Roger Maris

Without a doubt the most famous baseball player ever to come out of North Dakota, Maris was a talent who was judged unfairly throughout his career because of one glorious season. He came up in the pros with the Cleveland Indians, and was soon dealt to the Kansas City Athletics, but it was his third team, the greatest of them all, the New York Yankees, where he would find fame, infamy and controversy. Sure, Maris nipped Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs by one in 1961, but what most casual baseball fans don't know is that he also won the American League Most Valuable Player award in 1960, and he was arguably the best right fielder in New York Yankee history, so he was far from a one-year wonder. In 1961 when both he and his more popular teammate Mickey Mantle made the assault on the Babe's record, fans (and Yankee management) preferred Mantle to the reserved Maris to break the mark. When injuries prevented Mantle from reaching the record, Maris did so with the weight of not only the ac