Aaron Judge finally did it!
He hit his 61st homer at Rogers Centre in Toronto last night, and I can guarantee that if you asked him about the homer, he will tell you that the Yankees won the game, and that is all that really counts.
But in tying Roger Maris’ single-season home run record for the American League—and what some say is the real single season home run record versus the supposedly tainted efforts of Mark McGwire, Sammy Soda and Barry Bonds—Judge has done something completely incredible by keeping the American League home run record in the Yankee family.
Babe Ruth had 60 homers in 1927, Maris had his 61 in 1961, and now Judge shares the record with Maris, and a good bet is that he will break that 61-year-ols record during one of the Yankees’ remaining games.
What’s more, not only does he lead the Yankees into the postseason, but he has a definite shot to win the Triple Crown, meaning that he will lead his league in homers, runs batted in, and in batting average.
He has had a simply incredible season, and hopefully the Yankees can sign him to a contract this off-season, so he will remain a Yankee during his entire career.
And any team with Judge on it has to be a favorite to get to the World Series, and the Yankees not only want to get to the World Series, but they want to win it all, and who would bet against Judge leading them there?
Another interesting thing about Judge’s pursuit of the American League home run record is that it has shined a light on Roger Maris, one of the greatest players of his era—the late 1950s and early 1960s—who I don’t think has ever gotten the respect he deserved for his accomplishments during that era.
He wasn’t a home-grown Yankee—he played for the Kansas City Athletics and the Cleveland Indians before he came to The Bronx—and he played in the shadow of the “golden boy” of baseball at that time, Mickey Mantle.
Mantle came up to the Yankees in 1951 as Joe DiMaggio’s replacement in centerfield, and he himself was not looked at too kindly by Yankee fans at the time.
But over time, he became what is now called a “generational player,” won over the hearts of the Yankee fans with his incredible talent and gregarious “country boy in the big city” persona, and honestly, Maris could not compete with Mantle in a popularity contest.
Maris was ultra-talented, but he was shy, did not get along with the press, and in 1961, when Mantle and Maris went at it to break Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record, the fans backed Mantle.
But “The Mick” was prone to injuries, and while he fell short at 54 homers, Maris just kept on going, and broke Ruth’s record in the final game the Yankees played that year.
Baseball purists did not accept the record at the time, saying that Maris had extra games to secure the record—1961 was the year that the schedule was expanded to 162 games, from the 154 games that teams played in 34 years before when Ruth hit his 60.
Some wanted an asterisk applied to Maris’ new record, but although it was talked about, the record, over time, became accepted, and Maris—who went though tons of cigarettes and lost some of his hair as he pursued The Babe’s record—had the undisputed single-season record until the steroid era in the 1990s.
Judge is much like Maris, a great hitter and a great right fielder, but their personalities are a bit different, although they both downplayed their records in lieu of the team winning—which the Yankees did, winning it all in 1961.
Just looking over Maris’s career, although he played just 12 seasons, he hit 275 career home runs; he was a two-time Most Valuable Player in the American League (1960 and1961); he made seven World Series Appearances--more than any other player in the 1960s—with the Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals; he played in seven All-Star Games; and he won a Gold Glove Award for his play in right field in 1960.
And no, even though he was a dominant player during this era, he is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame, which really is a major omission, as he both led the Yankees to five World Series appearances when he was a dominant player, he also lhelped the Cardinals to two World Series appearances when his body pretty much broke down and he couldn’t play much anymore.
And he hit just .260 during his career, and baseball purists say that he doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame because of his 12 seasons, “only” seven of them were outstanding, even though his teams went ot the World Series seven times and he earned three World Championship rings.
I hope this new focus on Maris makes Hall of Fame voters cast a new eye on the player, and perhaps one of the oldtimers committees can vote him into the place he should have been voted into years ago,
He hit his 61st homer at Rogers Centre in Toronto last night, and I can guarantee that if you asked him about the homer, he will tell you that the Yankees won the game, and that is all that really counts.
But in tying Roger Maris’ single-season home run record for the American League—and what some say is the real single season home run record versus the supposedly tainted efforts of Mark McGwire, Sammy Soda and Barry Bonds—Judge has done something completely incredible by keeping the American League home run record in the Yankee family.
Babe Ruth had 60 homers in 1927, Maris had his 61 in 1961, and now Judge shares the record with Maris, and a good bet is that he will break that 61-year-ols record during one of the Yankees’ remaining games.
What’s more, not only does he lead the Yankees into the postseason, but he has a definite shot to win the Triple Crown, meaning that he will lead his league in homers, runs batted in, and in batting average.
He has had a simply incredible season, and hopefully the Yankees can sign him to a contract this off-season, so he will remain a Yankee during his entire career.
And any team with Judge on it has to be a favorite to get to the World Series, and the Yankees not only want to get to the World Series, but they want to win it all, and who would bet against Judge leading them there?
