Ever since Aaron Judge’s chances to break the single season home run record became reality, debate over the actual record has swirled. The all-time mark of 73 homers from Barry Bonds in 2001 is sullied because it’s widely believed he used steroids, so some believe that the real record is the 61 now shared by Judge and Roger Maris.
However, during an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci, Judge revealed what he thinks the record is.
“Seventy-three is the record,” Judge said. “In my book. 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. The AL record is 61, so that is one I can kind of try to go after. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it’s been a fun year so far.”
Since speaking to Verducci, Judge has tied the AL’s all-time mark. Now at 61 home runs, he is 12 shy of Bonds’s 2001 record with just seven games to play.
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