Las Vegan had best view of Maris' 61 blast

For nearly 37 years, Russ Nixon was inextricably linked to one of baseball's most hallowed records.

Nixon, a Las Vegas resident and former Stars and major-league manager, was catching for the Boston Red Sox on Oct. 1, 1961 when Roger Maris hit his record-breaking 61st home run off Boston rookie Tracy Stallard.

Black-and-white films of Maris' home run at Yankee Stadium show Nixon, standing hands on hips, as Maris crossed home plate after eclipsing Babe Ruth's single-season homer mark.

Watching Mark McGwire break Maris' record on Tuesday rekindled some fond memories for the 63-year-old Nixon, who managed the Cincinnati Reds' rookie club in the Pioneer League this summer.

"You look back on it and you kind of forgot about it," Nixon said of Maris' 61st home run. "Geez, it has been 37 years ago -- I didn't realize I was that old. But it caught back up with me and I'm glad it did, where I can still think about it and be a part of it."

Nixon still remembers clearly that day in Yankee Stadium -- not only for Maris' home run, but because Nixon had a couple of hits, including a triple, in a 1-0 Red Sox loss.

"It was a fastball and it didn't get to me," Nixon said of the pitch to Maris. "Tracy had good stuff, he was a 24-year-old guy at the time and was one of the top kids in the Boston organization at the time, pitching-wise.

"It was a 1-0 ballgame -- Tracy pitched a heck of a ballgame. It was the only mistake he made in the entire game, and he pitched almost seven innings that day."

Being the catcher who called for the pitch that Maris hit to break's Ruth record is not Nixon's lone link to Maris. The two came up through the Cleveland Indians' farm system, played together in triple-A and broke into the major leagues as rookies in 1957.

"Roger and I go back a long time; we both signed with Cleveland and we played triple-A ball together," Nixon said. "As a matter of fact, we roomed together in triple-A. Then we went to the big leagues together as rookies in '57 and we were teammates in both '56 and '57 and part of '58 until Roger got traded to Kansas City."

Although they remained friends after Maris left Cleveland, Nixon said he wouldn't have dared to openly congratulate Maris on the field after Maris hit No. 61 -- as several Chicago Cubs players did to McGwire Tuesday night.

"I didn't say a thing to him," Nixon said. "You're looking at 30, 40 years ago and it was not kosher to do that (stuff). You didn't say a whole lot back then; you didn't say a whole lot at any time because you might have got drilled."

Nixon said that McGwire had more support from baseball fans in breaking Maris' record than Maris did when he chased down Ruth's.

"I think Roger (breaking Ruth's record) made it easier for McGwire," Nixon said.

"It was kind of sad because of what (Maris) had to go through. Heck, I don't know if there were 25,000 people there that day in Yankee Stadium ... and I think every one of them there had their 'Hate Maris' T-shirts on."

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