This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning.
Aaron Judge did it. Finally.
On Tuesday night in Arlington, Texas the Yankees’ slugger hit his 62nd home run of the year to break Roger Maris’ longstanding American League record for most homers in a season and become the home run king… of the AL.
It also means we can say so long to Roger Maris’ son, Roger Maris Jr., which is nice.
I don’t say that to be mean. I really don’t. I don’t know the guy at all on a personal level. I’m just so over having to hear him bringing up stuff about how he thinks Judge is MLB’s real home run king because he’s clean and the real home run king, Barry Bonds, was not.
Maris Jr. tweeted about it again last night, writing:
“Aaron Judge is the new CLEAN HOME RUN KING!! All the young kids who watched Aaron Judge set the single season record for home runs … you finally have someone to revere! No more trying to explain to you how someone could possibly hit 73 home runs.”
That all caps part is what I’m talking about. It just oozes cringe for me. Also, I don’t need him to be giving me notes on how I should revere. And I know how someone could possibly hit 73 home runs, I watched that home run chase with my own eyes. I lived it. They hit the ball with their bat and sent it over the wall 73 times.
He tweeted this 6 hours before that last tweet;
“Congratulations to Aaron Judge and his family on Aaron’s historic home run number 62! It has definitely been a baseball season to remember. You are all class and someone who should be revered. For the MAJORITY of the fans, we can now celebrate a new CLEAN HOME RUN KING!!”
Again, the all caps is super cringe.
And he tweeted this before that one:
“Barry Bonds is the best baseball player ever. What Bonds did in 2001 was the most dominate hitting performance ever. I know Bonds is the single season home run champ (73) based on the CURRENT record books. Home run records have been SEPARATED before … I like Judge better!!”
Again with the all caps!! Oh, and there is no need whatsoever for MLB to separate any records. That would be insanity.
I’m so glad we’re never going to have to hear from this guy about home runs again.
Bonds and his 73 home runs are the MLB record, which means you would have to hit 74 to break it and become the real HR king. And I don’t want to hear about the steroid era as an excuse to take that record out of the books – you can’t just toss aside one record from that era because you’re mad about what it meant to your father’s legacy. Are you supposed to take away championships and other things from those days? No, of course you’re not.
What Roger Maris did back way back in 1961 was cool and his record lasted a long time. Now he no longer holds the AL record anymore and that is cool, too.
You know what else is cool? The fact that we’ll never have to hear from his son again.
Thank you, Aaron Judge!
Quick hits: NFL fireable coaches rankings… Phillies pitcher’s sick sinker… Dog gets MLB home run ball… And more.
– Christian D’Andrea ranks the six NFL coaches who most deserve to be fired through Week 4 of the season, leading with Matt Rhule.
– Phillies reliever Jose Alvarado threw a 101 mph sinker with so much movement that had fans just felling bad for hitters.
– A dog got a home run at last night’s Mets game.
– MLB fans rightfully ripped this ump for making the worst called strike call of the season.
[listicle id=1969626]
[mm-video type=video id=01gdgzzr7493wq5qaksx playlist_id=01f09p3bf720d8rg02 player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gdgzzr7493wq5qaksx/01gdgzzr7493wq5qaksx-1dccada8b5d1a3fff8a57ca380745713.jpg]