Roger Maris Jr. has not been shy about expressing his views on MLB’s single-season home run record. On Sunday, he posited an idea for the league to settle the issue of who is the true home run king.
Well, sort of.
Maris said MLB should create a separate record for “PED home runs” in addition to non-PED home runs. The league did something similar when his father broke Babe Ruth’s record in 1961. That was the first season that featured 162 regular season games, up from 154 in previous years. The elder Maris hit his 61st home run on the final day of the season, and his mark was designated with an asterisk at the time by commissioner Ford Frick.
“Baseball should consider making two separate home run records,” Maris wrote. “PED home runs and home runs. Baseball’s commissioner established separate home run records in 1961. Babe Ruth was credited as the home run king with 60. Roger Maris was credited for his 61 separately under 162 games.”
When Judge hit his 61st home run of the year, Maris called Barry Bonds’s total of 73 homers hit in 2001 illegitimate, per Brendan Kuty of NJ.com. Bonds—along with Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, who also topped Maris’s mark of 61 homers—did so in an era of the game that predated MLB testing for performance-enhancing drugs, and when the use of such PEDs was common. The younger Maris echoes the views of many fans who believe the records from that era are tainted.
“I think it means a lot, not just for me. I think it means a lot for a lot of people,” Maris said after Judge’s 61st homer. “That he’s clean, he’s a Yankee, he plays the game the right way. I think it gives people a chance to look and somebody who should be revered for hitting 62 home runs … He should be revered for being the actual single-season home run champ. That’s really who he is, if he hits 62. I think that’s what needs to happen, I think baseball needs to look at the records, and I think baseball should do something.”
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