New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge blasted his 42nd home run of the season and the 200th of his career in the second inning of a game against the Kansas City Royals on Saturday.
With 200 homers in 671 career games, Judge became the second-fastest in MLB history to reach the milestone behind only former Philadelphia Phillies star Ryan Howard.
In addition to the career milestone, Judge also notched a Yankees franchise record by reaching 42 home runs this season before the end of July. The previous team record was held by Hall of Famer Babe Ruth who had 41 homers before the start of August during the 1928 season.
Judge, 30, is on pace to finish near the record for the most home runs in a season, but he’ll need to end the year with a flurry to catch up to Barry Bonds. While Judge’s 42 homers are second behind only Mark McGwire through 102 games, Bonds ended his record-breaking year in 2001 with 28 home runs after July to finish the season with 73.
For now, Judge is currently on pace for 67, which would be third-most all-time behind only Bonds’ 73 and McGwire’s 70.
