Movies - 61*

	Movies - 61*

61* (pronounced "sixty-one asterisk") is a United States baseball movie, made for HBO, directed by Billy Crystal and written by Hank Steinberg. The film was first released on April 28, 2001.

The film follows the real-life quest during the 1961 season of New York Yankees Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris to break Babe Ruth's single-season home run record of 60 set in 1927. The asterisk in the title reflects the fact that Ruth had 154 games to set the record, while Mantle and Maris had 162 games. Then-baseball commissioner Ford Frick announced that unless Ruth's record was broken in the first 154 games of the season, the statistic would bear an asterisk. The asterisk never actually entered the record book, but Frick's ruling led to two separate home run records, one for a 154-game season and the other for a 162-game season. Maris did not become the sole official record-holder until 1991, 6 years after his death.

The film chronicles the negative attention Maris received on his way toward hitting 61 home runs, which broke Ruth's record, while having eight more games than Ruth did to do so.

Cast

Barry Pepper
- Roger Maris
Thomas Jane
- Mickey Mantle
Anthony Michael Hall
- Whitey Ford
Richard Masur
- Milt Kahn
Bruce McGill
- Ralph Houk
Chris Bauer
- Bob Cerv
Jennifer Crystal - Pat Maris ('61) (as Jennifer Crystal Foley)
Christopher McDonald
- Mel Allen
Bob Gunton
- Dan Topping
Donald Moffat - Ford Frick
Joe Grifasi - Phil Rizzuto
Peter Jacobson - Artie Green
Seymour Cassel
- Sam Simon
Robert Joy
- Bob Fishel
Michael Nouri
- Joe DiMaggio
Yankee Stadium - Tiger Stadium

Jennifer Crystal is the daughter of director Billy Crystal. Donald Moffat had previously played former Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert in the TV-movie Babe Ruth. Barry Pepper would play another sports-themed role as Dale Earnhardt in 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story
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[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for 61* ]

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