The Bet: Aaron Judge's 2022 Season and the Record Nobody Expected

In March 2022, the New York Yankees offered Aaron Judge seven years and $213.5 million to lock him up before the season started. He said no.

That's the whole story, in a way. Everything else -- the 62 home runs, the MVP, the record that had stood for 61 years, the December contract that made everyone forget what $213.5 million even felt like -- flows directly from that one decision.

He bet on himself. He was right.

The Offer, the Refusal, and the Press Conference Nobody Asked For

The Yankees made their extension offer before Opening Day, set a deadline of the first pitch, and when Judge turned it down, GM Brian Cashman walked into the Yankee Stadium press room and told reporters the exact dollar figure.

Judge wasn't thrilled about that. "We kind of said, 'Hey, let's keep this between us,'" he said later. "I was a little upset that the numbers came out."

The relationship between player and front office was now officially awkward, and the season hadn't started. Judge would spend six months playing for a contract while his employer had told the whole country what they'd offered and been refused. It was a strange situation to play through.

He played through it just fine.

A Season That Shouldn't Have Happened

The 2022 Yankees were good -- 99 wins, AL East title, ALCS berth. But the season belonged to one man in a way that doesn't usually happen on a team that good. Gerrit Cole was excellent. Nestor Cortes had a breakout year. Anthony Rizzo drove in big runs. And none of that is what anyone remembers about 2022.

What everyone remembers is that Judge hit 62 home runs.

He led the major leagues in home runs, RBI (131, tied with Pete Alonso), runs scored (133), on-base percentage (.425), slugging (.686), OPS (1.111), and total bases (391). He batted .311. He drew 111 walks. He played 157 games. He was so thoroughly and completely the best player in baseball that the AL MVP vote -- 28 of 30 first-place ballots -- almost felt understated. (The two holdouts voted for Shohei Ohtani. They weren't wrong to love Ohtani. They were wrong to put him first.)

This was the greatest offensive season an American League player had put together since... well, that's where it gets interesting.

The Record

Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in 1961 -- with the Yankees, wearing pinstripes, chasing a ghost named Ruth. There was an asterisk controversy at the time (Maris played a 162-game schedule; Ruth's record was set over 154 games) but no actual asterisk ever appeared in any official record book. In 1991, the Statistical Accuracy Committee formally declared Maris's 61 the unqualified AL single-season record (a ruling most people don't know exists, because it settled the argument so cleanly). It had stood for 61 years.

McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds all hit more -- but their records exist inside glass cases, sealed off from the rest of the conversation. The AL record was Maris's, clean, and it had been standing longer than most people covering the chase had been alive.

Judge hit 60 on September 20 against the Pittsburgh Pirates -- a 430-footer off Wil Crowe in the ninth inning that sparked a walk-off comeback win. He stood alone with Babe Ruth in franchise history with 60 in a season. He hit 61 off Tim Mayza of the Blue Jays on September 28, 7th inning, a ball that flew 117.4 mph off his bat -- his hardest homer of the year. The Yankees won 8-3. Judge tied Roger Maris.

Then came four days of waiting.

Then came October 4, 2022, at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. First inning, second game of a doubleheader. Jesús Tinoco threw an 88 mph slider. Judge drove it 391 feet over the left-field wall. The fan in the stands had brought his glove on purpose, and he used it.

HR #62. New American League record. Roger Maris's 61-year-old standard, gone.

The full story of that moment is in the 62nd home run event page. But the moment doesn't mean the same thing without the season behind it -- the contract drama, the six-month grind, the near-Triple Crown (he missed it by .005 batting average, Luis Arraez of Minnesota winning the batting title with a .316 mark that Arraez milked like a professional on the final day of the season), the entire weight of a historic summer.

The Collapse, and Then December

The ALCS was a nightmare. The Houston Astros swept the Yankees in four games, and Judge went 1-for-16. Justin Verlander struck out 11 in Game 1. Jeremy Peña -- a rookie -- played like a postseason veteran. The team that had spent all summer looking invincible looked very, very vincible. Judge, who had carried New York on his back from April through October, had nothing left for the October that mattered most.

It was a bad end to a great year. Those things happen.

What came next was better. On December 20, 2022, Judge signed a nine-year, $360 million contract to stay in New York -- $40 million per year, the largest AAV ever paid to a position player in baseball history at the time, surpassing Mike Trout's $35.54 million. The deal that the Yankees had offered at $213.5 million ended up costing them $360 million, and they were grateful to pay it.

The next day, December 21, Hal Steinbrenner stood at a podium at Yankee Stadium and named Judge the 16th captain in franchise history -- the first since Derek Jeter had retired eight years earlier. Jeter was there. The whole thing was a little much, in the best possible way.

He turned down $213.5 million and got $360 million. He turned down the asterisks -- the ones that had clouded the home run record for two decades -- and hit 62 clean ones. He turned down the safe path and wound up with the record, the MVP, the captaincy, and a contract worth a hundred and fifty million more than what they'd offered before it all started.

Aaron Judge bet on himself. He was right.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Aaron Judge win the Triple Crown in 2022?

Almost -- and it's one of the cruelest near-misses in recent baseball memory. Judge led the American League in home runs (62) and RBI (131), but his .311 batting average came up five points short of Minnesota's Luis Arraez, who won the batting title at .316. Arraez went 1-for-1 with two walks on the final day of the season to lock up the title. The last actual Triple Crown winner was Miguel Cabrera in 2012.

Who pitched the 62nd home run to Aaron Judge?

Texas Rangers reliever Jesús Tinoco threw an 88 mph slider in the first inning of the second game of a doubleheader at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas on October 4, 2022. Judge drove it 391 feet over the left-field wall. Exit velocity: 100.2 mph. A fan who came prepared with his glove caught the ball in the left-field stands.

Why did Aaron Judge's AL record matter more than the other home run records?

Barry Bonds (73), Mark McGwire (70), and Sammy Sosa (66) all hit more home runs in a single season than Judge's 62. But all three are linked to the PED era and exist in a kind of historical gray zone. Roger Maris's 61, set in 1961, was the untouched American League record -- the one tied to the clean history of the game. When Judge passed 61, he broke the real one. That's why Maris's family was in the building in Arlington.

Why did Aaron Judge turn down the Yankees' contract extension in 2022?

The Yankees offered seven years and $213.5 million before the 2022 season. Judge turned it down and bet on himself -- took on the risk of a bad season for the chance to earn more on the open market. He was right: the final deal was nine years, $360 million ($40M/year), which was $146.5 million more than the original offer. The complication was that GM Brian Cashman publicly revealed the exact dollar amount after Judge declined, which Judge said upset him. "We kind of said, 'Hey, let's keep this between us,'" he said.

What happened to the Yankees in the 2022 playoffs?

The Yankees went 99-63 in the regular season, won the AL East, and beat the Cleveland Guardians in five games in the ALDS. Then the Houston Astros swept them 4-0 in the ALCS. Judge went 1-for-16 in the series. Justin Verlander struck out 11 in Game 1. Houston shortstop Jeremy Peña won the series MVP. It was one of the great season-to-postseason whiplash moments in recent Yankees history -- 62 home runs and an MVP, and nothing to show for October.