History Film / SixtyOne

* AFriendInNeed: Drunken Mickey's teammates, who have to pick up a wasted Mick at 2am; Whitey Ford has to continuously bribe people and owners caught in his debauchery to keep it on the down low.

* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: Poor Roger. He takes a photo with admiring fans and his wife questions his faithfulness. In a rare moment of humor, when a fan asks for his "X" for his kid, Roger [[ExactWords scribbles an X]] on the baseball, but the fan rushes off and Roger is ushered on the team bus before he could put his real autograph on it, which angers the fan when he realizes what happened. When Roger snaps to the press that he's "not a New York kind of guy", meaning that he's not a guy who loves the spotlight and can give great quotes to the media, the writers turn it into an affront to the city, which turns the fans on him. And so forth.

''61*'' is a BasedOnATrueStory [[SportsStories sports film]] directed by Billy Crystal. In 1961, the New York Yankees seemed poised to make another run at the World Series, having lost a tough seven-game series the year before. Fans are highly optimistic due to the wealth of talent in pinstripes, led by LivingLegend Mickey Mantle (Thomas Jane) and the previous year's MVP, Roger Maris (Barry Pepper). In addition, with more games on the schedule to accommodate new teams joining the league (read: more roster spots for fringe pitchers), there is serious belief that someone could make a run at Babe Ruth's fabled single-season record of 60, set in 1927.

As the pressure mounts, with Mantle struggling with his alcohol-related issues and mounting injuries, and Maris combating the tough media and lack of support as he pulls away from Mantle and stays with Ruth's pace, all while still trying to lead the team to a championship, what should be a celebrated chase for history is instead a stress-inducing trial that will test both men's reserve as they chase a ghost and a number.

->''Why did America only have room in its heart for only one hero?''

* TheUnfavorite: The crux of the film. Roger is treated as this, despite winning the MVP the year before and having an even better year in 1961. As someone who didn't start his career with the Yankees, he faces far more scrutiny than his teammates, and fans recoil that Babe Ruth's record could be broken by a quiet, soft-spoken player with an unremarkable career up to that point as opposed to another legendary Yankee like Mantle with Hall of Fame credentials, who was deemed worthy of carrying the record's torch. In addition, Maris's lack of charm and reluctance to talk to the press exasperates sportswriters, who paint him in the papers as sullen and aloof, which the fans eat up.

* FriendlyRivalry: Roger & Mickey are this, but the press tries to claim a real rivalry between Mantle & Maris, despite the fact that they get along well enough to room together.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Roger sets the home-run record with 61, but it is indeed treated as a separate record. By the time Commissioner Fay Vincent amended the record books to have one set of records in 1991, leaving Roger Maris as the undisputed home run king, Maris had passed away. In real life, it's even worse, as all three players who have since passed Maris -- Barry Bonds, Mark [=McGwire=], and Sammy Sosa -- all have ties to performance-enhancing drugs.]]

As the season progresses, the Yankees are winning, but maybe even importantly, both Mantle & Maris are on pace to break Ruth's record. When the record has a real shot of being felled, sides are taken from everyone in the baseball world. Fans rally behind Mantle, already regarded as one of the best to ever play and heir apparent to Yankee greatness; his charming persona, movie-star looks, and embracing of the New York spotlight makes him the most beloved man in the Bronx. Meanwhile, Roger Maris is his complete antithesis; perceived as not a "true Yankee" due to being acquired in a trade, his country-boy roots show through his quiet, private personality amidst the hoopla, which leaves baseball fans -- especially Yankee fans -- uninspired. The baseball higher-ups also seem to conspire against both men, as commissioner Ford Frick, in an effort to preserve the sanctity of Ruth's record, rules that one must best Ruth's record in 154 games, as Ruth did; if it is beaten in the expanded eight games beyond that point, it would be treated as a separate record.

-->'''Tagline'''

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Roger sets the home-run record with 61, but it is indeed treated as a separate record. By the time Commissioner Fay Vincent amended the record books to have one set of records in 1991, leaving Roger Maris as the undisputed home run king, Maris had passed away. In real life, it's even worse, as all three players who have since passed Maris -- Barry Bonds, Mark [=McGwire=] and Sammy Sosa -- all have ties to performance-enhancing drugs.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Roger sets the home-run record with 61, but it is indeed treated as a separate record. By the time Commissioner Fay Vincent amended the record books to have one set of records in 1991, leaving Roger Maris as the undisputed home run king, Maris had passed away.]]

->''Why did America only have room in its heart for one hero?''

