Judge's march to 61 proof home runs can still captivate nation

Sep. 29—Aaron Judge has finally done it.

After a week-long wait the Yankees slugger made history Wednesday, hitting his 61st home run of the season to tie Roger Maris' longtime single-season American League record. Judge tied Maris' mark with a two-run shot to left field at the Rogers Centre to put New York ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays 5-3 in the top of the seventh, tagging left-hander Tim Mayza to snap a seven-game home run drought.

The big home run capped off a week of wall-to-wall coverage, with millions of television viewers across the country tuning in for his every at bat. Even in the post-steroid era, Judge's historic chase has captivated the nation, and whenever Judge stepped to the plate the sports world stopped and held its breath.

In surpassing 60 home runs Judge has provided clarity on a question that has loomed over baseball for the past two decades. Do home runs still have the significance they once held in the sport, and if someone else came along and started smashing homers at a record pace, how would people react?

Officially Judge still needs to hit 12 more home runs to match Barry Bonds' record total of 73 from 2001, but among wide swaths of the public that accomplishment is viewed as illegitimate due to Bonds' suspected steroid use. The same is true for the marks set by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Among that contingent, Maris' old record of 61 still stands as the true mark of greatness, and even Babe Ruth's original mark of 60 maintains an air of mystique and gravitas.

That, along with the fact that Maris and Ruth are the only players to ever reach 60 outside of the Steroid Era, is why Judge's accomplishment is such a big deal. Though it's factually correct to say Judge is about to break the AL home run record, it's also a convenient stand-in for the real reason most people care, which is that he's on the verge of setting a new record by a player not credibly linked to performance-enhancing drugs.

Put differently, do you think ESPN's First Take would be interested if someone had a chance to break Lefty O'Doul's 93-year-old National League single-season hits record?

Whichever view you take, Judge's chase is being treated as the real deal and as a major, historic achievement, one that's broken through into the mainstream conversation unlike any baseball storyline in recent memory.

At a time when most sports networks are fully locked in on the start of football season, Judge's chase has become appointment viewing. Once Judge reached 60 home runs last week, ESPN announced that the following night it would cut in live for each of his at bats.

Every Yankees game since has been broadcast nationally. All four games from this weekend's Red Sox-Yankees series were carried by either Fox, AppleTV+, MLB Network or ESPN, and TBS and MLB Network picked up each of this week's Blue Jays games as well.

Judge and Maris' families have been in the ballpark every night this past week too, and it stands to reason that all eyes will remain on Judge until he hits No. 62, and likely afterwards too.

All of this is great for baseball, which has been desperate for a story like this after three years of pandemic cancellations and labor-related acrimony. No matter who you believe is the rightful record-holder, there's still something magical about watching someone step into the spotlight and chase greatness night after night.

Email: mcerullo@northofboston.com.

Twitter: @MacCerullo.