Provided The bar in the lounge at the Hilton Hotel in Gainesville, Florida, was empty except for the four of us: Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, Billy Martin and me. It was Wednesday afternoon, March 23, 1977, and I was glad there was nobody else at the long, wooden bar because I didn’t want needless chaos and fan interference as I tried to get a handle on these famous baseball men for a Sports Illustrated story I was working on. The assigned piece was about Maris, but he was here in this unexpected reunion with his old Yankees pals, far from New York City, where they all had labored under the glare of the massed media. I couldn’t believe I was lucky enough to be along for the ride, a 20-something journalist, in awe.