• The Yankee slugger broke Roger Maris’s AL record last night with his 62nd home run.
• Judge refused a seven-year, $213.5-million contract offer from the Yankees in April.
• Then the entrepreneurial home run king showed the Yankees why he’s worth more.

Happy Hump Day!

It’s a chilly October morning here in Asti.

The leaves are turning bright red, orange, and yellow.

As I walked Micah to school, I again recalled how much I love autumn.

Once I got home, I turned on my computer and was greeted with fantastic news.

Aaron Judge broke Roger Maris’s American League single-season home run record last night.

To be clear, I haven’t watched a full nine-inning baseball game since 1999.

And from the viewership numbers, it looks like few Americans have.

But I still follow the big news, and this is about as big as it comes.

Judge is a Yankee, which makes the record falling palatable. He’s formed a lovely bond with the Maris family.

It’s a feelgood story in a world desperately needing a feelgood story.

But as you know, I like to go beyond the first level.

What I think is all the more impressive is not the easy smile, kind words, and awe-inspiring power Judge displays.

It’s that he turned down a seven-year, $213.5 million contract offer from the Yankees this April because he thought he was worth more.

And then he finished the job by proving he was worth far more than the Yankees offered.

A Clean Break

What most sports fans admire about Judge’s record-breaking year is that he’s performed without a whiff of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).

Credit: @Yankees

It helps that Judge is 6’7” (201 cm) tall and 282 lbs. (128 kg).

That kind of physicality obviates the need for drugs.

Contrast this with pre-steroid Barry Bonds, who was 6’2” (188 cm) and 185 pounds (83.9 kg).

But once Barry’s trainer started rubbing those creams in, Bonds ballooned to 228 pounds (103.4 kg).

I’ll talk more about Bonds later.

Getting back to Judge, he seems to be a Paul Bunyan with a bat instead of an ax. Or a Casey-at-the-bat who hits a dinger instead of striking out, bringing joy to Mudville.

And it’s not like Judge hasn’t had success before. From Wikipedia:

After making his MLB debut in 2016 and hitting a home run in his first MLB career at-bat, Judge went on to have a record-breaking rookie season.

In 2017 he was named an All-Star, won the Home Run Derby – becoming the first MLB rookie to do so – and ended the season with 52 home runs—breaking Mark McGwire's MLB rookie record of 49 and the Yankees' full-season rookie record of 29 (previously held by Joe DiMaggio).

His rookie record stood for two years until Pete Alonso hit 53 home runs in 2019.

Judge won the American League (AL) Rookie of the Month Awards for April, May, June, and September, as well as the AL's Player of the Month Award for June and September.

It’s pretty unbelievable that Judge was the fastest Yankee to 60 HRs in a single season, getting there in fewer games than either Ruth or Maris.

For Roger Maris, Jr., this is a particularly sweet moment:

Credit: @RogerMarisJr

I absolutely understand why he’d feel this way.

But I’ve got some news for him…

The Steroid Era

The Steroid Era saved baseball.

And here’s another unpopular thought:

Barry Bonds’s greatest offense wasn’t steroid abuse.

It’s that he was a shithead to teammates, reporters, and fans.

It’s been 20 years since I followed baseball closely, but at the time I recall Bonds being the most disliked player since Ty Cobb.

But that swing.

My God, that swing.

Here’s a list of some of the most outstanding human achievements:

• Beethoven’s Fifth
• Hamlet’s Soliloquy
• Stradivarius’s violins
• Carrier’s air conditioners
• Barry Bond’s swing

Yes, it’s that beautiful. No, not beautiful, but ethereal.

And that swing had already got Bonds a one-way ticket to Cooperstown.

From Sports Illustrated:

Had Bonds retired after 1998, his age-33 season, he would already be a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame. Bonds, a three-time National League MVP and eight-time Gold Glove award winner at the time, was a five-tool player. He couldn't understand the media's obsession with McGwire and Sosa when he was doing more than just hitting home runs himself.

Through the first 13 years of his career, Bonds had posted three seasons where he hit 40 or more home runs. After he allegedly began using performance-enhancing drugs, he would hit 73 home runs in 2001.

All that is true. But I don’t care.

Watch this video if you don’t believe his gorgeous swing had anything to do with that record-breaking year.

Moonshots, I tell you. Moonshots.

Backing Yourself by Taking a Risk

Bonds, in a way that is unbecoming to our moral palette, took a risk.

He used steroids - however they were administered and whoever administered them - to achieve heights in baseball no one else has.

And this is where Judge really shines.

No drugs. Just a bet. A big bet on himself.

From Ludwig von Mises in Human Action (bolds mine):

Like every acting man, the entrepreneur is always a speculator. He deals with the uncertain conditions of the future. His success or failure depends on the correctness of his anticipation of uncertain events.

If he fails in his understanding of things to come, he is doomed.

The only source from which an entrepreneur's profits stem is his ability to anticipate better than other people the future demand of the consumers.

If everybody is correct in anticipating the future state of the market of a certain commodity, its price and the prices of the complementary factors of production concerned would already today be adjusted to this future state. Neither profit nor loss can emerge for those embarking upon this line of business.

Judge turned down a seven-year contract - which would have brought him to age 37 and near retirement - worth over $200 million because he speculated that he was worth more.

He went out and played like a man on a mission, carrying the team at various points this year.

Now the Yankees will have to pony up.

Or will it be Bonds’s old Giants who pony up?

Both men have been magnanimous and complimentary to each other.

Of Bonds, Judge, who grew up in the Bay Area as a Giants fan, recently said before he broke the AL record:

Seventy-three is the record. 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 to me is what the record is. The AL record is 61, so that is one I can kind of try to go after. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it’s been a fun year so far.

According to the Bleacher Report, Bonds referred to the possibility of Judge playing for the Giants:

"I hope he signs here," Bonds said. "Can it happen? I don't know. It depends on what the Yankee payroll is. But we would love to have him, I'll tell you that.”

Wrap Up

Hal Steinbrenner must be thrilled at the number of t-shirts Aaron Judge sells.

And he must be equally quaking in his boots about the offer he’s got to make.

But Aaron Judge took a risk, went out and proved himself worthy, and is in line for an enormous payout.

What’s the lesson for the rest of us?

I’d say it’s to back ourselves.

And if our chosen field of endeavor is physical, it helps to be 6’7” and 285 pounds.

Until tomorrow.