New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge made history on Tuesday night with his 62nd home run hit in the 2022 season. Judge may also have made someone who manages money for a living a new millionaire.
What Happened: Judge hit his 62nd home run of the season, which broke the record for the American League, the New York Yankees, and depending on your thoughts on the steroid era of baseball, all of Major League Baseball.
The home run record by Judge has been widely followed by baseball fans and sports fans alike. It has also divided fans on whether it is the single-season record or not.
Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds all hit more than 62 home runs in a season, but have also faced allegations of steroid use in their respective seasons.
“Seventy-three is the record,” Judge told Sports Illustrated previously. “In my book. No matter what people want to say about that era of baseball, for me, they went out there and hit 73 homers and 70 homers, and that for me is what the record is.”
Judge told the publication that the American League record was 61 and that was the one he could “kind of try to go after.”
“If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it’s been a fun year so far.”
Roger Maris Jr., son of American League home run record holder Roger Maris, has stated that Judge would be the record holder if he hit 62 home runs and passed his father.
The Yankees took the safe approach by tweeting that Judge was the “American League home run king” with a tweet Tuesday night.
Actor and baseball fan Billy Crystal shared his thoughts on watching Judge’s home run.
“I was 13 when I saw Maris hit #61. Watching Aaron hit #62 tonight made me feel like I was 13 all over again. What a thrilling moment. What a thrilling season,” Crystal tweeted.
President Joe Biden congratulated Judge Tuesday.
“Congrats @TheJudge44 on home run 62. History made, more history to make,” Biden tweeted.
Related Link: Aaron Judge Home Run Ball Worth Millions Before Its Hit
Million Dollar Ball: Among the people excited that Judge broke the American League record was Cory Youmans, who was the lucky fan to catch the home run ball.
Youmans is married to former Bachelor contestant and sports reporter Bri Amaranthus who shared a picture of the ball on Twitter.
It was also reported that Youmans is a Vice President at Fisher Investments, a financial investment advisor company that manages nearly $200 billion worldwide.
An online search reveals Youmans' Linkedin profile that lists his title as Vice President of Fisher Investments. The profile has been deleted.
Sports reporter Darren Rovell shared a video on Twitter of security at the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees game escorting Youmans to talk about the home run ball.
Youmans has not decided what to do with the record-breaking baseball as of the time of writing.
Memory Lane Auctions President JP Cohen has offered $2 million for the home run ball. Public also is offering $1 million for the final home run ball hit by Judge during the season.
“That’s a good question. I haven’t thought about it,” Youmans told a fan who asked what he was going to do with it.
Another fan asked if Youmans would give the ball to Judge.
“I don’t know,” was his response.
A man tasked with helping people manage money now has an incredibly difficult decision to make with the potential of a windfall of money from Cohen, selling the ball at auction later or giving the ball to Judge in a likely exchange for memorabilia and an autograph.
Judge told reporters after Tuesday’s game that he didn’t have possession of his record-breaking home run ball.
“I don’t know where it’s at. We’ll see what happens with that,” Judge said. “It would be great to get it back, but that’s a souvenir for a fan. He made a great catch out there, and they’ve got every right to it.”
Judge got the 61st home run ball back after it was hit into the bullpen of the Toronto Blue Jays. He gifted the ball to his mother.
Along with the ball being a highly sought-after collectible, hard tickets from the game were selling quickly on eBay Inc EBAY.
NFT Marketplace Candy Digital sold a limited edition NFT of Judge’s home run, featuring the play-by-play call from YES Network. Only 99 of the NFTs were available at $62 each. The NFTs quickly sold out and later were reselling for $800 to $1,000 each. Candy is also offering a $15 NFT with an open number of mints over a 12-hour time period.
The Yankees play their final game of the season Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 4:05 p.m. ET. Youmans will likely be tuning in to find out if his ball is the final home run ball hit by Judge this season.
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