Mar. 1, 1963 - As Roger Maris sees it, an eighth to a quarter of an inch is all that stands between him and a comeback to another big season. He isn’t predicting anything like his record 61-homer output of 1961, nor is he conceding that he had an off season last summer, despite his drop to 33 homers and a batting dip from .269 to .256. But hitting home runs, which still is his chief stock in trade, is simply a matter of perfect timing and hitting the ball right on the target. “Hit a ball just a little off center, an eighth of an inch too high or low,” he points out, “and you’re licked. If you’ve got the proper swing and you meet the ball right on the nose, that ball sails into the seats. Last year, I must easily have hit 30 balls where I missed the exact center by no more than the merest fraction of an inch. And that’s enough to cost you a lot of home runs. This year, I just might get lucky again.”
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