casablanca, that the correct line from All About Eve was "buckle up, its going to be a bumpy ride", or that Cary Grant famously quipped "Judy, Judy, Judy".
Once something is entered into the popular lexicon, accurate, completely made up, or not, there it will stay. 
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Originally Posted by AgonyandIvy
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I've always said that *61 was not very accurate. In fact even the title is inaccurate. There was NEVER an asterisk, and I would like to know how this myth ever started.
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