Is Aaron Judge the home run king in the eyes of the next generation of players?

By Ian Roddy — 10/05/2022

For 61 years, the American League record for most home runs in a single season remained untouched. On Tuesday night, though, the baseball world watched as Aaron Judge clobbered his 62nd home run of the year, eclipsing Roger Maris’s long-standing milestone of 61.

The New York Yankees slugger drove a slider into the left field seats to open up the first inning of play in the second game of a doubleheader in front of a record crowd at Globe Life Field. After a season that saw Judge passing Yankees milestones like billboards on a highway, this officially puts a bow on the entire thing.

Judge became the first player in the post-steroid era to enter such an exclusive stratosphere of MLB greats. Some have already taken to calling him the “true home run king” in reference to the fact that the only players to hit more than 62 homers in a season were all on performance-enhancing drugs at the time. It’s because of this fact that many, at least until Tuesday, viewed Maris’ American League record of 61 as the clean, untainted MLB record. Among those already crowning Judge home run king include Maris’ own son, Robert Maris Jr.

When asked what he believes the true all-time home run record is, Judge himself told Sports Illustrated: “Seventy-three, in my book. No matter what people want to say about what happened in that era of baseball, for me, they went out there and hit 73 homers and 70 homers and that’s for me what the record is.”

But what about the younger generation of baseball players? After all, these are the stars of tomorrow. What are their overall thoughts on Judge’s historic season? And does it put him over guys like Barry Bonds (73 home runs) or former USC Trojan Mark McGwire (70)?

“It’s so good for the sport,” said Ryan Costeiu, currently the 29th-ranked prospect for the Los Angeles Angels. “Baseball needs things like this to keep people entertained… Obviously it’s not the all time record but pitchers are so much better now than McGwire or Sosa ever hit off of.”

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