Difficult to Judge tainted era as home-run milestone nears

To some, Aaron Judge's season has a special sheen because he appears to be Mr. Clean.

They would consider Judge the record-holder if he surpasses Roger Maris' 61 homers, absent the steroids stain sticking to the tainted trio of Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.

"To me, the holder of the record for home runs in a season is Roger Maris," author George Will said. "There's no hint of suspicion that we're seeing better baseball than better chemistry in the case of Judge. He's clean. He's not doing something that forces other players to jeopardize their health."