Sal Durante, the New York Yankees fan who famously caught Roger Maris' record-breaking 61st home run in 1961, has passed away 61 years later at age 80.The news was revealed by Roger Maris Jr. on Twitter. A specific cause of death has not been revealed, but Durante's son told the New York Post that his father was battling dementia.'Sal Durante the guy who caught my dad's 61st home run died last night,' Maris Jr. tweeted Friday morning. 'Sal was such a gentleman and loved his Yankees. Sal and my dad will always be connected to each other because of that historic day on October 1, 1961. Condolences to the Durante family from the Maris Family.' Yankee slugger Roger Maris and Sal Durante (right), the Brooklyn youth who caught Maris' 61st homerun of the season in the right field stands, holds up uniform number 61, signigying Maris' historic seasonal output of four-baggers. Durante returned the prize trophy to Maris after the game. Yanks beat the Boston Red Sox in the season finale, 1-0 Nineteen-year-old Sal Durante of Coney Island caught the ball which was Maris' 61st of the season. Durante, who later met Maris, told reporters that he would give the historic ball to the Yankee slugger even 'if it turns out there is no reward for it' Sal Durante holds the ball hit by Roger Maris for his 61st home run during the 1961 season prior to the game against the Boston Red Sox on September 24, 2011 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx RELATED ARTICLES Previous 1 Next Aaron Judge hits No. 62! Yankees superstar overtakes Roger... 'A blessing from God!': Emotional Aaron Judge takes to... Share this article Share A 19-year-old truck driver from Brooklyn in 1961, Durante attended the fateful game on a date with his future wife and another couple, according to the Post. It was in the fourth inning when the left-handed Maris came to the plate with a chance to surpass Babe Ruth's MLB record of 60 home runs in a single season. The North Dakota native then pulled an offering from Boston Red Sox pitcher Tracy Stallard deep into the right-field bleachers, where Durante was able to catch the souvenir.But rather than trying to sell it for a profit - a common occurrence nowadays - Durante offered to give it to Maris for safekeeping.Instead, Maris told Durante to 'keep it, kid' and 'put it up for auction.''Somebody will pay you a lot of money for the ball. He'll keep it for a couple of days and then give it to me.' Fans seated in Yankee Stadium's right-field bleachers jockey for position for Maris' home runUltimately Sam Gordon, a restaurant owner from California, bought the ball for $5,000. It now resides in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.Durante's son Tim spoke with the Post in September, before Yankees slugger Aaron Judge ultimately broke the team and American League record with his 62nd home run of the season.'He still had — and still has — all his pictures of him and Maris through the house,' Tim said of his father.' He would talk about it. If we asked questions about it until recently, he would have known the answers. About one-and-half months ago, his mind completely shut off.'He had a nice run with this,' Tim continued. 'In 1976, when they opened up the new-old Yankee Stadium, he threw out the first ball to Graig Nettles. Then at the 25th anniversary, they invited him up there with my mom. Then on the 50th anniversary he brought out the ball — that is now in the Hall of Fame — to the Maris family.'Sal Durante was preceded in death by his wife Rosemarie, who passed away eight years ago. Judge surpassed Roger Maris' American League single-season home run record Tuesday If you cherished this write-up and you would like to acquire extra info concerning topp ný hönnuðir kindly stop by our own site.