Roger Maris Jr. wouldn’t like to see anybody break his father’s mark of 61 home runs in a single season, which he and many others still consider to be the all-time record due to steroid use, but if somebody had to surpass Roger Maris, he couldn’t think of a better candidate than Aaron Judge.
“You don’t want to see anyone get it, but I’d be very happy if Judge did do it,” Maris Jr. told Dan Martin of the New York Post. “Dad always said records are meant to be broken. You don’t want to see dad’s record go, but if it happened, I can’t think of a better guy to do it. He’s a great Yankee. To do it in New York, how cool would that be? First we had Ruth, then we had dad, and then to have Judge, that would be pretty awesome. I can’t think of a better storyline.”
Maris’ 61 homers from 1961 is no longer the official all-time record, as Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and Barry Bonds have all surpassed it, but all three have been rumored or link to steroid use in their careers, leading Maris Jr. to believe his father still holds the all-time record. Even without the steroid debate, Maris still holds the single-season record for the most prestigious franchise in baseball, so eclipsing that alone would be a remarkable accomplishment, and Judge is on pace to do that.
“We definitely feel dad still has the record and I think the court of public opinion feels the same,” Maris Jr. told Martin. “It’s not fair to Judge or anyone else going after 61, like Stanton when he hit 59 [in 2017], it should be celebrated like other iconic milestones. It’s gonna be huge in the city of New York and if Judge hits 62 it will be amazing, but it will be a disservice that it’s not the major league record.”
Judge hit 52 bombs in his rookie year, and Maris Jr. is surprised Judge hasn’t already passed 61. But if he continues on this pace, the Yanks will have a new single-season home run king.
“He’s capable of doing this year in and year out,” Maris Jr. said. “Since he came into the league, like Stanton, too, I thought, ‘Man, these guys are going to be hitting 60 home runs every year.’ They’re so big and powerful and good. It’s a surprise he hasn’t done it already.”
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