Aaron Judge’s 62 home runs are the most legitimate record and MLB fans don’t see Barry Bonds’ steroid-era record of 73 as the legitimate one, according to Bob Costas, the play-by-play announcer for MLB Network.
This has added a new twist to the debate over who is the real home run king. Earlier, MLB insider Jon Heyman while congratulating Aron Judge tweeted that the New York slugger “rightfully” had the record because he did it without using steroids. This has led to a debate on social media and a sharp division among fans of both Aaron Judge and Bonds.
The conversation about the home run record for the regular season hasn’t quite wound down yet, despite the fact that we have entered the postseason.
Aaron Judge, who played for the New York Yankees, hit his 62nd home run of the 2022 regular season on October 4th, making him the new leader in the American League for home runs in a single season. But in the midst of the celebration, questions have been raised about the veracity of the overall record for home runs in Major League Baseball, which is currently held by Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants.
Bonds currently has 73 home runs to his name. It has been suggested that Bonds’ legacy was tainted by the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PED), and Aaron Judge’s season has reignited the discussion surrounding these allegations.
Bob Costas, who has won an Emmy Award for his work as a play-by-play announcer for MLB Network, is the most recent person to weigh in on the debate and make an argument against Barry Bonds.
On Wednesday, he gave his response to the question that was posed to him on the “Dan Patrick Show”: What does 62 home runs mean to you? He replied:
“I think it means what it means to most reasonable, fair minded baseball fans. It feels legitimate. It feels authentic. We can speak euphemistically and say it’s the Yankee record, it’s the American League record. But it’s the record for all of baseball history outside of the 90′s and early 2000′s.”
When the controversy surrounding Aaron Judge’s 62nd home run really started to heat up, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred gave this response on ESPN’s “Get Up!”:
“I think that over the history of the game there have been different eras, the ball performed differently, the equipment was different and I think the best way to handle it is let fans make their own judgment as to what records are most significant to them.”
And what does the American League’s all-time leader in single seasons think? In a conversation with the San Francisco Chronicle that took place a month ago, Aaron Judge himself admitted that Bonds is the owner of the “legitimate” single-season home run record:
Oh, yeah, Judge said. That’s the record. I watched him do it. I stayed up late watching him do it. That’s the record. No one can take that from him.
Who do you think is the real home run king?
