This book recounts the slugger's life before, during, and after his headline
season of 1961, when the taciturn North Dakota native topped Babe Ruth's all-time record
by hitting sixty-one homers. From his youth as a star high school athlete and American
Legion baseball player, Maris went on to big-time sports with the Cleveland Indians,
Kansas City Athletics, New York Yankees, and St. Louis Cardinals.

Author Rosenfeld argues that Roger's treatment by the press was both shabby and tragic
and that Maris's midwestern modesty and his strength, his need for privacy, and his
straightforward bluntness were often wrongly interpreted as arrogance and sullenness,
a factor that led many to downplay his claim on the record books.