Aaron Judge officially stands alone atop the American League’s all-time home run list. After last going yard on Sept. 28 during a game against the Toronto Blue Jays to tie Roger Maris’ league record with 61 dingers in a single season, Judge went through his version of a mini-drought. But on Tuesday night during the second half of a double-header with the Texas Rangers, Judge stepped to the plate to lead off the game and made history.
The count stood 1-1 when Rangers pitcher Jesus Tincono tried to get an 88 mile-per-hour slider past Judge. That did not work, as Judge sat on the pitch and drove it deep into right field. It was a no-doubter from the moment it left his bat, and by the time he crossed home plate, Judge was greeted by those in his dugout.
Remember where you were when #AaronJudge made history. 6️⃣2️⃣ #AllRise pic.twitter.com/w4kbDJf5ZC
— MLB (@MLB) October 5, 2022
It was the latest memorable moment in what has been one of the best seasons at the plate that we have seen by anyone in baseball history.
Aaron Judge’s up-to-the-minute stats:
.311/.425/.687
62 HR / 131 RBI / 133 R
.459 wOBA / 208 wRC+
11.5 fWAR— Devan Fink (@DevanFink) October 5, 2022
Of course, Judge has quite the way to go to reach the all-time single-season home run record of 73, set by Barry Bonds. Seeing as how the Yankees wrap up the regular season against the Rangers on Wednesday, well, that is probably not going to happen. But nevertheless, this is quite the moment for Judge and, also, college football fans (and broadcasters) who were getting annoyed at ESPN cutting into live shots of his at-bats as he chased 62.