For the past 61 years, Roger Maris’ home run record was 61 home runs which was established in 1961 by New York Yankee in 1961 unbroken as the record for most home runs in one season by an American League player.
Today, some years later, after the 62nd decisive hit from Aaron Judge’s bat, a brand new record has been set.
Judge the standout 30-year-old outfielder of the New York Yankees, hit his 62nd homer in the current season during an evening game on Tuesday with the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas.
The crowd exuded cheers, and the players came to home plate to greet the player, embracing him one after the next.
“It’s an immense relief” Judge said of making history. He added that “…it’s been a great ride thus far.”
For many years, the oldest Yankee’s record stood as baseball’s single-season home run record. Contemporary players such as Willie Mays and Hank Aaron could not match it. And neither could the other stars who followed them that followed them: Not Mike Schmidt, not Reggie Jackson Not even Ken Griffey Jr.
In the record of all-MLB records, Maris’ milestone was eventually surpassed in the home run contest of 1998 in which Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs (both National League players) attracted the attention of the entire nation by attempting to equal, and eventually beat the record.
in 2001 Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants, also in the NL was able to surpass them both with his the record-breaking 73 homers. Bonds record-breaking feat is still in the record books of baseball as the record-breaking single-season total.
However, for many baseball enthusiasts these seasons of McGwire, Sosa and Bonds are stained. All three players are widely believed — or in McGwire’s case, have admitted — to taking performance-enhancing drugs during those years.
Then, Maris’ record had been a part of history Officially, it was it was the American League record; unofficially in the mind of many people who are a bit more strict this was the “real” record for home runs.
Whatever the case, ever since MLB began testing players for drugs in 2003, not a single player in either league met the criteria.
Judge has been a dazzling player from the moment he took his very first Major League appearance that Judge hit a homer on his fourth pitch as an Yankee. In his debut season, he broke records. MLB record for the most homers for a rookie by hitting 49 homers.
Ailments had prevented him from reaching his full potential until now.
Seven seasons into his tenure Judge has broken his previous record. Along with his 62 homers, Judge scores 131 RBIswhich is the highest of the American League — and his batsman’s average is an impressive .311. If he’s lucky Judge could finish this season as the top player in his league in all three of the statistics and also win the Triple Crown, the first player to achieve this within a decade.
