Judge approaching Maris Single Season Record

With regular season play winding down, Aaron Judge finds himself close to tying the regular-season home run record.

The History

Sixty-one years ago, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle found themselves in a home run race for the ages. Although most people seemed to be rooting for the legendary switch hitter Mantle, it was Maris who came out on top hitting an astounding sixty-one bombs and setting the American League single season record that still stands today.

In that 1961 season, the pair of Yankees were chasing a record set by another player who had worn Pin Stripes. Babe Ruth hit sixty home runs in both the 1927 and 1921 seasons. Now, there is another Yankee entering this mix. Aaron Judge has been on a tear all year, tallying fifty-seven home runs up to this point.

It is only fitting that another legend out of the Bronx challenges those that came before him for the American League record of sixty-one.

Hot on the Trail

Aaron Judge has been leading a struggling Yankees team through the second half of the year. Tuesday night, Judge led the charge against the Red Sox. In the top of the sixth, Judge crushed an opposite field bomb to right field. His very next at bat in the eight, he did it again, but this time to left field. These were home runs number fifty-six and fifty-seven on the year for judge. The Yanks went on to win seven to six.

5⃣6⃣ & 5⃣7⃣. Phenomenal.

Presented by @PalladiumHG pic.twitter.com/mUXBQa2Yn9

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 14, 2022

With just twenty games left in the season, Judge is just four home runs away from tying the record. He would need five more to be in sole control of history. Although many would think that he has to be aware of the situation, he claims it is not his focus.

The Yankees play again Wednesday in Boston followed by a trip to Milwaukee before headed home to New York for a home stand. Despite what is said, the race is alive and and well and may come right down to the wire.