Aaron Judge Hits 62 Home Runs

October 4, 2022. Globe Life Field, Arlington, Texas. A Tuesday night game against the Rangers that meant nothing in the standings and everything for the record books. Aaron Judge walked to the plate in the first inning, dug in against Jesus Tinoco, and launched a 391-foot drive to left-center on a 2-1 slider. Home run number 62. The clean record. The real one.

The Bet

Here's the thing people forget about the 2022 season -- it started with Judge saying no. The New York Yankees offered him a 7-year, $213.5 million extension before Opening Day. That's generational money. Judge turned it down in April and told everyone he wouldn't negotiate during the season. He was betting on himself, which is the kind of move that looks brilliant when it works and suicidal when it doesn't.

It worked.

Judge came out of the gate swinging -- double-digit homers in April, 20-something by the end of May. By the All-Star break he had 33 and was tracking ahead of Roger Maris's 1961 pace. The Yankees led the AL East by 15 games in early July, and Judge was the reason. His lead over the next closest AL home run hitter got so absurd that the gap looked like something out of a Ruth season. (I'm not exaggerating -- you had to go back to the Babe to find that kind of separation.)

By August, the chase was real. Judge had 45-plus homers with about 50 games left. He was leading the AL in batting average, home runs, AND RBI -- a freakin' Triple Crown chase on top of everything else. The Yankees were falling apart that month. Judge was getting better.

The Chase Gets Heavy

September was when it got intense. Judge was chasing three records at once: Jimmie Foxx and Hank Greenberg's right-handed AL record of 58, Ruth's franchise record of 60, and Maris's AL record of 61. He blew past Foxx and Greenberg like they weren't there.

HR #60 came on September 20th against Pittsburgh at the Stadium. The Yankees were trailing in the ninth when Judge led off against Wil Crowe and crushed one into the left-field seats. Curtain call. And then Giancarlo Stanton hit a walk-off grand slam to win it 9-8. (Only the Yankees could make a historic home run the SECOND most exciting thing that happened in the same game.)

HR #61 came on September 28th in Toronto, off Blue Jays reliever Tim Mayza. Tied Maris. Same night the Yankees clinched the AL East. The Maris family was in the stands for it -- Roger's sons had been following Judge around the country, willing him to break their father's record. That kind of grace doesn't get talked about enough.

Then Judge went cold. Back home for a series against Baltimore, he couldn't get #62 at the Stadium. The fans wanted it. The cameras were ready. The moment wouldn't come. He left New York stuck on 61, and the whole circus packed up and moved to Texas for the final road trip.

Number 62

First inning in Arlington. Tinoco -- a 27-year-old righty -- threw a slider on a 2-1 count. Judge turned on it and sent it 391 feet to left-center. The ball landed in the seats where a fan named Cory Youmans caught it. (Youmans later returned the ball to Judge, which is either incredibly generous or the biggest missed payday since somebody passed on Apple stock in the garage days.)

Judge rounded the bases the way he does everything -- composed, respectful, like a man who'd thought about this moment for six months and decided he wasn't going to lose his mind when it arrived. He pointed to his family. He hugged his teammates. He found the Maris family in the stands and shared the moment with them.

It's a big number. But what got me the most was seeing the Maris family there and being able to share that with them. They didn't have to be there. They chose to be.

That quote tells you everything about the man. He'd just hit more home runs than any player in a single season with zero credible PED allegations attached to his name, and the first thing out of his mouth was gratitude toward the family of the guy whose record he broke.

Why 62 Is the Real Record

Let's not dance around this. The MLB record book says Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001. Mark McGwire hit 70 in 1998. Sammy Sosa cracked 66 that same year. On paper, Judge is fourth.

Nobody with a functioning brain believes that.

Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa all have PED clouds hanging over their careers that make thunderstorms look subtle. None of them are in the Hall of Fame. McGwire admitted to using steroids in 2010. Bonds was the central figure of the BALCO scandal -- his trainer went to prison for distributing PEDs to athletes, and Bonds's own obstruction conviction got overturned on appeal, but the stink never washed off. Sosa got caught with a corked bat and his name showed up on the leaked 2003 survey test for PEDs. (The test that was supposed to be anonymous. Sure.) The 1998 home run chase that supposedly "saved baseball" was fueled by syringes, and everyone in the sport knew it even if they didn't say so at the time.

Judge's 62 happened in the Statcast era. Every swing is measured -- exit velocity, launch angle, spin rate. His body didn't change between his rookie year and 2022. He's been listed at 282 pounds since he got to the Bronx. There's no whisper, no suspicion, no asterisk. He's the AL record holder outright, the right-handed hitter record holder in either league, and -- by the standard that the Maris family, most fans, and anyone paying attention accepts -- the legitimate single-season home run king.

Roger Maris Jr. said it himself: Judge broke "the real record." When the son of the man whose record you just passed tells the world you did it the right way, the conversation is over.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did Aaron Judge hit his 62nd home run?

October 4, 2022, in the first inning of a Yankees-Rangers game at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. The pitcher was Jesus Tinoco. Judge hit a 2-1 slider approximately 391 feet to left-center field, breaking Roger Maris's American League record of 61 home runs set in 1961.

Is 62 the real single-season home run record?

By the standard accepted by the Maris family, most fans, and most baseball historians -- yes. The official MLB record is Barry Bonds's 73 in 2001, but Bonds, Mark McGwire (70 in 1998), and Sammy Sosa (66 in 1998) all hit their totals under the cloud of PED suspicion and none are in the Hall of Fame. Judge's 62 is the American League record, the right-handed batter record in either league, and the most widely recognized "clean" single-season record in baseball history.

Did Aaron Judge win the Triple Crown in 2022?

Yes. Judge led the American League in batting average (.311), home runs (62), and RBI (131) -- the first AL Triple Crown since Miguel Cabrera won it in 2012. He also won the AL MVP unanimously, receiving all 30 first-place votes.