All of baseball was brought together to celebrate the crowning achievement of Aaron Judge tying Roger Maris’ American League home run record this week. Against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night, our MLBbro MVP deposited a two run shot over the left field wall for his 61st round tripper of the season in an 8-3 victory.

 

 

With one more homer, Judge will stand alone in the MLB record books as the American League’s new home run king. At this point in the season, it is unlikely that he will match Sammy Sosa’s total of 66 in 1998, Mark McGwire’s total of 70 in the same season or Barry Bonds’ 73 in 2001.  

But according to the late Roger Maris’ son, Roger Maris Jr. it’s Aaron Judge who he believes is the greatest single-season home run hitter and not Bonds, McGwire or Sosa.

 

 

“I think it means a lot and it’s not just for me, I think it means a lot for a lot of people that he’s clean, he’s a Yankee, he plays the game the right way,” Maris Jr. told reporters. I think he gives people a chance to look at somebody who should be revered for hitting 62 home runs and not just as a guy who did it in the American League. He should be revered for being the actual single season home run champ. That’s really who he is if he hits 62 and I think that’s what needs to happen and I think baseball needs to look at the records and I think baseball needs to do something.”

Here’s where the story lies. Barry Bonds’ historical season and home run legacy is being pushed further and further back in conversations and getting less respect with each passing season. For the record, Aaron Judge acknowledges Bonds for his accomplishment and believes that 73 home runs is the standard. He shared his opinion with Sports Illustrated recently. 

“Seventy-three is the record,” Judge says. “In my book. No matter what people want to say about that era of baseball, for me, they went out there and hit 73 homers and 70 homers, and that to me is what the record is. The AL record is 61, so that is one I can kind of try to go after. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it’s been a fun year so far.”

 

 

MLBbro.com got ahead of this potential story a couple of weeks ago sparked by a Fox Sports Radio conversation by our MLBbro.com founder, Rob Parker with Chris Broussard.

 

 

Roger Maris Jr.’s press conference is the foreshadowed example MLBbro.com claimed weeks ago that the begrudging old school media and experts will use to discredit Barry Bonds’ career accomplishments. As Maris Jr. pointed out in his statement, performance enhancing drugs are a factor in his opinion.    

 

MLBbro Founder Rob Parker Shuts Down Anti-Judge Media & Opens Up A Home Run Debate That Could Carry On For Years

 

This is not lost on Barry Bonds. The MLBbro icon believes the sport has given him a “death sentence” as he explained in an interview with The Athletic back in 2020 discussing how he’s treated by Baseball and his Hall of Fame chances.

“I feel like a ghost…A ghost in a big empty house, just rattling around…a death sentence. That’s what they’ve given me…My heart, it’s broken. Really broken.”

“If they don’t want me, just say you don’t want me and be done with it,” he said of the Hall of Fame. “Just be done with it.”

Sadly, it looks like baseball has already made it clear that the sport is done with Bonds, who is one of the greatest all-around baseball players, period. Not just a home run hitter. Besides the home run numbers everyone remembers (73 in a regular season and 762 for his career), Bonds was a seven-time MVP, eight-time Gold Glove winner and 14 time All-Star. Add 1,996 RBI with a career .298 average and his resume is immaculate. But there are factors that overshadow his accomplishments.

 

 

The MLBbro “Home Run King” will stay blackballed from the sport until at least the next era of sportswriters replaces the journalists that will hold Bonds’ reputation against him. Bonds has been much more forthcoming with his misdeeds than others in his era and he has apologized.

Until then, Barry Bonds finds himself as a King without a kingdom as he becomes a cautionary tale for generations to come…

Relationships are just as important as statistics and talent.