IF Roger Maris was, as ESPN says, a reluctant hero, then I am a reluctant hero worshiper. Only the best could
best Roger’s recordFor two seasons now, Mark McGwire has chased a record that I never wanted to see -- nor believed could be -- broken.
Curious thing about folks from North Dakota: We might take a while to warm up, but once we do, we'll back you to the hilt.
So now that McGwire has broken Maris' record for home runs in a season, I hope Mac puts the record so far out there that only McGwire himself could reach it.
Maybe even farther.
I want history to say that it took the greatest home run hitter of my generation to break the record of a guy who grew up in Fargo, about an hour's drive from my hometown.
Maris played American Legion baseball at Barnett Field in north Fargo, where North High School now sits.
Maris landmarks in the city are everywhere. There is Roger Maris Drive in Lindenwood Park; the Roger Maris Cancer Center; and Roger Maris Gardens, a shrine located at Jack Williams Stadium, where Aiea won the Legion World Series a couple years back.
And of course, there's the Roger Maris Museum at West Acres shopping center. In typical understated North Dakota fashion, the "museum" is really just a large display case that takes up a sizeable chunk of one wall in the mall. At most it is 90 feet long.
For me, the connection to Maris is not a happy one. I was working the news desk at The Forum in Fargo the night Maris died in 1985. Cancer had claimed our greatest hero.
This Summer of 62 has been weird. North Dakotans don't make it into the national spotlight often, and when they do, we don't want them to be pushed out.
Coincidentally, McGwire's quest to break the record has probably done more to push Maris further into the spotlight, a place he found uncomfortable.
There has been more talk in one year about Maris being worthy of baseball's Hall of Fame than in the 36 previous years.
There were many from my old neck of the woods who wanted McGwire to hit 60, but not 61. I admit, I was one of them, until it became a matter of when, not if.
"It's something a lot of us talked about during the year," said Jerry Harter, who coached Legion baseball in Fargo for 29 years before retiring in 1995.
"It was something we were fearing could happen and didn't want to happen," Harter continued soon after McGwire's record-breaking blast. "But it's just something you've go to take.
"It was quite a moment."
Yes it was.
It was more exciting than watching Hank Aaron hit his 715th career home run. Better than seeing Pete Rose slap a single for his 4,192nd hit. Better than watching Cal Ripken play in his 2,131st consecutive game.
Thank goodness I got it on videotape.
McGwire and Sammy Sosa have displayed a respect for the game -- and for the family of the man who held the record -- that is truly honorable.
McGwire's salute to the Maris family was touching.
I am sure that gesture will do more to earn McGwire the respect of people across the country than any of his athletic accomplishments could.
As I watched McGwire kiss his son after crossing home plate, I couldn't help but echo the sentiments of Tony Lewis, the dining room manager and a bartender at Playmakers sports bar in Fargo.
"People here are glad to see that it's going to a good guy." Lewis said.
Roger.
Over and out.
