Artie Wilson hit .435 for the Birmingham Black Barons in 1948. Here he is in San Diego in the early 1950s

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O'Doul fell two hits short. D'oh!

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It's pretty remarkable to me there aren't far more incidents of fans rushing the field and making trouble.

I've noticed they don't rush the field at all lately. Back in the day, they did after Mazeroski's home run, the Impossible Dream Red Sox beating the Twins, Hank Aaron's 715th, Carlton Fisk waving the ball fair, but off the top of my head I can't think of any more recently than that.

This has been a very good discussion about Maris,Wilson,and all the other players that had a huge statistical season that gets them noticed by everyone that watches the HOF. Thanks

Judge is now at 55 - can he do it?

Chris Chambliss HR to win the 1976 ALCS.

I always thought Baseball had a Hall of Fame. FAME. Maris meets that definition. Just my humble biased opinion.

I believe that back then, the term 'hall of fame' had a different contextual meaning. It was to bestow fame on the inductees. There weren't many actual Halls of Fame in the sense of a formalized list in a building and museum before Cooperstown, but the term was fairly common in the late 19th century to refer to the most accomplished in a particular field, more than purely famous; the sense that the accomplishments and the recognition of them would create the fame element, in a positive rather than infamous light. I've encountered it a few times in the late 19th century and early 20th century classicists and historians and they all seem to use this context, more than how we think of fame now, where fame itself is essentially divorced from merit.

I don't read much from the 1920's and 1930's, perhaps it had evolved between then and Cooperstown itself.

Apologies if this is overly pedantic, but I find it interesting how words and turns of phrase shift with time.

Hmmmm. I'm wondering whether that card was a legitimate photo or whether there was some air brushing and over painting done to the photo.

:confused:

Roger Maris was a 2x MVP though. Only a small minority of HOFers can make that claim. Plus he set a MLB record that stood for 61 years. Of course it was only for home runs but still....

That plus the fact that his home team fans were cheering against him when he set his record. Those are Yankee fans for you but being derided for excellence by your own team's fans would have been tough on any player.

The bottom line though is that it's the Baseball Hall of Fame and Maris is still more famous than most of the inductees. And he fits the current meaning of the word "famous".

Hey, I thought for a long time that I was the only person that's always thought that Roger Maris should be in the Hall of Fame. Glad to see that I'm not the only one!

The reality is - if not by now he will never be in the Hall.

However, I've always-always-always been a Maris fan. Attached are a couple of items that are pretty rare, maybe other fans of Maris will appreciate. Those that are not Maris fans, maybe you can appreciate the items: (1) Minor League scorecard from April 25, 1956, Indianapolis Indians vs St. Paul Saints. (2) Autographed 1957 Sohio Indians photo album. (3) Roger Maris debut game scorecard April 16 1957.

Hmm...
 

Are you maybe referring to Roger's head appearing to be oversized in the photo compared to the body? That is simply an illusion created by the perspective in the photo of the card, which was taken from an angle above the holder. Here is a straight on shot of the card in which his head appears at normal size.

Hall of Infamy...?
 

I can't see putting someone in for one year no matter how remarkable.

Maybe it's "apples to oranges," but Ed Barrow was elected to the HOF for having one great season - 1919, when he sold Ruth to the Yankees.:rolleyes:

What makes me wonder is that the very large Cardinals logo on the front of his jersey is completely obscured from that angle. I'm surprised that a tiny bit of the logo isn't peaking out from under his arm.

:confused:

In the late 60s, Maris was a bigger star than Aaron or Clemente. In the end, his decision to retire at age 33 doomed his HOF case. Only 5100 ABs and 1325 Hits. If he has played on and got closer to 2000 hits and 400 HRs, he would have made it easy. Longevity matters more than having a couple of good seasons.

HmmmX2....
 

Ok, but why would someone in the Topps photo department take it upon themself to airbrush out the Cardinals logo? Maris was in '68 a Cardinals player, so what would be the motive for doing that? Or, could it be that he was somehow wearing a uniform with no logo? Have stranger things never happened?:rolleyes:

Yes, that's my concern. Some spring training jersey and neither he nor the photographer that day thought it was worth the effort to find a real Cards jersey for the photo.

:(

Mystery solved...?
 

You know, I think I have figured out what was going on with Maris' jersey. If you look at photos from 1968, you see that the Cardinals Bat logo was positioned just below the second button from the top. But you also notice that Maris was in the habit of wearing a jersey about one size too small for his frame. He also had fairly heavier upper arms than other players. As a result, the logo on his too small jersey sat higher up on his chest and when he turned sideways, his shoulder and arm completely obscured the entire logo.