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If you ask Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker, there’s no debate who baseball’s true single-season home run king is.
Even after Aaron Judge’s American League record-setting 62 this season, Baker points to Barry Bonds, who mashed 73 dingers in 2001.
“What I saw Barry [Bonds] do, I don’t care what people say,” Baker told reporters on Wednesday. “I was with him every day. They want to put an asterisk by it, but them 73 that went over the fence didn’t have an asterisk by them when they went over that fence with regularity.”
Judge surpassed Roger Maris’ 61-year-old AL and Yankees record of 61 on Tuesday against the Rangers, with his campaign stirring up debate thanks to Bonds’ PED-tainted past, as well as those of Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire.
“People can say whatever they want to say,” Baker said. “Some people think it’s Hank Aaron, some people think it’s Barry, some people think it’s Judge. There ain’t but about two or three of them that it could be.”
Baker will get no disagreement from Judge, who, like the ex-Giants manager, was captivated by Bonds’ march to 73.
“That’s the record,” the Yankees slugger told the San Francisco Chronicle in September. “I watched him do it. I stayed up late watching him do it. That’s the record. No one can take that from him.”
who the single-season home run king is, he’ll say it’s Barry Bonds, and that it’s no debate.
With Aaron Judge now the American League single-season home run king, surpassing Roger Maris’ 61 home runs with his 62nd Tuesday night against the Rangers, debate for the true king is raging across the baseball world.
There are two camps: One that says Barry Bonds’ mark of 73 home runs in 2001 is the record, and others that say Judge’s 62 are the record, due to him being ‘clean’, or free of steroids when he hit it. Judge is 7th on the all-time list, but everyone ahead of him hit their home runs during the ‘Steroid Era’ of the late 90s and early 2000s.
Baker, who managed Bonds with the San Francisco Giants from 1993-2002 says there’s no debate about who the single-season home run king is.
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NextOn the other side of the debate is Roger Maris Jr., son of the late Yankees legend. He became a staple at Bombers games as Judge inched toward his father’s mark, and was not shy about sharing his opinions.
“Congratulations to Aaron Judge and his family on Aaron’s historic home run number 62!,” Maris Jr. tweeted shortly Judge hit No. 62. “It has definitely been a baseball season to remember. You are all class and someone who should be revered. For the MAJORITY of the fans, we can now celebrate a new CLEAN HOME RUN KING!!”
Everything to know about Aaron Judge and his chase for the home run record:
While the debate will likely continue, Baker has other things to turn his attention to, namely the Astros’ upcoming ALDS date. Houston, which got a first-round bye, will play the winner of the Blue Jays-Mariners Wild Card series.
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