Roger Eugene Maris (September 10, 1934 – December 14, 1985) was an American right fielder in Major League Baseball who is primarily remembered for hitting 61 home runs for the New York Yankees during the 1961 season. This broke Babe Ruth's single-season record of 60 home runs (set in 1927) and set the new American League (and clean) record that would stand for 61 more years (it should be noted that the regular season expanded from 154 games in Ruth's tenure to 162 in Maris'; Maris needed the extra games to break the record).
Aaron Judge broke Maris' record in 2022.
A smoker, Roger Maris's life was cut short at age only 51 by lung cancer.[1][2]