The man who towers above nearly all of his peers on the field now sits alone atop his league’s single-season home run leaderboard.
Aaron Judge clobbered his 62nd home run of the year on Tuesday against the Rangers, moving him past Roger Maris and in sole possession of the American League record for most homers in a single season. The historic shot came in the first inning against Jesus Tinoco.
Earlier this month, Judge became the first player to hit 60 home runs since 2001, when Barry Bonds (73) and Sammy Sosa (64) each accomplished the feat. Outside of a the four-year stretch between 1998 and ’01 that saw six 60-homer seasons—three by Sosa, two by Mark McGwire and one by Bonds—Ruth, Maris and Judge are the only others to reach the milestone in the sport’s history.
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In total, Judge’s 62 home runs rank as the seventh-most in MLB history. The six totals ahead of him all belong to Bonds, McGwire and Sosa:
- Bonds: 73 (2001)
- McGwire: 70 (1998)
- Sosa: 66 (’98)
- McGwire: 65 (’99)
- Sosa: 64 (’01)
- Sosa: 63 (’99)
Beyond merely his gaudy home run total, Judge is enjoying one of the best offensive seasons in MLB history. He leads the majors in nearly every offensive category, and also leads the AL in all three Triple Crown stats: batting average, home runs and RBIs, the latter two by insurmountable margins. If he’s able to hold on to the lead in average, he’d become the first Triple Crown winner in a decade and just second in 55 years. He would also be the first Yankee to pull it off since Mickey Mantle in 1956.
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