October 21, 2022 By: Karl Wimer

Cartoon: Aaron Judge — New King of Home Runs in Yankees Pinstripes

‘New King of Home Runs in Pinstripes’

Aaron Judge moved the needle forward on a record that had stood for over sixty years when he belted his 62nd home run in the second to last game of the season.

It’s a record for the American League that has remained in the hands of the New York Yankee franchise since Babe Ruth slugged 60 in 1929. Roger Maris broke Babe’s record with 61 in 1961. It caused an outcry among purists of the game, as the MLB had expanded from 154 to 162 in the very year Maris surpassed the 60 milestone. For years, the record bore an asterisk in the minds of many.

That minor debate took a back seat to the home run record conversation in the National League in the late 90s. Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds all took turns destroying the previous record of 56 home runs set by Hack Wilson of the Chicago Cubs in 1930 (also the year he drove in an unbelievable 191 runs). It didn’t take long to learn that those three established records would forever be tarnished by proven steroid use.

In the meantime, Judge has made many of the right moves to build his game and with class, focus, and other outstanding elements of his game (at 6’7″ he is the best base stealer in history for a player of his size). When he broke the record on October 4th, many of the purists still pointed out that Babe got his record in 154 games, but they still had to concede that Judge tied the Bambino with 15 games left.

Home run chases always call attention to the attendant strikeouts that can hurt a team. That is certainly the case with Judge, who has struggled hitting in the postseason in the aftermath of the end of the season celebration. For a player in the running for the MVP, now is crunch time and an opportunity to see how heavy is the head that wears the crown.