62

On Tuesday, Aaron Judge hit his 62nd home run of the 2022 season. This not only topped Roger Maris’s 61 for the American League record, but is potentially the authentic single season record (as the only others with more were accused of PED use). The thing that I noticed about Judge’s chase for the record is that the fans wanted him to hit it. He must have felt pressure, but nothing like Maris faced. This post, starting with Babe Ruth’s record, will explain the context of Judge’s homer, the context of Maris’s homer, and Maris’s Hall of Fame candidacy. 

Babe Ruth’s career changed the sport of baseball forever. When he first came up in 1914 (as a pitcher), runs were scored on a much smaller scale, and there was a lot of bunting, base stealing, hit and run - “small ball”, tactical baseball. Ruth decided to start swinging for the fences, and set a Major League record with 29 homers in 1919. As the dead ball era came to a close in 1920, Ruth became a full time outfielder and demolished his mark with 54 homers. He broke his own record two more times, topping out at 60 in 1927. Ruth was the idol of every American back then, and was regarded as “more than a man but less than a god”. When he retired in 1935, his record looked pretty safe. However, a new philosophy began to permeate the game by the 1950’s: “home run or bust”. Guys like Mickey Mantle,  Harmon Killebrew, and Jim Lemon led the new trend, setting impressive home run (and strikeout) records. The Yankees in particular loaded their lineup with power hitters, and became known as the Bronx Bombers. 

One of those new era power hitters was Roger Maris. He began his career with the Cleveland Indians, and soon went over to the Kansas City Athletics. The Yankees in those days got a significant amount of their star power from the Athletics, which was practically their AAAA farm team, and Maris came over to the Yanks in 1960. Maris was a good power hitter, hitting 39 homers to win the MVP that year, but he didn’t communicate well with the press. Like Lou Gehrig essentially avoided Babe Ruth’s limelight, Maris seemed to make sure not to outshine guys like Mantle. Perhaps thinking he had a home in New York, and seeing as how both the  league and the schedule were expanding, Maris teamed up with Mantle for a dual assault at 61 in ‘61. Most fans wanted the immortal Ruth’s record to stand forever, but the Yankee fanbase as a unit cheered on Mantle’s chase. Mantle was their favorite. He had been with the club for ten seasons, won the Triple Crown in 1956, and became New York’s new heartthrob. Maris, on the other hand, was looked upon quite differently. He was the new guy, largely unproven until his MVP season in 1960, and not a great communicator. Mantle looked like a better bet to actually beat Ruth’s mark - his previous career high was 52 in 1956 - so it came as a shock when the new guy matched Mantle’s pace as the season went on. Nobody wanted Maris - who played Ruth’s position in the “House that Ruth Built” - to top the Bambino’s record. When he started seriously gunning for 61, the fans let them know how they felt. Maris experienced nothing but torment and hate on his way to history. He received death threats, boos, bad print, you name it. In one rather famous incident late in the 1961 season, one fan threw his chair at Maris when he was in the field. The stress caused Maris’s hair to fall out. In the end, Maris ended up hitting number 61 (Mantle got hurt and finished with 54), and that became the hallmark of a successful Major League career. He played twelve seasons in the Majors, hit 275 home runs, won three World Series rings, and earned a Gold Glove award in 1960. It was a nice career, and could have been better if the fans were on his side. 

In 1998, Mark McGwire of the Cardinals and Sammy Sosa of the rival Cubs began their chase for 62. They both crushed the record (McGwire had 70 and Sosa hit 66), and Sosa hit 60 homers a couple more times. However, there is good reason to suspect that they were using illegal performance enhancing drugs (PED’s), likely anabolic steroids, to build muscle. McGwire for one has admitted it (https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=4816607#:~:text=NEW%20YORK%20%2D%2D%20Mark%20McGwire,to%20hit%20the%20long%20ball.). That 1998 season was a pretty big deal back then, but until Tuesday many people considered Maris’s 61 homers the true record. So be it. 

61 seasons after Maris hit his historic homer, Aaron Judge hit his record setting 62nd homer. To add irony to irony, Judge is also the Yankee rightfielder, patrolling the same outfield position as both Ruth and Maris. I am happy that he hit number 62, and it is a truly impressive record. Aaron Judge deserves his congratulations. However, so did Maris. Judge will get cheers for a long time, but Maris never got to experience the appreciation from the fans. He seemed to live out his baseball days in misery. I want people to remember and appreciate what a legend Maris really was. He took down the Babe Ruth. People should remember that. Back in July of 2020, I wrote a post advocating his election to the Hall of Fame. I still believe that he should be a Hall of Famer, but his case is very complicated. For one thing, his career statistics do not merit induction to the Hall. He had good numbers, a .260 batting average, 275 homers (about 50 more than the average Hall of Famer), two MVP’s, three World Championships. The Hall of Fame official voting criteria states, ”No automatic elections based on performances such as a batting average of .400 or more for one (1) year, pitching a perfect game or similar outstanding achievement shall be permitted.” The rules don’t get any more specific than that, so I’d guess that since Maris hasn’t been automatically inducted (I don’t really know how to interpret that), then he’s still a credible candidate. However, I’m not going to lie; without that 1961 season, Maris wouldn’t be considered by the Hall of Fame.