After a long wait, Aaron Judge made history on Tuesday night, blasting his 62nd home run of the season to take the American League single-season record, passing fellow Yankees great Roger Maris.
With Maris’s family traveling with the Yankees in recent weeks, he and Judge’s legacies have been intertwined. Another baseball great that has been inextricably linked to the discussion: MLB home run king Barry Bonds, whose 73 home runs in 2001 remains the sport’s record.
Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa—the three players with more single-season home runs than Judge—are all heavily connected to baseball’s “Steroid Era,” marring their accomplishments in the eyes of many. That hasn’t stopped Bonds from supporting Judge throughout this home run chase, and late Tuesday night, he posted his congratulations to the Yankees star on his Instagram story.