Another interesting thing about Judge’s pursuit of the American League home run record is that it has shined a light on Roger Maris, one of the greatest players of his era—the late 1950s and early 1960s—who I don’t think has ever gotten the respect he deserved for his accomplishments during that era.
He wasn’t a home-grown Yankee—he played for the Kansas City Athletics and the Cleveland Indians before he came to The Bronx—and he played in the shadow of the “golden boy” of baseball at that time, Mickey Mantle.
Mantle came up to the Yankees in 1951 as Joe DiMaggio’s replacement in centerfield, and he himself was not looked at too kindly by Yankee fans at the time.
But over time, he became what is now called a “generational player,” won over the hearts of the Yankee fans with his incredible talent and gregarious “country boy in the big city” persona, and honestly, Maris could not compete with Mantle in a popularity contest.
Maris was ultra-talented, but he was shy, did not get along with the press, and in 1961, when Mantle and Maris went at it to break Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record, the fans backed Mantle.
But “The Mick” was prone to injuries, and while he fell short at 54 homers, Maris just kept on going, and broke Ruth’s record in the final game the Yankees played that year.
Baseball purists did not accept the record at the time, saying that Maris had extra games to secure the record—1961 was the year that the schedule was expanded to 162 games, from the 154 games that teams played in 34 years before when Ruth hit his 60.
Some wanted an asterisk applied to Maris’ new record, but although it was talked about, the record, over time, became accepted, and Maris—who went though tons of cigarettes and lost some of his hair as he pursued The Babe’s record—had the undisputed single-season record until the steroid era in the 1990s.
Judge is much like Maris, a great hitter and a great right fielder, but their personalities are a bit different, although they both downplayed their records in lieu of the team winning—which the Yankees did, winning it all in 1961.
Just looking over Maris’s career, although he played just 12 seasons, he hit 275 career home runs; he was a two-time Most Valuable Player in the American League (1960 and1961); he made seven World Series Appearances--more than any other player in the 1960s—with the Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals; he played in seven All-Star Games; and he won a Gold Glove Award for his play in right field in 1960.
And no, even though he was a dominant player during this era, he is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame, which really is a major omission, as he both led the Yankees to five World Series appearances when he was a dominant player, he also lhelped the Cardinals to two World Series appearances when his body pretty much broke down and he couldn’t play much anymore.
And he hit just .260 during his career, and baseball purists say that he doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame because of his 12 seasons, “only” seven of them were outstanding, even though his teams went ot the World Series seven times and he earned three World Championship rings.
I hope this new focus on Maris makes Hall of Fame voters cast a new eye on the player, and perhaps one of the oldtimers committees can vote him into the place he should have been voted into years ago,
Look, if the focus needs to be on Maris' one super season.then if he finally gets into the Hall of Fame, he will be baseball's version of Percy Sledge.
Sledge had a steady career as a top rhythm and blues singer, but he was enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame pretty much for his incredible performance of "When a Man Loves a Woman."
If Percy Sledge can be voted in basically for this one accomplishment, Maris should be voted in for his 61 in '61.
Maris hit his 61st homer off the Red Sox’s Tracy Stellar; Judge hit his 61st homer off off the Blue Jays’ Tim Maza, so the pitcher automatically becomes an answer to a trivia question … but if Judge hits 62 or beyond, the pitcher that throws Judge’s final homer of the regular season will be even a bigger trivia question—and if it does happen,, it will be thrown by a pitcher on the Orioles or the Rangers, the Yankees’ last two opponents of the regular season.
You can say what you want about all of this, but we have been through a really rough time during the past three years or so, and Judge’s pursuit has taken some of the focus off of the reality of what is happening in our country and the world right now.
Even non-sports and non-baseball fans have taken notice, and what better way to get away from the rigors of life than to watch this All-American superhero—all six foot, seven inches of him—hit homer after homer for the most famous sports franchise in our country, if not the world.
Congratulations to Aaron Judge, congratulations to the Maris family—Roger died at age 51 in 1975—and congratulations to Major League Baseball, which proved once again that it was, is and will forever be our National Pastime.
Maris hit his 61st homer off the Red Sox’s Tracy Stellar; Judge hit his 61st homer off off the Blue Jays’ Tim Maza, so the pitcher automatically becomes an answer to a trivia question … but if Judge hits 62 or beyond, the pitcher that throws Judge’s final homer of the regular season will be even a bigger trivia question—and if it does happen,, it will be thrown by a pitcher on the Orioles or the Rangers, the Yankees’ last two opponents of the regular season.
You can say what you want about all of this, but we have been through a really rough time during the past three years or so, and Judge’s pursuit has taken some of the focus off of the reality of what is happening in our country and the world right now.
Even non-sports and non-baseball fans have taken notice, and what better way to get away from the rigors of life than to watch this All-American superhero—all six foot, seven inches of him—hit homer after homer for the most famous sports franchise in our country, if not the world.
Congratulations to Aaron Judge, congratulations to the Maris family—Roger died at age 51 in 1975—and congratulations to Major League Baseball, which proved once again that it was, is and will forever be our National Pastime.
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