The future of heroism is an asterisk. In 1961, Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick decreed that in the annals of baseball, an asterisk should appear next to Roger Maris’s record of 61 home runs in a single baseball season. Frick contended that Maris’s achievement could not be compared fairly to the record he broke — Babe Ruth’s record of 60 home runs, established in 1927. Ruth struck 60 home runs in a season composed of 154 games; Maris struck 61 home runs in a season composed of 162 games. To award Maris the all-time home run record would suggest that his … Continue reading Our Asterisked Heroes