It’s a tremendous accomplishment.
Yankees star Aaron Judge hit his 62nd home run of the season on Tuesday night, breaking Roger Maris’ American League record of 61 that poetically stood for 61 years.
Maybe the most impressive part is dealing with the pressure.
Night in and night out for months now, Judge’s every move has been monitored, debated, and scrutinized.
Can he do it?
If he does, is he the true home run king? I’m on the record as saying no, by the way.
That distinction still belongs to Barry Bonds.
Yet, that’s no reason not to celebrate something that we haven’t seen in baseball in over half a century.
Baseball treats these kinds of record with more reverence than any other sport.
That’s because of the sport’s long, illustrious history and because of the arduous nature of a 162-game season.
Breaking a record is hard, so when it happens, we should honor and celebrate it.
Even though Judge isn’t the true home run king, his name now lives in the same breath as Babe, Maris, Mantle, Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa.
And that, along with the A.L. record, is a legacy that no one can ever take away from him.
