Judge hit his 61st home run of the season, tying Roger Maris' American League record.
Maris hit his 61st home run in the final game of the 1961 season, breaking Babe Ruth's single-season record.
Judge did it in a game. A day after the Yankees secured the American League East title, Judge took Toronto's Tim Mayza deep in the seventh with a runner on base. Judge, who walked in his first at-bat, popped out in his second and grounded out in his third, hadn't hit a home run in seven games.
The Yankees went to Toronto to make history. He walked four times in Tuesday's division-clinching game after going 1 for 3 with a single in Monday's opener.
Only a few people who have reached such home run heights have gone seven games without one. In the previous seven instances in which a player hit 61 home runs, four had reached that mark the next game after hitting 60, and none went more than three games to hit the milestone.
The series finale ended with Judge getting there. Only Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa have more home runs in a season than Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa.
The manager believes that Judge's numbers are better than those recorded by the others because there is no evidence of performance- enhancing drugs in Judge's system.
"I think it puts it over the top," he said. It's right there with some of the best seasons of all time. It's got to be an all-time great season if I look at it from the perspective of the season.
With less than two weeks left of the season, it will take a big surge for Judge to match Bonds' 2001 record of 42 home runs.
Maris' 61 home run record is considered to be a clean one. Judge has called Bonds the greatest hitter of all time, but he doesn't devalue his accomplishments.
It's the record. He did it. I watched him do it. The record is that Judge graduated from a high school about an hour and a half east of the San Francisco Bay.
Bonds said over the weekend that he thought Judge would go on a home run streak after hitting his 61st home run.
Bonds said on the KayRod Cast that trying to get to 61 is the hardest part. I'm trying to get to that one. He is likely to hit five or six in a row once he gets to it. Trying to get to 61 is going to be the most difficult. There is a big moment on 61.
Next month is when the Yankees hope for more big moments. The Yankees appeared to run away from the American League pack before stumbling through August, but now seem destined for the playoffs. The division title was New York's first in a long time.
The crown has been more than just home runs thanks to Judge. He entered Wednesday's action leading the American League in batting average, home runs and runs scored as he tries to become the third Yankees player to win the Triple Crown.
Judge's home run gave the Yankees a lead they wouldn't relinquish. The ball was retrieved by Matt Buschmann after it went into the TorontoReliever.
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