Long Gone

Aaron Judge hit his 60th home run of the season last night in the Yankee stadium. Let me say that again, Aaron Judge hit his 60th home run of the season. This feat seems to be passing us by unnoticed, not much fanfare, not much over-the-top media attention. Judge did it in 147 games; it took Babe Ruth 154 games, and Roger Maris 158 to hit 60 home runs.

No other sport compares superstars of different eras like baseball. Babe Ruth to Hank Aaron; Willie Mays to Mike Trout; Mickey Mantle to Aaron Judge. And the source of this comparison is the record book, every game, every inning, every at bat that has ever been played in MLB history has been chronicled in the record books and is used to compare players from eras many decades apart. And when the record books are tainted, the sport becomes tainted.

The summer of 2022 should go down in history of baseball as one of the great seasons of all-time, but it is passing us by barely noticed because three people decided to cheat a little over 20 years ago and have completed tainted the record books and baseball history. We lived through the charade of Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa in 1998, and Barry Bonds in 2001, so we are not fully appreciating the true greatness that is on display every night wearing Yankee pinstripes. Aaron Judge is doing something that many have tried, and none have legitimately been able to do. We are not enjoying the season as much as we should, we are not swept away in this home run chase like we had been in 1998 because the record books tell a different, albeit a false story.