Aaron Judge Hits 61st Home Run Tying Roger Maris

While the ball was authenticated by Major League Baseball in advance of the homer, and speculation was rampant at how much it would be worth on the open market, No. 61 ended up landing in Toronto’s bullpen out of reach of any fans. It was caught by Toronto’s bullpen coach, Matt Buschmann, whose wife, the sportscaster Sara Walsh, tweeted shortly after that she could announce her retirement. Though a later post said he had turned the ball over to Zack Britton of the Yankees so it could be returned to Judge.

In the eighth inning, Judge had his first chance to break the record but hit a hard groundout. He will resume his quest to stand alone at the top of the American League on Friday, when the Yankees return to Yankee Stadium for a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles.

Like Maris before him, Judge has handled the pressure of the chase, and any momentary slumps, with a quiet smile and an insistence that his priority is winning games for the Yankees.

“He’s totally equipped for all this, and he’s proven to be right in that regard. He’s handled it perfectly,” Manager Aaron Boone said last week, adding that Judge keeps the game simple. “In a tough, difficult, not-so-simple game sometimes it’s important to keep it simple, and he does a great job of that.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/28/sports/baseball/aaron-judge-61-home-runs.html