Most of the book is full of pictures and narratives about the great 1961 season when Mantle and Maris were chasing the Babe's home run record. (Aside, Maris' 61 home runs, which stood for 37 years, is now only 7th best all time?). There are lots of pics of the real Mantle and Maris as well as a discussion of the movie. And of course, there is the postscript of M and M after their Yankee careers ended. And sadly for both, very early and untimely deaths.
M and M were the talk of baseball and New York in 1961. Forty years later as we watch their descendants try to bring New York together with another World Series crown we can remember the innocence the joy and heartbreak of 61 and we can thank Billy Crystal for helping us to relive the innocence that was our youth.
It was the summer in which two Yankees, everybody's hero, Mickey Mantle, and a farm kid from South Dakota, Roger Maris, staged a stunning assault on Ruth's record.
61* expresses how The Sporting News covered that exciting summer. From its spring training dispatches, through each and every home run, through the controversial so-called 'asterisk' ruling, to the final record-breaking home run, 61* chronicles in week-by-week format the home run race, up to and including the Yankees' World Series victory that year.