Aaron Judge inches closer to American League home run record

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Aaron Judge inches closer to American League home run record

Published: 06 Sep. 2022, 16:11

New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge reacts while rounding the bases after hitting a home run against the Minnesota Twins during the sixth inning of a game at Yankee Stadium in New York on Monday. [AP/YONHAP]

New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge pulled within 10 long balls of the American League’s all-time single season home run record on Monday, sending No. 54 over the left field wall as the Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 5-2 at Yankee Stadium in New York.

That home run means Judge is still on track to break the league’s single season record of 61 home runs set by Roger Maris in 1961.

That record led the entire major league until 1998, when Mark McGwire hit 70 home runs, with Barry Bonds setting the current MLB record of 73 homers in 2001.

With 27 games left of the regular season, Judge is unlikely to challenge the Bonds record — although it’s not impossible — which was set at a time when home run numbers shot through the roof as the majors struggled to grapple with a performance enhancing drug problem.

But Maris’ American League record is firmly in Judge’s sights.

Monday’s big fly against the Twins came in the Yankees’ 135th game of the 2022 MLB season. Sixty-one years ago, Maris, who at the time also played for the Yankees, hit home runs No. 52 and 53 in his 135th game of the season.

With Judge belting out No. 54, he remains one home run ahead of Maris with no sign of cooling down at the plate any time soon.

Reaching, and indeed beating, the big No. 61 wouldn’t just see Judge beat the American League record, but would also see him hit the most home runs of any player ever that we can say with some confidence is not taking steroids.

The 61 mark has been broken six times: Once by Bonds with 73 in 2001; twice by McGwire with 70 in 1998 and 65 in 1999; and by Sammy Sosa three times, with 66 in 1998, 64 in 2001 and 63 in 1999.

The MLB began actively testing for steroids in 2003, with Sosa later banned for use of performance enhancing drugs. McGwire has publically admitted to taking steroids, while Bonds has regularly faced accusations of steroid use.

The majors now regularly test for steroid use, leaving Judge as potentially the first player to break the 61 mark without any doubt over how sportingly he reached the milestone.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]