 In colloquial usage, an asterisk attached to a sporting record indicates that it somehow tainted.The reason is that results that have are considered dubious or even set aside are recorded thus in record books with an asterisk the refers to a footnote which explains the reason for concern.The usage of the term in sports arose during the 1961 baseball season in which Roger Maris of the New York Yankees was threatening to break Babe Ruth's 34-year-old single-season home run record.