Baseball fans everywhere will be talking about Aaron Judge's 2022 season for a long time. The New York Yankees outfielder set the American League record with 62 home runs en route to having a career year.
Judge's home runs make him the single-season leader for American League players but just the seventh across all of MLB history. Former National League stars Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa own the top six spots for most home runs hit in a single season, with Bonds' 73 in 2001 still owning the top spot.
Some baseball fans, like Roger Maris Jr. and Rolling Stone's Tomas Mier, don't think that the trio of stars from the late 1990s/early 200s count as the real home run leaders. They point to Judge as the true single-season home run king due to the illegal steroid usage from the three sluggers.
Using Aaron Judge's outstanding season to disqualify the stars of the past is nonsensical. Here are three reasons why Judge should be considered the AL's single-season home run record holder, not all of MLB's.
3. MLB has not disqualified the records
The disregard people hold for steroid-era stars is not the continuation of feelings that most people had toward them. At the time, MLB leaned into, not away from, the stars that smashed home runs with regularity.
Sluggers and home runs were used as a marketing focus. The commissioner at the time, Bud Selig, chose not to make steroid usage a massive deal. After the 1994 season was shortened due to a lockout, home runs brought massive interest back to America's pastime. (In a move that reeks of hypocrisy, Selig was inducted into the Hall of Fame while many of the stars who helped him propel the sport into more popularity, notably Bonds, were not. Clearly, steroid usage benefitted the league as a whole.)
MLB could choose to adjust their official record books to remove those that used illegal substances. The NCAA, for example, has vacated wins, awards and championships from programs, so the majors could have looked to do the same. But they haven't, and the official website of the league boasts the names Bonds, McGwire and Sosa in its record books.
Everyone already knows that the stars of the 1990s juiced up, so what's the point of adding an official disqualification to the achievements that people marveled at when they happened? Those who cannot get past the cheating can look at Aaron Judge as their home-run leader if they really want to but the record books should not.
2. It diminishes the sport's history
Have whatever take you want about athletes who break the rules. Whether it sickens you or doesn't bother you that much, these players still reached levels of excellence that we may never see again on a consistent basis.
Barry Bonds' numbers are simply absurd. The dominance he displayed can hardly be comprehended. The 1998 home run chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa was one of the biggest stories in sports. Aaron Judge's home run chase reminded us how special it was to see such extraordinary offensive production be more commonplace.
Yes, the steroids were key factors in those players reaching such historical ranks. But each of them were already stars before they juiced up and smashed the records. Bonds arguably had a Hall-of-Fame resumé before he started his famed stretch from 2001 to 2004, where he fundamentally broke the sport.
Not only does the relitigating of the past tear down the accomplishments of past stars, it also takes away attention from current ones. Aaron Judge is in the midst of one of the best seasons we will ever see. It would behoove baseball fans to just enjoy and discuss that campaign, as there is plenty to marvel at.
1. Aaron Judge doesn't think he has the true record
The man that many baseball fans are arguing in favor of doesn't even agree with them.
“Seventy-three is the record,” Aaron Judge told Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci in September. “No matter what people want to say about that era of baseball, for me, they went out there and hit 73 homers and 70 homers, and that to me is what the record is.”
What is the point of rehashing the discussion about baseball's former superstars to prop up Judge when the Yankees star himself isn't interested in doing so? Fans don't need the permission of athletes to have a certain opinion, of course, but in this case, it just seems bizarre. Campaigning for a player to be given a special designation that the athlete themself would deny is nothing but a waste of time.
Again, docking players' morality points for their illegal steroid usage is not ridiculous on its face. It's perfectly acceptable to remember players that broke the rules but to rewrite history is insane. Instead, simply write history. Acknowledge who hit the most home runs in a season and the substances that aided them.
The simple facts of the matter are as follows: Aaron Judge is in the midst of a phenomenal season and Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa have reached single-season home run totals that put them atop the all-time leaderboard.
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