- MLB. Roger Maris Jr. says Aaron Judge should be the legitimate single-season HR champion if he hits his 62nd
- MLB. Aaron Judge's 61st Home Run: The story of the fan who didn't catch the $2 million ball
It's no use sugar coating this, Aaron Judge did the unthinkable by getting 61 home runs in a single season and matching Roger Maris' record. And he did it withtout the need of steroids, that's the hard-hitting truth. Nobody can deny it even if they keep names like Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa close to their hearts.
Judge has a unique chance of suring Maris without cheating but we do need to give credit where credit is due. The constant numbers Sosa, MCGwire, and Bonds put up for so many years are completely irrational and out of this world. It doesn't matter of they used steroids or not, they sure did something unforgettable. Documentaries were made about the two records that were broken.
McGwire's wild summer against Sammy Sosa
The first man who broke the record was Mark McGwire, he lived through a hard-lived battle against the likes of Sammy Sosa until the final days of the regular season. Mark ended with 70 home runs in a historic year that left Sosa with 66 homers in a full regular season.
This happened in 1998 during a summer that will forever be ed as the one that saved baseball after the lockout that took place a few years prior to that. Love for baseball was restored thanks to them, nobody can take that away from both sluggers. Perhaps even more impressive was that they maintained their fight during the next year with Mark getting 65 and Sosa getting 63. After that, another player completely blew the numbers out of proportion.
Barry Bonds will likely remain at the top
Even though the steroid scandal broke after a fewyears. Barry Bonds is the man with the most home runs after a single season. In 2001, the San Francisco Giants slugger made history that may never be repeated again. A total of 73 home runs in a single season might never be repeated again. All three of these retired players would not have the same numbers and consistency without the use of steroids.
Which makes what Aaron Judge is doing far more valuable than we care to acknowledge. If he got all those 61 homers completely free of steroids, what Aaron Judge is doing deserves a monument. It is cleansing an all-time record that had been stained for over two decades. Hopefully, he gets to 62 so he can claim he has the real record in his hands. A New York Yankee, as things in life should be.