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Fargo, North Dakota Museum Gives N.Y. Yankees' Roger Maris His Due
The Roger Maris Museum sits in a wing of a Fargo, North Dakota shopping mall. Gary Stoller
(This story is part of an occasional series by this journalist revealing 'Hidden America'—worthy travel destinations unknown by most Americans.)
Many baseball fans didn't give New York Yankees right fielder Roger Maris his due after breaking Babe Ruth's single-season home run record in 1961. A little-known museum in Fargo, North Dakota honors Maris every day for his accomplishments.
The museum is a window display and a small theater with a video screen and seats from Yankee Stadium in a wing of West Acres. a massive 950,000-square-foot shopping mall. Near Interstate Highways 29 and 94, the mall has more than 100 stores and is the largest shopping center in the state.
Jerseys and other memorablia related to the baseball career of Roger Maris can be seen at the Roger Maris Museum in Fargo, North Dakota. Gary Stoller
The museum was the idea of Bob Smith and Jim McLaughlin, two local members of American Legion Post 2, who approached Maris in 1983 about creating a museum in his hometown. Maris, who died two years later, was born in Minnesota but graduated from high school in Fargo.
'Roger liked the idea, but he requested that the museum be put where people will see it and be open to the public free of charge,' says Maris's son Roger Maris Jr. 'The mall liked the idea and agreed to build the Roger Maris Museum in accordance with Roger's wishes.'
Smith and McLaughlin gathered items to display for the 1984 opening, and McLaughlin, until his death in 2012, acted as the museum's curator and representative when visitors arrived. McLaughlin was also 'a driving force,' Maris Jr. says, in the development of Roger Maris Gardens at Fargo's Jack Williams Stadium, one of the nation's top American Legion stadiums, and a monument at Roger Maris Drive in Lindenwood Park.
Museum visitors can see the ball hit by Maris for his 60th home, tying Ruth's 1927 record, as well as uniforms, bats, awards and a replica of Maris's 1961 locker. Maris was named the American League's Most Valuable Player in 1960 and 1961, and the 1961 plaque for that accomplishment is at the museum. The 1960 MVP plaque was stolen in 2016 and has been replaced with a replica. The theft also pilfered Maris's 1961 Hickok Belt, awarded to the best athlete in all professional sports.
The museum displays the 1960 and 1961 Sultan of Swat Crowns, awarded to Maris for the highest slugging percentage, and the 1960 American League Gold Glove Award, given to the best fielder at each position.
Besides dozens of items on display, hundreds of other items are in storage that can be rotated into the collection, says Chris Heaton, senior vice president of property management for West Acres Development. Items are changed periodically, and the number of items in storage is growing from donations, he says.
Ballpark seats from Yankee Stadium welcome visitors at North Dakota's Roger Maris Museum. Gary Stoller
When Maris slammed his 61st home run to surpass Ruth, many Yankee fans, the media and Ford Frick, baseball's commissioner at the time, said the accomplishment was tainted. They noted that teams were scheduled to play 162 games during the 1961 season, compared to 154 games during Ruth's 60-home-run season.
Frick was a friend of Ruth, Maris Jr. says, and created two separate home run records, although no such distinction was made for other records set during the longer season.
'Adversity to Roger chasing the record stemmed from the fact that Ruth was the Yankees' greatest player and one of baseball's most beloved players,' Maris Jr. says. 'For Roger, playing for the same team as Ruth in the same city and stadium—a stadium known as the 'House that Ruth Built'—meant he was dealing with fans who were pulling for Ruth to keep the record, or, if not Ruth, Yankee legend Mickey Mantle (Maris's teammate). The New York sportswriters loved the Babe and didn't want his record broken by some kid who had just turned 27 years old.'
No one could deny, though, that Maris had a historic, incredible season.
'Roger Maris had one of the best single seasons in baseball history,' Maris Jr. says. 'He broke the greatest record in baseball history—Ruth's 60 homers in a single season—and won the American League MVP, the Sultan of Swat Crown and the Hickok Belt. He was selected to the all-star team, won a World Series championship and was voted the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year.'
