Wednesday night, Aaron Judge hit his 61st home run of the 2022 MLB season, which tied Roger Maris for the all-time New York Yankees mark. While a great accomplishment, it still leaves him well short of the Major League Baseball record for most home runs in a single season.
Don’t tell that to many baseball purists, who see the home run marks set by Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa as tainted due to their use of PEDs, even though the MLB record books remain firm.
Whoever wrote the headline for Rolling Stone’s story on Judge’s home run certainly falls into that camp. They posted their story of the franchise-tying dinger with the header: “Aaron Judge ties the real home run record.”
Deep sigh.
Aaron Judge ties the real home run record https://t.co/R0kWw037gL
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) September 29, 2022
Judge is now tied for seventh on the list for most home runs in a single season and is 12 behind Bonds’ 73 home runs that he hit in 2001. And while you might not like to acknowledge the era when many of the sport’s biggest sluggers were juicing, the record book is what it is.
Many sports fans took Rolling Stone to task over their eye-rolling headline and how it represents the mindset of baseball fans who don’t want to accept reality.
Your magazine is literally built on the foundation of people doing their best work on drugs https://t.co/PiZ9Swzx6L
— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) September 29, 2022
https://twitter.com/jareddiamond/status/1575308595645784064
—
johnny porcini (@zambonjonez) September 29, 2022
this ain't it, chief. https://t.co/VlHvbbQOOJ
— Jay Jaffe (@jay_jaffe) September 29, 2022
He hit 13 homers tonight?!?! https://t.co/rjDAuUBp3H
— William Boor (@wboor) September 29, 2022
More like Trolling Stone, am I right? C'mon, y'all. Deal in facts. https://t.co/beLPW2ha8H
— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) September 29, 2022
https://twitter.com/russbengtson/status/1575299315605577730
— Kofie.bsky.social (@Kofie) September 29, 2022
this is dork behavior https://t.co/x0FK8dgQvI
— Mike Golic Jr (@mikegolicjr) September 29, 2022
rolling stone should stick to the other kind of records https://t.co/GdfUwq7WtY
— marisa ingemi
(@Marisa_Ingemi) September 29, 2022
It’s worth noting that even Judge respects the actual MLB home run record held by Barry Bonds, saying a few weeks back “That’s the record. I stayed up late watching him do it. That’s the record. No one can take that from him.”
“That's the record. I stayed up late watching him do it. That's the record. No one can take that from him."
— Aaron Judge on Barry Bonds https://t.co/W1eacvdQFZ
— #StopCopCity (@ChuckModi1) September 29, 2022
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.