Final Respects Paid to Roger Maris

Roger Maris was buried in a steady snowfall Thursday, borne to his grave by former New York Yankee teammates and eulogized as a great baseball player who received a “base on balls” to heaven.

Former Yankees Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Clete Boyer and Bill Skowron were among the pallbearers at Holy Cross Cemetery, where the family of Maris’ wife, Patricia Ann, is interred.

Other pallbearers included Maris’ former St. Louis Cardinal teammate Mike Shannon, current Cardinal Manager Whitey Herzog and former Minnesota Twin Bob Allison.

More than 600 people braved slippery roads and the snow to fill alabaster-columned St. Mary’s Church, where Maris attended Mass as a boy.

Bobby Richardson, a former Yankee and a board member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, delivered the eulogy for the man who hit 61 home runs in 1961 to break Babe Ruth’s record.

“He electrified the sporting world in what should have been and deserved to be his finest hour,” Richardson said.

Maris, 51, died Saturday of lymphatic cancer after a two-year battle against the disease.

The Rev. John Moore said: “Some might say he struck out in his final time at bat. But . . . I think of it as a base on balls, a free pass to heaven.”