Aaron Judge Hits 61st Home Run to Tie Roger Maris Record

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• best last-minute Christmas gift ideas you can get in time for 2022
• A bomb explodes in the Los Angeles Times building
• Yankees confident minor leaguer can contribute in bullpen
• Fastest to 61 home runs (by team games)
• Barry Bonds is your home run record holder, with 73
• Why Carlos Rodon’s success is far from a sure thing for Yankee
• 'Skunk in the outfield': How the most epic trick play in history broke baseball3ySam Miller

Aaron Judge, of the New York Yankees, hits his 61st home run of the season in the seventh inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on Sept. 28, 2022 in Toronto, tying Roger Maris for the American League record. Judge was a big reason for the crown, and it's been more than just home runs. He entered Wednesday's action leading the AL in batting average, home runs and RBIs as he looks to become the third Yankees player to win the Triple Crown . At times appearing as if they'd run away from the American League pack before stumbling through August, New York seems destined for the AL's No. 2 postseason seed behind the Houston Astros.

Speaking at the 1980 All-Star Game, he said, "They acted as though I was doing something wrong, poisoning the record books or something. Do you know what I have to show for 61 home runs? Nothing. Exactly nothing." Maris' wife, Pat, appeared as herself on October 2, 1961, episode of the game show To Tell the Truth. Sal Durante, a 19-year-old Brooklyn truck driver, caught the home run ball about 10 rows back in the right-field stands. Maris trotted around the bases, stopping to shake hands with a young boy who’d managed to wriggle past security and onto the field. In the beginning of the film, Bob Cerv was seen with the Yankees on Opening Day.

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Notably, Judge has reached 61 in a season when average home run production has been far below his level. The Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber has 42 homers, which ranks second in the Majors to Judge’s total. TORONTO -- Two slugging right fielders taking their swings in Yankees uniforms 61 years apart, one assigned No. 9 and the other sporting a super-sized No. 99. Roger Maris and Aaron Judge are forever linked as legends of this storied franchise, now the only men in its history to hit 61 home runs in a single season.

Reliever Zack Britton brokered an in-game exchange of the baseball for Judge, who presented it to his mother, Patty. The coveted ball -- said to be worth as much as $2 million, by one estimate -- was nearly caught by two fans seated in the front row of Section 137, which overlooks Toronto's bullpen. The ball smacked into a wall just below them and came to a stop near the bullpen mound, where it was retrieved by pitching coach Matt Buschmann and passed along to Toronto closer Jordan Romano. Maris is one of 32 players to win multiple MVP Awards, but one of just 13 to win them in consecutive seasons.

A bomb explodes in the Los Angeles Times building

Gussie Busch, who owned both the Cardinals and Anheuser-Busch, got Maris started into the beer business. Maris also coached baseball at Gainesville's Oak Hall High School, which named its baseball field after him in 1990. In 1964, he rebounded, appearing in 141 games, batting .281 with 26 home runs. Maris hit a home run in Game 6 of the 1964 World Series, in which the Yankees lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.

The Yankees won the American League pennant, the first of five consecutive pennants, but lost a seven-game World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates culminating in Bill Mazeroski's dramatic walk-off home run. Maris played in 99 games and hit 19 home runs for Kansas City in 1958. In 1959, he played in 122 games and hit 16 home runs; he missed 45 games during the second half of the season as a result of an appendix operation. He was selected to play in the second of two All-Star Games held that year. In the late 1950s, Kansas City frequently traded their best young players to the New York Yankees—a practice which led them to be referred to as the Yankees' "major league farm team"—and Maris was no exception.

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On September 24, 2011, at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees celebrated the 50th anniversary of Maris's single-season home run record. Roger Maris's number 9 was retired by the New York Yankees in 1984.Despite the statements made by Commissioner Frick in 1961, no asterisk was subsequently used beside Maris's home run record in any record books. The Guinness Book of World Records did, however, differentiate the Maris home run record and the Ruth home run record as distinct and separate for a number of years.

