 The reality, however, was that MLB actually had no direct control over any record books until many years later, and it all was merely a suggestion on Frick's part.Within a few years the controversy died down and all prominent baseball record keepers listed Maris as the single-season record holder.Nevertheless the stigma of holding a tainted record remained with Maris for many years, and the concept of a real or figurative asterisk denoting less-than-accepted "official" records has become widely used in sports and other competitive endeavors.