They were already the M & M boys in 1960, but they were simply called Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle.
At the end of play on Sunday, June 19, 1960, the New York Yankees were 33-22 for a .600 winning percentage. The Baltimore Orioles had a 37-25 record for a .597 winning percentage.
The Yankees were in first place, but the Orioles led them by one-half game. That can occur when teams have not played the same number of games. Winning percentage is the determining factor.
The next day, the Yankees visited their friends, the Detroit Tigers, a team that usually gave them more than they could handle. Whitey Ford, who hadn’t won in over a month, started against “Yankee Killer” Frank Lary.
Maris, Mantle and Ford took things into their own hands before a Monday night Briggs Stadium crowd of more than 39,000 fans. Casey Stengel was still the Yankees manager, which meant that Mantle batted third and Maris hit fourth.
Ford and Lary matched zeros until the top of the fourth inning. After Mantle struck out, Maris touched Lary for a triple and scored on a wild pitch. In the sixth, Mantle hit a home run to give Ford a two-run lead. He followed with a two-run blast the next inning to put the game away.
Mantle’s home runs were not typical for him. The first barely made into the lower right field stands and the second was an opposite field drive that landed in the first few seats of the left field seats.
Mantle finished the game with three hits, Maris had a pair and Ford pitched a four-hit shutout. The Yankees were all alone in first place.
The game broke a funk for Mantle. On May 28, he was batting an Adam Dunn-like .226 (fine, Dunn wasn’t born yet). The Yankees were in fifth place.
Maris had been doing well and at a little less than a month before, Mantle joined him on their assault on pitchers. After he roughed up Lary, Mantle he was batting a more acceptable .276 by having batted .351 after reaching his nadir. Maris was hitting .342 and he was leading the league in home runs and runs batted in.
When the baseball writers questioned Mantle about his hot streak, he had an explanation. He said his right knee bothered him “only when I over-stride and I’m not over-striding now.”
Maris and Mantle hit 79 home between them, with Mantle leading the league with 40. Maris led the league by batting in 112 runs. The Yankees ended the season with a 15-game winning streak to finally shake the pesky Orioles. Maris was the MVP.
