New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge hit his 62nd home run of the season last Tuesday, making the history books. Before Judge, Yankees legend Roger Maris held the American League single season record for most home runs in one season with a total of sixty-one home runs, breaking the previous record of sixty home runs by George Herman “Babe” Ruth. Before Judge hit his 62nd home run of the season, every college football game would be split screened to show both the football game and Judge’s at bat. On Oct. 4, he broke the record in Texas against right-handed Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jesus Tinoco. Tinoco made the mistake of throwing Judge a hanging slider at 88.4 mph, and Judge hit the ball with an exit velocity of 100.2 mph, sending it 391 feet into the left field seats. Yankee fans at LHS were particularly excited after Judge made history. Freshman Angelina Macchia said, “It felt really good because Judge had worked really hard for this, and he achieved his goal and made history.” Sophomore Kylie Schroeder remarked, “I think it’s really cool because he has a home run record for the season, and that’s pretty amazing if you ask me.”

In an interview with ESPN, Judge expressed, “It’s a big relief. I think that everyone can sit back down in their seats and watch the ballgame, you know?” Before Judge hit his final home run of the season, he went on a drought of homers after he hit his 60th home run at Yankee Stadium against the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 20, going seven games before he tied the record. Then, he went another five games before breaking the record on the second to last game of the regular season. “Getting a chance to do this, with the team we’ve got, the guys surrounding me, the constant support from my family whose been with me through this whole thing […,] it’s been a great honor,” Judge remarked. 

In addition to Judge breaking the American League (AL) single-season home run record, he is also having one of the most offensively productive seasons since Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers, who won the Triple Crown in the 2012 season. Judge ended the season hitting .311, driving in 311 runs, slugging .686 and having an on base percentage of .425.  “It was a shame he didn’t get the Triple Crown,” senior Alyssa Inserra remarked. “I assumed he was going to get it since it was really close to the end of the season.” Alas, Judge ended his season .005 points behind Luis Arraez of the Minnesota Twins, who hit .316 on the year. 

In Judge’s rookie season, he slugged a lot of balls over the fence–52 in total–and unanimously won the AL Rookie of the Year award. “He’s been having one heck of a season,” Inserra said. “He’s been super incredible at the plate, dominating on all sides, and hitting home runs. It’s just been very enjoyable watching him come up to the plate and deliver, as that’s what the Yankees franchise needs.”

The lucky person who caught Judge’s record-breaking homer was Cory Youmans, who was, ironically, a Rangers fan. Youmans was sitting in the first row of seats in the left field stands. After Youmans caught the ball, he was escorted out by security to protect the fan and the ball from being stolen or misplaced. A few days later, he was offered two million dollars by auctioneers. Judge has also expressed interest in having the ball returned to him, but Youmans has declined his request. When he was interviewed by FanSided (fansided.com) about what to do with the historic ball, he said, “Good question, I haven’t thought about it.”