Judging the Home Run Race

 

(Photo: Getty Images via CBS Sports)

August begins tomorrow and Aaron Judge has 42 home runs.

Never one to jump onto hype, I avoid the home run chases and other statistical things until they get serious.

But then Judge hit his aforementioned 42nd home run and it suddenly struck me that he was 19 away from tying Roger Maris.

Roger Maris, left, and another Yankee

Maris, if you don't know, still holds the American League mark as well as the Yankees team mark. Of course, Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs in his epic 1927 season before Maris was heavily scrutinized in the pursuit of 61 home runs in 1961.

To many, 61 remains the mark even if it is not the record. In fact, the record book tells a different tale:

Courtesy Baseball Reference

Maris now sits in seventh place in all of baseball behind the six seasons in which a National League player passed his mark. 

Yet, when you look, you begin to figure they all have some things in common. Why don't I just stop beating around the bush: fair or unfair, they all have the stigma of using performance-enhancing drugs.

Much as I suspected, first when Mark McGwire reached 70 in 1998 and then when Barry Bonds set the mark at 73 in 2001, the court of public opinion has largely ruled.

Maris is still king in their eyes.

The Bonds support was especially glaring since it was obvious that he was using something both in his pursuit of the single-season and then the all-time home run titles. Generally, only San Francisco Giants fans and a few who don't care about steroid use ignore the transgressions.

Personally, I'm one who knows what the record book says. I feel, generally, that most fans were complicit in turning a blind eye ("chicks dig the long ball," remember?), and that hypocrisy is overwhelming.

The record lists Bonds at number one for both most home runs in a season and most in a career. That doesn't mean I like it. In fact, watching what Bonds, McGwire, and Sammy Sosa did made me sick. I felt no joy as I saw it happen.

The record book -- once sacred -- is fairly filthy to me for a lot of reasons. The inclusion of Negro League numbers isn't quite as fantastic as it has been made out to be. I was a big supporter of it at first but I don't think it will have the long-range positive impact that many want to believe.

But, most glaringly, is that we've lost the luster of those numbers we knew so well. Ruth's 714 and Hank Aaron's 755 sat as high as Will Mays' 660. 

Bonds has 762. I had to go look it up again.

We hold numbers sacred in baseball. Ted Williams and .406 in 1941 and Joe DiMaggio's 56 that same year. Most fans don't even need context. They know those numbers.

Cy Young has 511. It was even on his license plate. That's "wins" in case you didn't know.

But there is Barry Bonds with 762 and 73. And he can't sniff a spot in the Hall of Fame.

Should he? 

Well, yeah. He should. Look, I'll always view him with contempt for the records but they do exist. Chances are, you cheered it, just as you cheered McGwire and Sosa in 1998. You believe "they brought the game back."

I don't, mind you, but that's me. I knew they were both dirty then.

Still, we cheered, just as we did Rafael Palmiero or Roger Clemens or even Alex Rodriguez. 

See, I think the court of public opinion often gets it right. Just as I think Pete Rose should be in the Hall, I would put the 'roid users in. In the case of steroids, let's be crystal clear: there are already users in there.

One might have gone in just last week. Dirty water and all.

And, again, you likely cheered.

So let's stop being hypocrites. By putting those plaques in the gallery, the court of public opinion will be open. You can pass your judgment as you stroll past the plaques, each one a little fouler than the other.

The Hall of Fame is supposed to tell the story of the game and it doesn't do that by having Pete Rose's socks but his plaque.

One other thing: clubs like the Hall of Fame tend to ostracize those who don't belong and I don't necessarily suspect Bonds, etc would receive the kindest of welcomes. Still, each era had its thing so nobody is innocent.

Oh, and I've long said that for anyone like Pete Rose, let the plaque tell the story. Put it there that he was banned from baseball in 1989. The truth shall set you free!

My Hall of Fame is tough. Always has been. Numbers and how they stack up always play a part in my judging process. There are too many -- some who went in last Sunday -- who don't get my seal of approval but I don't have a say so what does it matter?

A borderline player gets a "no" from me. If I have to think about it, then they're not a Hall of Famer. However, the bar has been lowered greatly and it will be fascinating to see who gets admitted in the near future.

As for Aaron Judge, I'm not even thinking about anything other than wins and losses though 61 will be in the back of my mind with each home run he hits. History also hasn't been kind to home run kings. Though Ruth was on the mythical '27 Murder's Row team and Maris was on the '61 M&M Boys, neither Bonds, McGwire, or Sosa won rings in their big home run years.

If you know anything about Maris, for instance, the pressure of passing the Babe wore him down to the point he was losing his hair. A circus surrounded both Sosa and McGwire in 1998 and Bonds in 2001.

I'd prefer to see Aaron Judge just continue to do his thing.

And win a ring. 

That's the stated goal.

He needs 19 home runs over the last two months of the season to catch Roger Maris.

That's the only number I'll be noting.

(Oh, and Babe Ruth is still the GOAT of GOATS. Just in case you needed to read that.)