Fargo, North Dakota : The man who first broke Babe Ruth's record

Fargo is located in the southeastern part of North Dakota, bordering Canada, in the northern part of the US mainland. It is the largest city in North Dakota, but most Japanese people are not familiar with it, and I think they don't even know the name.

I visited Fargo in 2009 to see the Maury Willis Museum. I have already published a column on this website about that experience. However, I visited Fargo in 2008, one year before I visited the Maury Willis Museum in 2009. That was the first time I visited Fargo. What was the reason for visiting Fargo in 2008?  That's because Fargo is the hometown of Roger Maris. Though he was born elsewhere, Maris attended high school in Fargo and is buried there.

Roger Maris, a member of the New York Yankees, hit his 61st home run at Yankee Stadium in 1961, and will forever be remembered in history as the first man to break Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs in a season. But Maris's achievements didn't end there: he was the home run leader once, the RBI leader twice, and was named MVP twice. However, Maris has never been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The people of Fargo are said to be eager to see Maris inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and there is even a museum in Fargo called the Roger Maris Museum. I made a long journey to Fargo in 2008 to see the museum.

Incidentally, all single-digit uniform numbers 1 through 9 are retired for the Yankees, but of those 10 (10 because number 8 was retired in honor of both Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey), only two players, Billy Martin (number 1) and Roger Maris (number 9), have not been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. This is a great pity for me. I have a lot of respect for Roger Maris, who was the first player to break Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs in a year without using steroids or other drugs, and I have been watching the DVD of the TV drama "61*" about Roger Maris in 1961 over and over again. When I watch this DVD, I can really see how Maris worked hard in 1961, when he hit 61 home runs, despite the various pressures he was under from those around him. Meanwhile, Billy Martin was one of the members of the Yankees who came to Japan in 1955, and made me an enthusiastic fan of Major League Baseball.

Now then. There are no direct flights from Japan to North Dakota, so I flew to Minneapolis, Minnesota, which is next to the state to the east, and from there rented a car to go to Fargo.

After arriving in Fargo, I asked a local where the Roger Maris Museum was, and he told me it was in a shopping center. I was surprised that it was really in a place like that. I don't dislike shopping centers, but it seems like a mismatch for a museum, right?

Shopping center where the Roger Maris Museum is located

I wondered if the Roger Maris Museum was really in there, so I went inside the shopping center. And then I found the Roger Maris Museum. A sign that read "Roger Maris Museum" was hanging from the ceiling in the hallway of the shopping center. Along the wall of the hallway, there was a display case about 20 meters long. That was the Roger Maris Museum. In other words, there was not a large room as a museum, but the walls of the hallway functioned as a museum. Some people may complain that it is a museum, but I think it is better not to complain. It is a fine museum. In the display case, there were many wonderful exhibits, such as photos of Maris, paintings of Maris, trophies he won, baseball equipment and uniforms he used.

A sign for the Roger Maris Museum hangs from the ceiling in the hallway.

Me standing in front of a display case displaying many of Roger Maris's exhibits.

There was a small room at the end of the museum, and a screen there shows videos related to Maris endlessly. There was also an interesting exhibit that compares and lists various physical measurements of Babe Ruth at the age of 32, when he hit 60 home runs, and Roger Maris at the age of 26, when he hit 61 home runs. As I was looking at the measurements, I thought, "I assumed Maris had a slender body, but he had a body that was just as impressive as Babe Ruth's." I was also impressed and thought, "I guess a batter who hits 61 home runs in a season needs to have a physique like this".

A comparison table of the physical measurements of Babe Ruth and Roger Maris

By the way, there were no staff in the hallway or in the small room. During the hour or so I was there, I was the only person touring the museum. Many people were walking down the hallway, but they all just passed by without noticing. Are the people of Fargo already tired of seeing the Roger Museum? Are there no people who come all the way from other places just to see it? I grabbed an older woman walking down the hallway to ask for photos of me with the museum in the background. When I said, "I came to the US from Japan just to see this place" (this is of course a lie. There's no way I'd just see this place and then go back home), the older woman took me seriously and exclaimed, "Oh my!" in excitement, and agreed to take the photos. Then she asked, "Is Roger Maris famous in Japan?" I answered right away, "Of course, he's very famous" (this is also a lie. No Japanese person other than avid MLB fans knows about Maris). ...I told two lies to the old lady, but I'm sure God will forgive me since she was happy and no one was hurt.

Me standing in front of the entrance to a small room.

As I left the shopping center, a thought suddenly came to my mind. "Roger Maris is a lucky man since he has a museum in his hometown. Not all major leaguers have a museum in their hometown. Even if he doesn't make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame, having such a wonderful museum in his hometown may be just as honorable as being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame."

Whether he makes it into the Baseball Hall of Fame or not, Maris' greatness will never change. I truly hope that the people of Fargo feel the same way.

( If I’ve made a mistake or left out something important, please let me know. I’ll try to make corrections or additions.)