* TheUnfavorite: The crux of the film. Roger is treated as this, despite winning the MVP the year before and having an even better year in 1961. As someone who didn't start his career with the Yankees, he faces far more scrutiny than his teammates, and fans recoil that Babe Ruth's record could be broken by this quiet, aloof player with an unremarkable career up to that point as opposed to another legendary Yankee like Mantle with Hall of Fame credentials, who was deemed worthy of carrying the record's torch. In addition, Maris's lack of charm and reluctance to talk to the press exasperates sportswriters, who paint him in the papers as sullen and aloof, which the fans eat up.

-->''MVP: Most Vacant Personality.''

* HistoricalVillainyUpgrade: Babe Ruth's widow Claire, who was not as anti-Maris as the film suggests. She even visited Maris when he hit his 60th to congratulate him, to which Maris told her, "Don't feel badly, no one will replace the Babe."

* FriendlyRivalry: The press tries to drum one up between Mantle & Maris, despite the fact that they get along well enough to room together.

* AFriendInNeed: Drunken Mickey; Whitey Ford has to continuously bribe people and owners caught in his debauchery to keep it on the down low.

* ArtisticLicense: With the title: no asterisk was ever officially tied to Roger Maris's record, even though it was treated as a separate record for 30 years. Also, the scene with the angry fan hurling a chair at Roger never happened.

* CordonBleughChef: Roger is terrible at making scrambled eggs, but when he tells Mickey that he snapped out of a slump when he ate them, Mickey wills himself through it. And snaps out of a slump.

-->'''Roger''': You're Mickey Mantle, for god's sake!

* TheUnfavorite: The crux of the film. Roger is treated as this, despite winning the MVP the year before and having an even better year in 1961. As someone who didn't start his career with the Yankees, he faces far more scrutiny than his teammates, and fans recoil that Babe Ruth's record could be broken by this quiet, aloof player as opposed to another legendary Yankee like Mantle who was deemed worthy of carrying the record's torch. In addition, Maris's lack of charm and reluctance to talk to the press exasperates sportswriters, who paint him in the papers as sullen and aloof, which the fans eat up.

* SlipperySlope: One sportswriter notes this as the commissioner and other writers mull possibilities of separate records if something (read: Ruth's record) is broken past the 154-game mark, noting that it would make a mess out of baseball's fabled records. He also notes that it's hypocritical, since Ruth broke the record with an expanded schedule over the previous holders, but there's no separate record for him.

* CantGetAwayWithNuthing: Poor Roger. He takes a photo with admiring fans and his wife questions his faithfulness. In a rare moment of humor, when a fan asks for his "X" for his kid, Roger [[ExactWords scribbles an X]] on the baseball, but the fan rushes off and Roger is ushered on the team bus before he could put his real autograph on it, which angers the fan when he realizes what happened. When Roger snaps to the press that he's "not a New York kind of guy", meaning that he's not a guy who loves the spotlight and can give great quotes to the media, the writers turn it into an affront to the city, which turns the fans on him. And so forth.

* DareToBeBadass: When Maris begs off wanting to play one day, he tells manager Houk that the record doesn't mean anything to him and he owes nothing to the fans who have nothing but contempt for him. Houk instead challenges him, saying that by backing down, he's giving all the naysayers the satisfaction that they broke him and that this is his one opportunity at sports immortality.

* TheUnfavorite: The crux of the film. Roger is treated as this, despite winning the MVP the year before and having an even better year in 1961. As someone who didn't start his career with the Yankees, he faces far more scrutiny than his teammates, and fans recoil that Babe Ruth's record could be broken by this quiet, aloof player as opposed to another legendary Yankee like Mantle who was deemed worthy of carrying the record's torch. In addition, Maris's lack of charm and reluctance to talk to the press exasperates sportswriters, who paint him in the papers as sullen and aloof, which the fans eat up.

* DareToBeBadass: When Maris begs off wanting to play one day, he tells manager Houk that the record doesn't mean anything to him and he owes nothing to the fans who have nothing but contempt for him. Houk instead challenges him, saying that by backing down, he's giving all the naysayers the satisfaction that they broke him and that this is one opportunity at sports immortality.

As the pressure mounts, with Mantle struggling with his alcohol-related issues and mounting injuries, and Maris combating the tough media and lack of support as he pulls away from Mantle and stays with Ruth's pace, all while still trying to lead the team to a championship, what should be a celebrated chase for history is instead a stress-inducing trial that will test both men's reserve as they chase a ghost and a number.

''61*'' is a BasedOnATrueStory [[SportsStories sports film]] directed by BillyCrystal. In 1961, the New York Yankees seemed poised to make another run at the World Series, having lost a tough seven-game series the year before. Fans are highly optimistic due to the wealth of talent in pinstripes, led by LivingLegend Mickey Mantle (Thomas Jane) and the previous year's MVP, Roger Maris (Barry Pepper). In addition, with more games on the schedule to accommodate new teams joining the league (read: more roster spots for fringe pitchers), there is serious belief that someone could make a run at Babe Ruth's fabled single-season record of 60, set in 1927.