Never-Before Seen Fan Footage of Roger Maris’ #61!

New York artist Dave Cicirelli digitizes his dad’s old 8mm film of the historic homer.

Most of us middle-aged types who have occasion to rummage through Dad’s old things are fortunate to find an amusing Polaroid or two, maybe (if we’re lucky!) some vintage Playboys. Dave Cicirelli, a New York-based experiential artist (and pal), has unearthed and -- as of Thursday! -- digitized for all to enjoy a valuable piece of baseball history: film footage of Roger Maris breaking Babe Ruth’s all-time single-season home run record on October 1, 1961. Have a look:

Ralph Cicirelli not only had the foresight to be one of just 23,154 fans (!) at Yankee Stadium that day, but to smuggle in an 8mm camera and find a pretty darn good vantage point for using it.

The money shot begins at 0:28, when a very ‘60s-buff-looking Maris gets up there, on the last day of the season, game tied 0-0, home run record tied 60-60. His warm-up swing in the box reminds me of Reggie Jackson; just impatient muscular aggression. But then he’s all quiet and balanced, and BLAMMO.

We can forgive the elder Mr. Cicirelli for some shaky-cam at this point. Crowd is pretty pumped, giving a business-like Maris a curtain call, and then the game moves on.

Like every time we get a stolen video glimpse of baseball’s older-than-most-of-us past, there are some time-capsule anomalies worth savoring. Yankee starting pitcher Bill Stafford, all of age 23, in his first and ultimately best full season of a truncated career, thrusting both hands to the sky in early windup, Hideo Nomo-style, before inducing a knee-dragging Frank Malzone into a weak infield pop-up. Hector Lopez comes up with the kind of crouched, exaggerated closed stance, Hal McRae style, that you would never see today, and flies out. Tony Kubek, surely one of the more overrated players of his day (3 years making All-Star games, 3 years receiving MVP votes, lifetime OPS+ of 85, out of baseball before age 30) looking just awful at the plate. Couple of warm-up tosses from lefty reliever Luis Arroyo -- closing out just a monster season with his 29^th save, then a Major League record.

Bill James has written in many different contexts that the 1961 Yankees, despite the 109 victories and World Series ring, were not a particularly great team. And this video does show us a bunch of peak seasons from mediocre careers and guys who were never really all that. But it also lets us see, in ways numbers on a page cannot, what a strapping young physical menace Tom Tresh was, even while striking out at a key moment in the bottom of the 7^th. And speaking of strikeouts, Maris’s 3-2 whiff in the bottom of the 6^th is probably my favorite AB here -- just raw country strength channeled through a peak efficient power swing.

Thanks, Dave, for sharing with the class! And if you want more from the junior Cicirelli, check out this Reason interview he did in February with our friend Nick Gillespie: