When the Red Sox began their series with Tampa Bay this week, they were in second place, trailing the division-leading Yankees by one half game. The Yankees were 31-13 and the Sox were 32-15.
Mookie Betts and JD Martinez had just become the first Red Sox duo in franchise history to reach 15 homers each before the team played its 50th game. The two of them were tied with Manny Machado of the Baltimore Orioles for the most home runs in baseball.

Betts was also leading all of baseball in batting at .365 and Martinez was third at .343. In addition, Betts led everyone in runs scored, 48, doubles with 19, slugging percentage at .760, total bases with 127, was tied for second in on base percentage at .438 and tied for third in total hits with 61. He also had 11 stolen bases which tied him for fifth in that category.

Martinez, as well as being tied for the most home runs, was tied for second in runs batted in with 41, was second in slugging percentage at .680, third in total bases with 119 and sixth in hits with 60. Betts also led everyone in the category called OPS, which combines on base percentage and slugging percentage to make a number which is meaningless to all but the nerdiest of the nerds, with a 1.198 average and Martinez was third at 1.077.

As many of you know, I grew up a Yankees fan in Connecticut but, whether you’re a Yankees fan or Red Sox fan you have to appreciate what the Red Sox combination of Betts and Martinez have accomplished in their first 47 games of this season.

If nothing else, you have to feel good that the Red Sox are finally getting their money’s worth for a free agent and anyone who does not recognize the fact that Mookie Betts is the most exciting player and probably the best all around player in baseball today is not watching the Mookie Betts I have been watching.

In 1961, the Yankees had Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, a duo that staged the greatest home run race between teammates in the history of the game that year. Maris, of course, broke Babe Ruth’s single season home run record with 61, beating the Babe’s record by one, with a homer in the last game of the season. That home run came against the Red Sox in Yankee Stadium.

Maris hit his record-breaking home run off Red Sox hurler Tracy Stallard, with one out in the fourth inning of a meaningless last game of the season and was the only run of the game the Yankees won 1-0.

It was the Yankees’ 109th win of the season as they beat the second place Detroit Tigers, who won 101 games, by eight games for the pennant.

While researching facts for his article, I came across some interesting comparisons. In 1961, when the duo of Maris and Mantle electrified the baseball world with their home run race, Maris hit 61, of course, and Mickey chipped in with 54 for 115 between them, the most by teammates in a single season in baseball history.

So, how does the Red Sox team of Betts and Martinez, in 2018, match up with the Yankee team of Mantle and Maris in 1961? After 47 games this season, Betts and Martinez had 15 homers each for a total of 30 with Betts at 32 RBIs and Martinez at 41 for a total of 73. Through 47 games in 1961, Mantle had hit 15 homers and Maris had hit 15 homers, remarkably, exactly the same total in the same number of games. Maris had 36 runs batted in and Mantle had 36 runs batted in for a total of 72. For 47 games the Yankees duo had hit 30 homers and driven in 72 runs while Betts and Martinez had hit the same number of homers and had one more run batted in.

Through 47 games, the Yankees of 1961 were 28 and 19, four games worse than the Red Sox of 2018 who were at 32 and 15. The 1961 Yankees, who would go on to win the pennant with 109 victories and beat the Reds in the World Series, four games to one, were in third place, three games out of first after 47 games. The 2018 Red Sox were in second place one half game behind after 47 games.

This year, over in New York, the Yankees had added Giancarlo Stanton, the reigning National League Most Valuable Player to their already imposing lineup led by Aaron Judge, last year’s American League Rookie of the Year. Between them, this duo had hit 111 homers and driven in 246 runs last season and were expected to tear the American League East apart this year. Mantle and Maris had four more homers than Judge and Stanton hit, in 2017, while playing for different teams. While Stanton and Judge drove in 246 runs between them, Mantle and Maris drove in 269, 23 more.

Going into Tuesday’s games, even though their team was in first place, ahead of the Red Sox by one half game, the Yankee sluggers had, in their first 44 games, not lived up to the advance billing. Judge was hitting just .286 with 12 homers and 36 runs batted in and was 12th in baseball in slugging percentage at .565, while Stanton, had 11 homers and 28 runs batted in with a .263 batting average and was 28th in baseball in slugging percentage at .520. Judge had struck out 63 times and Stanton 61, the third and fifth most in baseball.

What do these numbers mean for the long term in 2018? Probably nothing with over 110 games to play in the season, but the performance of Betts and Martinez to date, when compared to the performance of one of the greatest duos in baseball history in their record breaking year, should give Red Sox fans a greater appreciation of what these two have accomplished.

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