Aaron Judge has baseball fans dreaming of another home run chase, as the Yankee slugger is on pace to break Roger Maris’ franchise single-season record, and is only a few off the pace of Barry Bonds’ 73-homer season in 2001.
But does the fallout from the steroid scandals in Major League Baseball after the home run chases in 1998 and 2001 water down what Judge is doing now?
Sal and Gio slightly disagreed.
“I think that’s really interesting,” Gio said. “All we’ve talked about is how McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds broke those record with illegal substances. I was never someone who was all fired up about players doing steroids because the entire league was doing steroids at that time…I think those guys should be in the Hall of Fame. But of course it’s different. you’re looking at this Judge season through a different lens than McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds.”
Sal says even if the lens is different, it’s hard to put what happened in 1998 and 2001 in the rearview.
“Because that happened and they ruined the regular record, I don’t know, it doesn’t feel the same to me,” Sal said. “I’m into it with Judge, I hope to see him get it legitimately…but because that already happened, it kind of ruined it.
“I know in our minds it would be the record, but it’s not.”
But Gio is more willing to push those records aside and focus on Judge closing in on Maris, and he will be glued to the TV for Judge at-bats down the stretch. So will Sal, but it won’t feel the same.
“The fact that you know Judge is clean, and he’s doing this in this season in this walk year where he had a dispute with the Yankees over money prior to the season is an amazing story,” Gio said. “I’m totally into it.”
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