Aaron Judge hit 62 home runs this 2022 MLB season, the most in a single year post-steroid era. Naturally, the discussion is now centered around whether or not his 62 are the actual and legitimate record considering that those before him used or allegedly used steroids.
Barry Bonds is the current record holder for most home runs hit in an MLB season with 73 in 2001.
It just so happens that current Houston Astros manager Duty Baker was the manager of that 2001 San Francisco Giants team, and he got to watch first hand as Bonds mashed all of those balls.
Baker was asked about the MLB home run record in regards to Bonds as well as Judge's new AL home run record by the Houston Chronicle's Chandler Rome.
The 73-year-old did not mince his words.
“What I saw Barry (Bonds) do, I don’t care what people say,” Baker said Wednesday. “I was with him every day. They want to put an asterisk by it, but them 73 that went over the fence didn’t have an asterisk by them when they went over that fence with regularity.”
“Judge followed Barry as a kid because we’re all from the same area,” Baker said. “People can say whatever they want to say. Some people think it’s Hank Aaron, some people think it’s Barry, some people think it’s Judge. There ain’t but about two or three of them that it could be."
In Baker's mind, Bonds is still the guy. And many would find that rightfully so. Regardless of PED use, Bonds still had to put bat to ball, he also put together one of the greatest seasons of baseball ever seen.
And so the debate will go on.
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