Aaron Judge at 57 Homeruns

[EDGECRUSHER]

Yankees have 20 games left and Judge needs 4 more Homeruns to tie the AL record set by Roger Maris and 5 more to beat it. He has been insanely hot the past 30 games but HRs tend to get streaky in both directions, so no guarantee he breaks it.

That being said, hot take incoming, I would consider him the HR King if he hits 62. Bonds and McGwire and Sosa were all on steroids and a ridiculous amount of them at that, they mutilated the history books. Judge is just a giant freak, so unless he has some designer steroid lab in his backyard like Bonds did, we should assume he is clean.

I know the old records will still stand, but it will be nice to have a "real" HR champ again if he does it.

[Dave Gray]

You gotta count Bonds and McGwire because they were playing against juiced pitchers, too.

The time to scrub juicers from baseball was during juicing.   ...not now.

[Spider-Dan]

You gotta count Bonds and McGwire because they were playing against juiced pitchers, too.

This.

It seems silly to me to claim that Barry Bonds' numbers shouldn't count because he had an unfair advantage against the John Rockers pitching to him and the Sammy Sosas in the field trying to throw him out, or similarly, that Roger Clemens' numbers shouldn't count because he had an unfair advantage against the Jason Giambis and Ken Caminitis he was facing from the mound.

[EDGECRUSHER]

You gotta count Bonds and McGwire because they were playing against juiced pitchers, too.

The time to scrub juicers from baseball was during juicing.   ...not now.

I am talking about how I see it, I know the records won't change. As far as the pitchers go, I'm sure some were on something but not as much as steroid use makes you prone to ligament and joint injuries and those would ruin most pitchers.

Besides, no athlete on the planet was on as much juice as Bonds. His hat size grew from seaosn to season. He had BALCO making stuff for him specially. If you look at his 73 HR season, he would've hit 100 HR easily if they pitched to him. That's just a mockery of the records. He only had 476 at bats that season because he was walked 177 times. Just unnatural, video game numbers that few recognize as legit. I would back up my argument by saying the Hall of Fame agrees with me but they are morons whose opinions are worthless.

[stinkfish]

I'm with Edge. If Judge gets 62 he's the legitimate  record holder.

[EDGECRUSHER]

He hit number 60 last night. Practically zero chance of catching Bonds but he is definitely on pace to tie and break the record set by Maris. He doesn't seem to be letting nerves get to him, but he's only human. Things happen. Would be great if he can tie and break it at home.

[stinkfish]

He doesn't need to pass Bonds. He'll pass Maris. That's the number that counts.

[Spider-Dan]

Besides the real record, the next best thing for Judge would be if he can hit 62 by game 154.  That should permanently erase all talk of Ruth and Maris as any sort of single-season HR record holders, asterisks or no.

On a related note: this is the contract season to end all contract seasons.  Aaron Judge is going to get P A I D

[EDGECRUSHER]

Besides the real record, the next best thing for Judge would be if he can hit 62 by game 154.  That should permanently erase all talk of Ruth and Maris as any sort of single-season HR record holders, asterisks or no.

On a related note: this is the contract season to end all contract seasons.  Aaron Judge is going to get P A I D

He will very likely set the AL HR mark and has a solid chance at winning the Triple Crown, just 1 point behind for batting average and no one is touching him with RBI and HR.

That being said, he does have an injury history and turns 31 next year. The Yankees are going to regret his contract worse than Elsbury, but what can they do? If he wants 10 Years/$400 Million, then so be it. Just pray that his mechanics change is what kept him healthy and hitting like this.

[Spider-Dan]

Judge hit #61 in game 155, so the Babe is safe*.  Let's see if he gets to 62.

*for those who refuse to accept that Bonds hit #61 in game 144.

[EDGECRUSHER]

Judge hit #61 in game 155, so the Babe is safe*.  Let's see if he gets to 62.

*for those who refuse to accept that Bonds hit #61 in game 144.

He seemed to press a bit, plus he was not getting anything to hit the past week. I imagine the same will occur over the final 7 games. I don't see a total like 68 but I think he will hit 62 and that's good enough for me.

[EDGECRUSHER]

The son of Roger Maris says that Judge should be revered as the ACTUAL HR Champ if he hits 62 Homeruns. So, we certainly know where he stands on the steroid scandal.

[Spider-Dan]

Did anyone ask Babe Ruth's great-grandniece who she thought the home run king is?

[EDGECRUSHER]

Did anyone ask Babe Ruth's great-grandniece who she thought the home run king is?

They asked his widow a few times during the Maris chase and even though he hit 61, it took more games to tie Ruth than Babe played in, so she very strongly hinted that the asterisk was appropriate.

[Spider-Dan]

I think the easy, non-asterisk solution to this is to simply refer to the AL home run record.  That way, we don't have to adjudicate who the "real" home run champ is; there's the NL/MLB record holder, and if you believe that record is tainted, there's the AL record holder.