Originally published March 3, 2013

John McDermott pens ode to Roger Maris
 
DUNEDIN, FLA. - “Fastball wide ball one ... low ball two ... Crowd reacting negatively ... they want to see Maris get something he can swing on ... there it is ... 61 ... he got his pitch ... the fellow with 61, you’ll see a lot of him.” — Yankees TV broadcaster Red Barber.

John McDermott was sitting with his pal Michael Smith when news broke about Lance Armstrong.

Armstrong had been stripped of his Tour de France titles and banned for life by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

Then in January, voting came out for the Hall of Fame.

“So many had been under suspicion of steroids and no one was elected,” said McDermott this week from Naples, Fla. “Not only did Roger Maris hit 61 in 1961 for the New York Yankees, but I was upset about the way his family was treated.

“So, we said, ‘let’s do something.’”

With that, the idea for a song was born: The Ballad of Roger Maris.

After Barber’s actual call, it goes like this in his song ...

My name is Roger Maris from Fargo I’ve come.

And it’s not like me to be showing off in the words of some fool’s song

But you know that there’s a number that when all is said and done

Belongs to me and only me, and that number’s 61.

Born in Fargo, N.D., Maris broke Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record in the 162nd and final game of the season on Oct. 1.

Maris went deep to right on the first pitch he saw in the fourth inning off Boston Red Sox’s Tracy Stallard.

“We thought this was a guy who did it clean, we think Roger belongs in Cooperstown,” said McDermott, the Scottish-Canadian tenor from Toronto. Smith is from Chicago.

Yeah, 61 homers for you and every one a thrill.

I did what God gave me to do, without a needle or a pill

When you stood up in those bleachers cheering each and every run

That was God and me, not a pharmacy who gave you 61.

 

McDermott never had any suspicions watching sluggers Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa on their home run chase in 1998.

The tenor is a Blue Jays fan. He has a print from opening night at the SkyDome, June 5, 1989, where a photographer hung a camera and was able to take a picture of a 360 degree panorama of the players and crowd.

Since he worked at Dominion Wide, which ran tours along with P. Lawson when the SkyDome opened, he was able to have the picture signed by players.

He was there when Jose Canseco went fifth deck off Mike Flanagan in Game 4 of the 1989 American League Championship Series (“you could have heard a pin drop.”) and Joe Carter’s homer off Mitch Williams in 1993. You couldn’t hear a monster truck fire.

And this season’s Jays?

“I’m planning the route,” said McDermott. “What’s going to be great is to see the SkyDome filled. It will be something special.

“Best addition? John Gibbons. He’s a strategist, he’ll do a good job.”

You can say my name in Fargo, and folks are always kind.

I heard that cheer go up from the barber shop when the Yanks retired No. 9

Yeah, I had to die before my time but you can save your pity hon

For the muscle bound, clown sticking holes in himself, chasing No. 61.

McDermott started singing at weddings as a hobby. His big break came when he sang at his parent’s 50th anniversary. Bill Ballard and Michael Cole heard his music, gave it to EMI and McDermott had a hit album.

He sang when Anne Cellucci, daughter of U.S. Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci, wed Carolina Hurricanes winger Craig Adams in 2003 at Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica in Ottawa.

That’s where he met Tim Leiper, former triple-A Ottawa Lynx manager, now the Jays senior advisor of player development.

His debut was the opening act for The Chieftans in 1992. Now he’s on the road 60 dates a year.

The Maris song is available on iTunes and will be on McDermott’s next album due for a fall release.

I got a game this afternoon, so that’s all I’ll have to say

You get the point or else you don’t, whatever, it’s OK

Just as long as you keep that record straight, straight as I stood in the sun

From Cooperstown to Heaven’s Gate that record still is 61.

From Cooperstown to Heaven’s Gate ... that record still is 61.

His family’s roots go back to County Donegal and his roots go back to the Toronto Sun, although I’ve never met the man and we spoke for the first time on the phone this week.

When our daughter Alicia announced her engagement a few years back, Trudy Egan sent me a copy of McDermott’s Daughter of Mine, suggesting it for the father-daughter dance.

If you can make it through the dance you’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din.