Aaron Judge’s 62nd home run means we can say so long to Roger Maris’ son, which is nice

Thank you, Aaron Judge!

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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.

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

– 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.

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Aaron Judge is not the MLB single-season home run king. Sorry, Roger Maris Jr.

No matter how you feel, Barry Bonds is the single-season home run king until someone hits 74.

Barry Bonds is the MLB single-season home run king.

Want to know how I know Barry Bonds is the single-season home run king? Because I checked the Major League Baseball website, and there he was, number one on the list. Barry Bonds, 73 dingers.

So why then do I hear people bestowing this title on Aaron Judge, an incredible player in his own right, but very obviously not the home run king. Last I checked, he had 61 home runs, tied at seventh with Roger Maris. And I assume you knew this already, because his pursuit of 61 was well covered. ESPN even ticked off some college football fans by interrupting their game with live coverage of Judge’s at-bats.

So imagine my surprise when I heard Roger Maris Jr. say Judge “should be revered for being the actual single-season home run champ.” I almost spit out my lemonade. How did he get from 61 to 74 so fast?! But nope, never happened. I checked the MLB website again, and there was Bonds, still No. 1.

Maris Jr. was actually advocating for MLB to “look at the records and do something.” Apparently, he doesn’t think Bonds’ home run record should count due to the should-be Hall of Famers’ obvious ties to steroids. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, who hold all the records between one and seven, would be wiped from the records too. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think all of those incredible seasons were aided by performance-enhancing substances, but respectfully, Maris Jr. couldn’t be more wrong.

The time for MLB to do something — if it really wanted to — was more than two decades ago. If the league didn’t want these astronomical single-season numbers, it would have tested for steroids when it had the chance. But it did want those numbers, it benefitted from those numbers, it didn’t start testing until after Bonds set the record in 2001, and now it should be stuck with those numbers for the rest of time.

That includes the all-time record of 762 home runs that Bonds holds and many of us will never live to see broken. It’s a potentially flawed record, and that’s exactly why the league should never touch it, because the history of Major League Baseball is flawed. You can’t go back and erase something because you don’t like it. It happened already. Live with it.

If you don’t want to acknowledge Bonds’ record as a fan, fine, just say you think he cheated and keep it moving. But until Judge hits 73 home runs himself, he’ll never be the MLB home run king, because as far as the record books are concerned, he’s not. He’ll have to settle for being the American League home run king. And for a league that’s been around for more than a century, that’s really not so bad.

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