Aaron Judge has hit his 62nd home run, and Yankees fans will relish the calls for posterity.
Judge’s homer passed Roger Maris’ 61 from 1961 for the American League record, and leaves him only trailing the MLB totals of Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, all of whom are widely believed to have used performance enhancing drugs en route to their marks.
Judge’s home run came in the top of the first inning in Arlington, Texas off Jesus Tinoco on a 1-1 pitch.
John Sterling had the call on radio on WFAN and Michael Kay was the voice of the historic home run for YES Network.
On YES, Kay, said, “High fly ball! Deep left! There it goes! Soaring into history! He’s done it! He has done it! 62! Aaron Judge is the American League single season home run leader. The AL King! Case Closed!”
Everything to know about Aaron Judge and his chase for the home run record:
- Aaron Judge hits 62nd home run to break Roger Maris’ record
- Listen to Michael Kay and John Sterling call Aaron Judge’s 62nd home run
- Aaron Judge’s parents celebrate his historic 62nd home run
- All of Aaron Judge’s home runs this season
Kay later paraphrased Jack Buck’s legendary “I don’t believe what I just saw” call, saying he couldn’t believe the season he’s seen out of Judge.
Sterling gave it the trademark, “It is high, it is far, it is gone! Number 62 to set the new American League record! Aaron Judge hits his 62nd. All the Yankees out of the dugout to greet him. Just think of it, three Yankee right fielders — The Babe, hitting 60 in ’27, the Jolly Roger, hitting 61 in ’61, and now Aaron Judge hits his 62nd home run — the most home runs any American Leaguer has hit in a single season. And the American League has been alive for 120 years.
“This is Judgment Day. Case Closed.”
In September, the 61-year-old Kay admitted to The Post’s Andrew Marchand that he had been giving thought to how he’d deliver the call.
“I’ve thought about it,” Kay said. “I’m not going to be selfish. When he does it, he does. It will be a bummer if YES is not covering it. Forget about just me, but for YES, that would stink. It is what it is. And if he hits it on one of the days that we’re not doing the game and we just have to live with it.”
Kay was Sterling’s radio partner on WABC from 1992-01, and became the lead TV play-by-play man when YES Network debuted in 2002.
The 84-year-old Sterling began calling Yankees games on the radio in 1989. Prior to that, he called games for the Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Hawks.
Sterling had a remarkable 30-year ironman streak of never missing a Yankees game that concluded during the 2019 season.
This season, Sterling has cut back on travel in the second half.
“It is just to recharge my batteries,” Sterling told The Post in June. “I’ve been doing road games with teams for 52 years. I love this game, but I hate being on the road.”
Nonetheless, he opted to call every game for Judge’s home run chase, feeling that he had to be a part of history.