Aaron Judge mashes his 60th home run of the season 430 feet to left field, bringing him within one homer of tying Roger Maris.

NEW YORK -- In the middle of the trot for the most noteworthy and historic home run in more than a decade, one that took Aaron Judge to a level graced by baseball royalty, the Yankees slugger chose not to revel or exult or luxuriate in the moment.

And about an hour later, the Yankees' slugger celebrated the occasion of the 60th home run in his magnificent 2022 season Tuesday night by lamenting the fact that he had not hit it earlier in the game, when the bases were loaded, as opposed to when he did, in the bottom of the ninth inning with them empty and New York trailing the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Move over, Ruth and Maris.

Aaron Judge is closing in on home run history.

When Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run to break his own mark in 1927, he said after the game: "Sixty?

As much as Ruth reveled in it, Maris loathed it.

As he and teammate Mickey Mantle were chasing Ruth in 1961, Maris mainlined coffee and ripped cigarettes and watched his hair fall out in clumps.

And as much as he willed himself to perform, Maris viewed his legacy as a burden, saying: "It would have been a helluva lot more fun if I had never hit those 61 home runs.

In addition to owning unbeatable leads in home runs and runs batted in, Judge's blast in the ninth pushed his batting average to an AL-best .316.

Which is to say as the Yankees sojourn on the final 15 games of their season and look to lock up an AL East title in a division they now lead by 5½ games over Toronto, they'll do so with Judge chasing not just Ruth and Maris but the second Triple Crown in the last half-century.

Aaron Judge knows the pressure of the numbers, the accolades, the team performance, the impending free agency that comes with an altogether different sort of number this winter

Tuesday, he allowed himself to name-check his forebears -- "You talk about Ruth and Maris and Mantle and all these Yankees greats ..

And the New York Yankees, undeniably Aaron Judge's team, turned in perhaps their best win of the season Tuesday

As Stanton trotted for the grand slam that was, Judge could clear his mind of the one that could've been, unburdened

Aaron Judge will take the grand slam that won the Yankees another baseball game