This week 48 years ago, Roger Maris got his second consecutive MVP award. The year was 1961 and was, of course, when he hit 61 homeruns.
Yankee teammate Mickey Mantle came in second place in the voting. He almost overcame Maris in the voting (202-198). The stats WERE close. Maris (.269, 61 HR, 142 rbis. Mantle .317, 54 HR, 128 rbi)
For the $64,000 question, who came in 3rd in voting? Try not to use your Google-fu before answering. He wasn’t TOO far behind Maris and Mantle in votes and actually had a higher batting average, on-base percentage AND slugging percentage than Maris.