Roger Maris's Grave
Fargo, North Dakota
Roger Maris became "Baseball's Single-Season Home Run King," in 1961, hitting 61 home runs in a season -- one more than Babe Ruth, who hit 60 in 1927. He died of cancer in 1985 -- age 51 -- less than 18 months after his home town museum opened in Fargo's West Acres Mall.
Roger is buried only a couple of miles away, in Holy Cross Cemetery, one of a row of tiny burial grounds lining the south side of Fargo's 32nd Avenue North. Holy Cross is the last in line, under the landing path of Hector Airport's runway. His tombstone is jet black, diamond-shaped (the way a baseball infield would look when viewed by a Hector Airport airplane or an angel), and features an engraving of Roger swinging his bat left-handed with the inscription "61 '61." At the base of the stone is a simple epitaph: "Against All Odds." The grave is frequently festooned by visitors with offerings of baseballs.