Aaron Judge is the new home run king — at least to some people.
The Yankees outfielder made history Wednesday (AEDT), hitting his 62nd home run of the season to break Roger Maris’ American League and franchise record set in 1961 — and, some would say, the legitimate MLB record.
He reached the landmark number against Jesus Tinoco of the Texas Rangers, leading off in the second-to-last regular season game on the season.
One fan was captured jumping over the railing to try catch the home run and was later tossed out of the game.
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Security has already reportedly identified the fan who caught the ball, with offers of $2 million already coming in.
In the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader, Judge went 1 for 5 as the designated hitter, singling and scoring the eighth inning. The frustrations of his homerless drought began to show as he was caught slamming his helmet in the dugout after a fifth inning pop-out.
It’s the most homers hit in a season since Barry Bonds set his PED-tainted record of 73 home runs in 2001 with the Giants. Sammy Sosa, another slugger disgraced by his attachment to steroids, hit 64 that season with the Cubs. Sosa’s career-high of 66 came in 1998 during his chase with Mark McGwire, who finished with 70 home runs.
While many consider Bonds’ record to be illegitimate because of his connection to steroids, Judge said he still believes Bonds is the home run champ.
“The record’s the record,” Judge said earlier in September. “That’s what I go by. I watched him as a kid flip the ball into the bay with ease. That hasn’t changed.”
Judge first expressed the sentiment in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, saying, “No one can take that from him.”
But Judge said he hasn’t been focused on Maris’ milestone.
“I’m not really chasing or looking at anything,” Judge said of his move up the home run leaderboard. “It’s just happening.”
And Judge, who grew up in California rooting for Bonds and the Giants, added he doesn’t plan on gunning for Bonds’ 73, either.
“Not really,” Judge said. “That was a pretty unreal year. That’s a hard number to catch.”
This year, nothing seems out of reach for the 30-year-old Judge, who started the season by rejecting the Yankees’ seven-year, $213.5 million ($A329m) contract extension offer and chose to gamble on himself and head to free agency, unwilling to negotiate during the season.
That’s shaping up to be one of the best bets of all-time. Judge has responded with a season for the ages, set to lead the majors in homers and RBIs.
He is almost certain to win his first AL MVP award, despite Shohei Ohtani’s two-way brilliance with the Angels.
Making Judge’s achievement even more remarkable is that he got off to a relatively slow start, hitting just one home run in his first 54 plate appearances.
His pace through the heart of the season was extremely consistent, with 12 homers in May, 11 in June and 13 in July.
Now, the baseball world will wait and see how many home runs Judge ends up with — and how much it will cost the team that gets him in the offseason.
This article first appeared on the New York Postand was reproduced with permission.
