Description

The definitive story (Tyler Kepner, The New York Times baseball columnist) of Yankees slugger Aaron Judge s incredible, unparalleled run to break Roger Maris s home run record and the franchise both men called home. Aaron Judge, the hulking superman who carried an easy aw-shucks demeanor from small-town California to stardom in the Big Apple, had long established his place as one of baseball s most intimidating power hitters. Baseballs frequently rocketed off his bat like cannon fire, dispatching heat-seeking missiles toward the Judge s Chambers seating area in right field, sending delirious fans scattering for souvenirs. But even in a high-tech universe where computers measure each swing to the nth degree, Roger Maris s American League mark of sixty-one home runs seemed largely out of reach. It had been more than a decade since baseball wiped clean the stains of its performance-enhanced era, in which cartoonish sluggers Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds made a mockery of the record book. Given a more level playing field against pitchers sporting hellacious arsenals unlike anything Babe Ruth or Maris could have imagined, only an exceptional talent could even consider making a run at sixty-one homers. Judge, who placed the bet of his life by turning down a $213.5 million extension on the eve of the regular season, promised to rise to the challenge. In the most thorough telling yet of an all-time-great Yankees performance (Jeff Passan, New York Times bestselling author), veteran Yankees beat reporter Bryan Hoch unravels the remarkable journey of Judge s run to shatter Maris s beloved sixty-one-year-old record. In-depth, inspiring, and with an expert s insight, 62 also investigates the more significant questions raised in a season unlike any other, including how–and where–Judge will deliver his encore.