Roger Maris

Maris spent his last two seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals and, although he never came near his own record, he did help his new team reach the World Series for both seasons he was with them. Maris retired after the 1967 season, although his poor treatment at the hands of fans and baseball officials haunted him for many years after that. "My going after the record started off as such a dream," he recalled much later. "Too bad it ended so badly."

After retiring from baseball, Maris ran a beer distributorship given to him by Anheuser-Busch, then-owners of the Cardinals. Although he had vowed never to step foot in Yankee Stadium after he left for St. Louis, he and Mantle both returned in 1978 to raise the 1977 pennant. He returned again for Old Timers' Day and once more in 1984 when the Yankees retired his number. By that time, Maris was enduring bouts of chemotherapy to treat lymphatic cancer. He died from the disease on December 14, 1985 at the age of 51.