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62! It Means Something.

Barry Bonds vs. Aaron Judge. Aaron Judge vs. Barry Bonds. Who is the all-time single season home run record holder?

Honestly, who cares?

Truth is, it’s probably Barry Bonds despite his mutant-sized body thanks to performance enhancing drugs. He hit 73 in 2001. I saw his 50th at Wrigley Field in person, a cannon shot to right field. The PED’s helped, but he still had the hand-eye coordination and ability to do it. It hurts as real baseball fans, but that’s probably the truth.

Meanwhile, Aaron Judge is compared to Barry Bonds more than Roger Maris and Babe Ruth because he hit more home runs in a single campaign than Roger and Babe, yet 7th most all-time, and because in-between you have Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, who from 1998-2001 were sending moon shots out on PED’s and having chicks dig the long ball. But people compare Judge to Bonds because the two guys in between, like Barry, were doping. It’s the clean Judge vs. the guy at the top of the record books in Bonds who cheated with the middle guys doing the same. Should be leader vs. all-time chemically-enhanced leader? In other words, everyone after Maris until Judge is in question. By the way, here are the Top 10 single season home run marks:

Most single-season home runs, MLB

1. Barry Bonds, 73, 2001

2. Mark McGwire, 70, 1998

3. Sammy Sosa, 66, 1998

4. Mark McGwire, 65, 1999

5. Sammy Sosa, 64, 2001

6. Sammy Sosa, 63, 1999

7. Aaron Judge, 62, 2022

8. Roger Maris, 61, 1961

9. Babe Ruth, 60, 1927

T10. Giancarlo Stanton, 59, 2017

T10. Babe Ruth, 59, 1921

Judge made history twice, and that’s the point here. Don’t worry about Bonds vs. Judge and Judge vs. Bonds. Compare the eras all you want. Compare more at bats and more games, the same way you do with Maris in 1961 when he toppled Ruth. How about Ruth never facing integrated competition? He was lucky in 1927 that he didn’t have tougher competition with Black and Hispanic pitchers and also the deep bullpens today with the most heat we have ever seen with changeups sprinkled in. But above all, realize that 60 and 61 are still hallowed numbers.

Hate baseball? Don’t care? That’s fine, but at least be educated if you have an opinion or are doing the Bonds vs. Judge and Judge vs. Bonds thing. So many people yell and scream about the AL record. Who cares, they say, when it isn’t the overall baseball record? Glad you asked. It matters because baseball values its leagues as LEAGUES more than any other sport. It’s why for years we had a DH in the AL while pitchers hit in the NL. It’s why “winning the pennant” used to be a big deal in each league. Now, most people say “pennant chase” as we gear up for October when a pennant cannot be won for weeks. The American League is about Ruth and Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx. The National League is about Willie Mays and Willie McCovey and Hank Aaron and Jackie Robinson and Ernie Banks. They are together as Major League Baseball (and together with guys like Frank Robinson and Ken Griffey Jr. who played in each league) but separate in so many ways. It’s one of the many reasons that the All-Star Game in this sport remains the best by a wide margin. Finally, many long time baseball fans cheer for the league their team is in even if their favorite club is out of the postseason.

Look, sports are different. Baseball isn’t football and basketball isn’t hockey. There is a uniqueness to each. We don’t celebrate the all-time scoring leader in Eastern Conference history in the NBA. And we don’t celebrate the all-time passing leader in NFC history in the NFL.

If you know and love and understand baseball, you will know that in this sport, the AL and NL have their own place in many ways. Judge blasted his way into history as the all-time AL record holder for home runs and did the same for the Yankees franchise.

Oh, the Yankees. Ruth-Gehrig-Mantle-DiMaggio-Maris-Yogi Berra-Reggie Jackson-more. NONE have as many homers in one season than Aaron Judge. That says something. It means something.

This isn’t about Barry Bonds vs. Aaron Judge as much as the incredible year Judge had in breaking the aforementioned home run marks and bringing back the humble and great Maris’ 1961 season to baseball. Baseball and sports have a way of doing that. Players and teams and eras and records and generations of fans linked in some way, shape or form.

So yell and complain and compare all you want. Remove Barry Bonds from the conversation and make it more about Aaron Judge. More about 62 and chasing a historic mark while almost winning the Triple Crown (an award, by the way, where you must have the most home runs and RBI and highest batting average in YOUR league, another separator from the point above). Yes, that Triple Crown, which has been won 12 times by 10 men. That’s it, that’s the list.

Aaron Judge is the all-time single season home run champ in Yankee history and the American League. Don’t yell. Don’t complain. Don’t compare.

Instead, celebrate, appreciate and live in the moment. #99 had some year.

All Rise, indeed.