In 1961, Maris hit 61 home runs, one more than Babe Ruth did in '27, setting a new Major League record. That stood until 1998, when first McGwire and then Sosa broke it in a chase that captivated the nation. Yet Maris’ 61 still stands as the American League and Yankees records -- for now. Judge hit No. 60 on Tuesday night (with two of Maris’ sons in attendance in the Bronx) and appears primed to tie and then surpass Maris in the coming days. Judge tied Roger Maris' American League record of 61 home runs in a season with a tiebreaking, two-run drive in the seventh inning that lifted the New York Yankees over the Toronto Blue Jays 8-3 on Wednesday night.

Yankees slugger Aaron Judgeclubbed his 62nd home run of the season to rewrite baseball's history books Tuesday night against the Rangers. The home run broke a tie with Roger Maris, giving Judge sole possession of the American League single-season record. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa have also eclipsed the 61 home run mark. However, all three of those sluggers have come under scrutiny for performance-enhancing drug use, and there is dispute among baseball fans and media over who is the rightful home run champion, Bonds or Maris .

In reality, Wilhelm was brought in at the top of the inning, and had already gotten two Yankees out before facing and getting out Maris. When Wilhelm was brought in, the film shows the Orioles manager threatening to fine him $5,000 if he threw Maris a fastball, a story which has never been confirmed. Also on opening day, the broadcast announcer refers to the opposing Minnesota Twins pitcher as Camilo Pascual. In fact, the Twins' pitcher that day was Pedro Ramos, who would later distinguish himself as a reliever for the Yankees. As the Twins are warming up, two players, wearing numbers 2 and 7 are seen.

Fastest to 61 home runs (by team games)

Lary gave up Maris' 52nd and 57th homers of that 1961 season, but the one in question did indeed come against Aguirre. Aside from its historical importance, Judge’s homer put his team back on top after Gerrit Cole surrendered three runs in the sixth inning. Cole retired the first 15 Blue Jays, striking out four batters to equal a different beloved Yankees single-season record -- Ron Guidry’s franchise mark of 248 strikeouts, set in 1978. Those are tiny and perhaps even meaningless differences in the context of WAR, but the point is, Maris wasn’t exactly a one-year wonder.

Maris hit his 61st home run on October 1, 1961, in the fourth inning of the last game of the season, at Yankee Stadium in front of 23,154 fans. Boston Red Sox pitcher Tracy Stallard gave up the record home run, which was caught by fan Sal Durante in the right field bleachers. Maris was awarded the 1961 Hickok Belt as the top professional athlete of the year and won the American League's MVP Award for the second straight year. It is said, however, that the stress of pursuing the record was so great for Maris that his hair occasionally fell out in clumps during the season.

The old schedule of 154 games was replaced by 162 games which led to some controversy due to the 8 extra games that Maris had to try to hit 61. Maris' major league record stood for 37 years, three years longer than Ruth's, before it was broken by Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1998. Maris' 61 home runs remain the American League single season record. Decades earlier in 1961, Maris is presented with the Most Valuable Player award for the 1960 baseball season, but Mickey Mantle remains the New York Yankees' superstar.

The division title was New York's first since 2019, and 20th overall in franchise history. Judge finally got there in the series finale, with Roger Maris Jr. and Judge's mother, Patty, sitting front row on top of the Yankees dugout. And now, the only players in MLB history with more home runs in a season are Barry Bonds , Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa -- all of whom accomplished theirs during the steroid era . It took Maris until Oct. 1, the final game of the 1961 season, to hit his 61st, which broke Babe Ruth's single-season mark of 60 home runs set in 1927. TORONTO -- New York Yankees star Aaron Judge hit his 61st home run of the season Wednesday night against the Toronto Blue Jays, tying Roger Maris' American League record. In the final five games of the Yankees’ six-game homestand, he went 4-for-15 with six walks, six strikeouts and no RBIs.

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So would you believe that it arguably wasn’t even his best all-around season? That idea seems laughable at first, but if you go by wins above replacement , it’s true. Baseball-Reference’s version of WAR credits Maris with 7.5 in 1960 and 6.9 in ‘61; FanGraphs’ version has him with 7.2 in ‘60 and 7.1 in ‘61.

So, as you can see, what Judge is doing in 2022 is truly historic. Judge will likely get a day off in the season's final day before the Yankees start their World Series chase in the ALDS next week. Judge's 61 homers have traveled a total distance of around 25,132 feet, or 4.75 miles. For some context, the Empire State Building measures 1,454 feet tall, including the spire and antenna.