Mickey Mantle's Role In The Chase For 61

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The 1961 Yankees team will go down as one of the greatest teams in history. Two reasons the team was great, were Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. Mickey Mantle was a center fielder for the Yankees form 1951-1968, and Roger Maris was an outfielder for the Yankees from 1960-1966. Both of these players were outstanding hitters and became involved in what is known as the Chase for 61. The Chase for 61 was the name given to the attempt for both Mantle and Maris to break Babe Ruth’s homerun record and hit 61 homeruns in 154 games. During this 1961 season and the chase, the media was all over it trying to make a story wherever they could get one. Because not only would this make baseball history, but they wanted to create drama and scandal to make it even more popular. The role of the media in …show more content…

In New York, Mickey Mantle was the favorite. Everyone wanted him to break the record because they loved him the same way they loved Babe Ruth, Maris however was seen as an outsider that nobody wanted to break it. The media preyed on this and began to do everything they could to make Maris seem like a troublemaker and an all-around bad guy. They took pictures and made them out of context and came to house they did everything to cause a disturbance in life. But with Mantle they made him look like a superstar that was having fun and was a “true New Yorker”. They also made a play that Mantle and Maris were rivals, when in actuality they lived together and had a great relationship. Overall the media was made to build Mantle up and hype him up to break the record, and tear Maris down so that New York fans would hate him and discourage him to break the record, and they did. Mantle ended up