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Show S a f SPORTS 2 C Ml 8n & S V. Maris Roger rv,.. ""f j are ; V V IJ fans AST SEPTEMBER, ; Today the sight of his No. 9 can shake a stadium with" boos as leather-lunge- d bleacherites bellow at his reddening neck. Fickle fandom has turned many, r. a AM a a , a strawberries ' ' home; run. Hi 13 cheering hitting his historic 61st a Si aHi l 2 gained Raj's chances of winning made 'Roger .Mar- is step from the New York Yankees' dugout to take an unprecedented bow after aa V What made the qheers a heroes into villains but seldom with the vengeance reserved for "Raj." And Maris is much too honest to deny it bothers him. "How do I like it?" he repeated my question. "How do you think I like it?" And there is enough bitterness to show that the smalltown boy who was genuinely embarrassed by last .year's adulation is genuinely disappointed by this year's vilification. k bottle Clutching a as if it might be some tormentor's soft-drin- s - a " V : .. , ! r i .! . 6 a r "VB- ; f 'iiSy fifk.' ' ' I if i - . :, . 7 Nothing eh:. No . pc-jnch- ;.j j i ,. .' No c;:nccs. No aftertaste. Q w Q 'J C..:;ilO has cr.ly cne thir. to civc.purc henc;t ? :.;::tr.;:3. h.Vt that all ycu v;ar.t vith year rr.orc l:!;c the swect-r::- 3 5"c:t10 ivra a thin cr.yt!::.- - ehr ycu can buy. Leek cf fur S .cct tcJiy in your favorite supemarkct. straw-t:rri:3- t-'- .te :vir A:r fr-- start this spring which sent his batting average under .150. -- But Maris' philosowhen he about vanish talks phies "a few, a dozen or so fans among all the thousands out there." These hecklers, he says, shaking his boyish head, "get rough; they get vulgar even about your family." His voice trails off, but his silence is tough and sour even tougher than some of the retorts he has fired back at hecklers in the seats. " soft-spok- en 75-ce- nt habit of This last a clue to why Roger'? he has become and how, within the limits of ingrained stubbornness and suspicion, he is trying to become a baseball favorite again. In a lifetime of athletic prowess, Roger Maris has consistently played into the hands of the fans, writers, and dugout jockeys who feel part of sportsmanship is sticking pins into sacred images. In high school in Fargo, N.D., for example, he and his older brother Bud; now his business manager were stars in - football, baseball, a , neck, he will tell postgame interviewers that booing is "part of the game" and that much of it can be explained because of a slow When bothersome boos led to dan gerous bottle 'tossingTMdris nod to be led back to work by umpire. d it family Wokly, June J, iH2 track, and basketball. Bat the pair felt they were being downgraded by a new football coach. Other t athletes might have worked harder to convince the coach he was wrong. Not the Maris boys. They switched to a rival high school. The Maris combination changed Bishop Shanley High School fron winner. underdog to The most delicious victory was over the coach who snubbed the Marises Roger caught two touch- aown passes irom uua lor me win. The coach lost his football assignMarises ment, and the teen-ag- e chortled in triumph. ' They could never understand why local sportswriters felt they had showed poor sportsmanship, and even today Roger is puzzled because he has never made it as a home-tow- n hero. He claims he all-arou- nd |