Maris Goes in Hospital for Cancer

Roger Maris, best known for breaking Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record, was hospitalized Friday at a cancer treatment center in Houston.

“His family has requested that no information on his condition be given out,” said Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman at M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute. “That’s about all we can say right now.”

Maris, 51, went to a doctor in November 1983 with what he believed was a nagging sinus problem. Tests prompted by the discovery of swollen lymph glands revealed that Maris had suffered from lymphatic cancer for about five years.

In June 1984, Maris said the cancer was in remission. He began feeling ill again that August, and by last December, his condition had worsened.

Maris hit 61 home runs for the New York Yankees in 1961, breaking Ruth’s record of 60. He retired from baseball in 1968 after appearing in five World Series with the Yankees and in two with the St. Louis Cardinals.

A native of Fargo, N.D., Maris was a beer distributor in Gainesville, Fla., after his baseball career.

He is on the Hall of Fame ballot, and it is believed he has a chance of being elected this year.