By: Aidan McAuliffe—Correspondent

On October 4th at Globe Life Park, Aaron Judge hit his 62nd home run to break the American League record. Judge tied Roger Maris’s record on September 28th, after Judge hit 61 HR’s he then went 3 for 18. Judge was cutting it close, he hit number 62 with just 2 games left in the season. His 62 home runs is the American League record but only ranks 7th all time in Homeruns in a season. Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa rank above Judge.

All three of the players above Judge were all using performance enhancing drugs, something the sport frowns upon. Sosa and McGwire have both admitted to taking steroids, Bonds hasn’t, but most people say it was fairly obvious. 

Some people think Judge is the all time leader because those guys were using steroids. Sophomore Cole Arundale does not think Judge is the homerun king, when asked about he says “No, because Barry Bonds holds the record at 73 home runs, if you say it’s because he was using steroids, every pitcher in that time was also using steroids so it was a fair matchup,it was roid vs roid and technically he never tested positive for steroids.”

Bonds was not named a Hall of Famer in his 10th and last year on the ballot, even though he has 762 home runs which is the most of all time and the most home runs in one season. People think Bonds was just good because of steroids, before he took steroids Bonds was a 3 time MVP and a 8 time all star. When Bonds started using steroids in 1999 also known as the “Steroid Era” he won 4 MVPs in a row and had 6 all star appearances. MLB Great Jose Canseco says about 85 percent of players were juicing in that era. David Ortiz who has admitted to using steroids was named a hall of famer this past summer. MLB fans were upset that the players using PEDs were snubbed, Arundale thinks that Bonds should be a clear cut Hall of Famer.  “I think he should be in the Hall of Fame, he’s the all-time home run king, he’s the most feared hitter of all time, and he’s a 7 time MVP,”added Arundale.

After Judge hit 62 home runs, lots of people are liking his game.  “The real single season home run king”, they call him. The Seton Hall Sports Poll took a poll on Judge vs Bonds and 56 percent of sports fans thought Judge was the real single season home run leader. Some students at SHS agreed, Sophomore Sebastian Volk says “I think it’s Judge, because Bonds was on roids, the roids made him stronger and have a better reaction time.” 

Junior Jake Loomis also agrees with the poll, and tells us his thoughts on the best home run hitter.  “It’s Judge bro, because Bonds played in the steroid era, his bat was probably juiced you know. But I can see the statement for Bonds, he played in a tougher park in San Fran, Judge has played in Yankee Stadium which is not a great park, I mean honestly there is no real truth.”

Other people disagree and think Bonds is the single season homerun king, Sophomore Tommy Farkas explains his thoughts. “It’s Bonds, because he has the homerun record, it’s partially because of steroids but everyone else was using them so it cancels out.” 

Sophomore Zack Horvitz agrees with Farkas. “Barry Bonds no question, this man is an absolute beast, he hits it over the stadium and into the river.”