61*

Barry Pepper portrays the reserved Roger Maris, while Thomas Jane plays the charismatic Mickey Mantle in the movie. Directed by Billy Crystal, both actors received critical acclaim for accurately capturing the dynamic of the 1961 New York Yankees.

The asterisk in the title refers to the controversy surrounding Roger Maris breaking Babe Ruth's single-season home run record, as MLB Commissioner Ford Frick ruled that Ruth's record stood for a traditional 154-game season. Frick controversially suggested an asterisk be placed next to Maris's name because he achieved the record over the newly expanded 162-game season.

Director Billy Crystal, a notoriously die-hard New York Yankees fan, went to great lengths to ensure the film was historically accurate to the 1961 season. He used actual archived audio and old stadiums like Tiger Stadium to stand in perfectly for the old Yankee Stadium.

Because the original Yankee Stadium had been heavily renovated in the 1970s, the production filmed baseball scenes at Detroit's historic Tiger Stadium, which still retained its classic 1960s architectural feel. The stadium was retrofitted with era-appropriate advertising and dugouts to perfectly mimic 1961 New York.