Midland Mich., fifth-graders have a fun project each year: creating a “wax museum” of famous people, with the figures being the kids themselves.
Each writes a report on a famous historical person and memorizes a summary of it. Then he or she dresses for the role and stands perfectly still like a statue until someone pushes his or her button and the “statue” mouths the report.
For one boy, Micah Carroll, his famous person wasn’t Abe Lincoln, George Washington or other people like them. No, it was a guy from the majors: home run hitter Roger Maris.
But maybe the student’s family’s North Dakota background had something to do with it. Maybe.
Family on the team
For baseball fans, the debate rages on: Who holds the record for most homers in a season?
The Forum’s sports department is chronicling Fargo’s Roger Maris’ pursuit of Babe Ruth’s 60-homer record he set in 1927. Roger pulled it off, hitting 61 in, appropriately enough, 1961, although the season was longer than it was in Ruth’s day, creating a controversy on the legitimacy of Roger’s record.
His mark later was topped by three others. But there are questions about them: Did they use steroids?
Well, for Micah Carroll, 11, there’s no question about all this: Roger still holds the record.
But then, his whole family is on Roger’s team.
Micah’s dad is Brian Carroll, the son of LeRoy and Carol Carroll, Nothwood, N.D., and his mom, Kirsten, is the daughter of Wayne and Gail Saar, Fargo.
Micah has a twin sister Madison and another sister, Abby, 6, a girl from China who the Carrolls adopted.
And don’t forget the Carrolls’ dog. His name: Maris.
“How great a guy”
Her family, Kirsten says, likes to read, is active in church and missions and enjoys sports.
Brian, who played many sports including baseball when he was growing up, graduated from Northwood High School and North Dakota State University. Kirsten is a graduate of Fargo North High School and Minnesota State University Moorhead.
They were married in 1993 and have lived in Austin, Minn., Greensboro, N.C., and now Midland. Brian is an engineer, and Kirsten is a graphic designer.
Kirsten’s dad is a big baseball fan and Maris admirer. He and his wife, who were travel agents before retiring, used to arrange airline tickets for Roger’s mother so she could see her son play.
Kirsten says she and Brian “grew up hearing the stories of how great a guy Roger was and how he should be in the (National Baseball) Hall of Fame (he’s not). The stories of Roger and what a humble man he was makes you love him more; plus, he’s a hometown hero.”
Brian wrote a report on Roger when he was in eighth grade. “The combination of Maris being a major league baseball record holder of one of the most recognizable records in all of sports,” he says, “along with being (from) North Dakota captured my interest in him. This interest continued into my adult years as I went to college in Fargo and learned even more about Maris and his lasting impact on the community.”
“We also enjoyed the movie “61″ (about Roger and his teammate Mickey Mantle),” Kirsten adds.
“When I worked at Richtman’s Printing in Fargo,” she says, “we created the programs for the golf tournament (the annual charity event named for Roger), so that was fun to work on,” adding, “we are proud of North Dakota and of Maris.”
All the Carrolls have T-shirts reading “The record is still 61.” “We get many comments on them,” Kirsten says.
And, yes, Maris (the family dog) sports a dog tage which, too, reads “The record is still 61.”
Family with ND ties big supporters of Roger Maris
Originally Published August 7, 2011
By: Bob Lind, The Forum
Midland Mich., fifth-graders have a fun project each year: creating a “wax museum” of famous people, with the figures being the kids themselves.
Each writes a report on a famous historical person and memorizes a summary of it. Then he or she dresses for the role and stands perfectly still like a statue until someone pushes his or her button and the “statue” mouths the report.
For one boy, Micah Carroll, his famous person wasn’t Abe Lincoln, George Washington or other people like them. No, it was a guy from the majors: home run hitter Roger Maris.
But maybe the student’s family’s North Dakota background had something to do with it. Maybe.
Family on the team
For baseball fans, the debate rages on: Who holds the record for most homers in a season?
The Forum’s sports department is chronicling Fargo’s Roger Maris’ pursuit of Babe Ruth’s 60-homer record he set in 1927. Roger pulled it off, hitting 61 in, appropriately enough, 1961, although the season was longer than it was in Ruth’s day, creating a controversy on the legitimacy of Roger’s record.
His mark later was topped by three others. But there are questions about them: Did they use steroids?
Well, for Micah Carroll, 11, there’s no question about all this: Roger still holds the record.
But then, his whole family is on Roger’s team.
Micah’s dad is Brian Carroll, the son of LeRoy and Carol Carroll, Nothwood, N.D., and his mom, Kirsten, is the daughter of Wayne and Gail Saar, Fargo.
Micah has a twin sister Madison and another sister, Abby, 6, a girl from China who the Carrolls adopted.
And don’t forget the Carrolls’ dog. His name: Maris.
“How great a guy”
Her family, Kirsten says, likes to read, is active in church and missions and enjoys sports.
Brian, who played many sports including baseball when he was growing up, graduated from Northwood High School and North Dakota State University. Kirsten is a graduate of Fargo North High School and Minnesota State University Moorhead.
They were married in 1993 and have lived in Austin, Minn., Greensboro, N.C., and now Midland. Brian is an engineer, and Kirsten is a graphic designer.
Kirsten’s dad is a big baseball fan and Maris admirer. He and his wife, who were travel agents before retiring, used to arrange airline tickets for Roger’s mother so she could see her son play.
Kirsten says she and Brian “grew up hearing the stories of how great a guy Roger was and how he should be in the (National Baseball) Hall of Fame (he’s not). The stories of Roger and what a humble man he was makes you love him more; plus, he’s a hometown hero.”
Brian wrote a report on Roger when he was in eighth grade. “The combination of Maris being a major league baseball record holder of one of the most recognizable records in all of sports,” he says, “along with being (from) North Dakota captured my interest in him. This interest continued into my adult years as I went to college in Fargo and learned even more about Maris and his lasting impact on the community.”
“We also enjoyed the movie “61″ (about Roger and his teammate Mickey Mantle),” Kirsten adds.
“When I worked at Richtman’s Printing in Fargo,” she says, “we created the programs for the golf tournament (the annual charity event named for Roger), so that was fun to work on,” adding, “we are proud of North Dakota and of Maris.”
All the Carrolls have T-shirts reading “The record is still 61.” “We get many comments on them,” Kirsten says.
And, yes, Maris (the family dog) sports a dog tage which, too, reads “The record is still 61.”
Any questions, Baseball Hall of Fame?