MLB: Aaron Judge ties Roger Maris' 61 home run single season record

MLB: Aaron Judge ties Roger Maris' 61 home run single season record
29/09/2022
"It's an incredible honour to get a chance to be associated with one of the Yankee greats," said Judge, who presented the HR ball to his mother Patty in the presence of Roger Maris Junior.

Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees hit his 61st home run of the 2022 season, thus tying former Yankee great Roger Maris as the only player in the American League history to go beyond 60 homers in a single season.

The Major League Baseball (MLB) single-season home run record belongs to Barry Bonds, who hit 73 in the 2001 season for the San Francisco Giants.

Other National League players to have gone over the 61-home run mark are Mark McGwire (70 in 1998; 65 in ‘99 - St. Louis Cardinals) and Sammy Sosa (66 in ’98, 64 in ’01; 63 in ‘99 -Chicago Cubs)

Judge hit his home run at Rogers Centre in Toronto against Blue Jays left-handed reliever Tim Mayza in the seventh inning of a game the Yankees won, 8-3. It was Judge's only hit.

"It's an incredible honour to get a chance to be associated with one of the Yankee greats, one of the baseball greats," Judge told MLB.com. "To be enshrined with them forever, words can't describe it. That's one thing that's so special about the Yankee organization, all the guys that came before us and paved the way, played the game the right way."

As reported by MLB.com, the coveted ball, worth as much as US$ 2 million, by one estimate, was nearly caught by two fans seated in the front row of Section 137, which overlooks Toronto's bullpen. The ball smacked into a wall just below them and came to a stop near the bullpen mound, where it was retrieved by pitching coach Matt Buschmann and passed along to Toronto closer Jordan Romano.

Judge presented the ball to his mother in the presence of Roger Maris' son.

Maris (1934-1985) hit his 61st home run in the last game of the 1961 season. There was a longstanding controversy about the legitimacy of his record since Babe Ruth had hit 60 home runs in a 154-game season in 1927, and by game 154, Maris had 59 in 1961.

Judge hit his 61st home run in game 155 but still tied Babe Ruth within game 154.

He will now start chasing his 62nd homer starting Friday, 30 September.

Judge leads the MLB in home runs (61) and runs batted in (RBIs, 130) and leads the American League in batting average (.313). He could clinch the American League Triple Crown in the season's final seven games.

Twelve players have earned a League's Triple Crown in MLB's history. Judge would be the third Yankee after Lou Gehrig and Mickey Mantle.

The last player to earn an American League Triple Crown was Miguel Cabrera (Detroit Tigers) in 2012.

In the history of the game, only Roger Hornsby (Cardinals, 1925), Gehrig (1934), Ted Williams (Boston Red Sox, 1942) and Mantle (1956) led the MLB in batting average, home runs and RBIs.

With Freddie Freeman (Giants) hitting .327 and Jeff McNeil (Mets) hitting .320, the competition to join the pantheon becomes hard for Judge.