Coincidence? Aaron Judge, Baseball, and Insane Oddities

Baseball and numbers have an odd relationship.

The coincidences in the numbers associated with the American League Home Run record is a perfect example. There are more to point out beyond these, I'm sure, but even these are quite mind blowing.

Roger Maris' American League record HR season of 61 came in 1961. The record stood for 61 years until Aaron Judge tied, then surpassed Maris this week. Judge broke the record in game number 161. One plus 61 is 62, the number Judge set as the new mark.

Maris' No.9 is retired by the Yankees. Judge wears jersey No. 99.

And one more. While the record breaker was an historic occasion for Judge and Yankees, they did not win the game. The loss dropped their record to 99-62.

Yup, the Yankees fell to 99-62 on the night No. 99 hit No. 62, 61 years after after the record of 61 was set.

The defeat is a footnote, as the Yankees had already long clinched the division and have been locked in as the No.2 seed in the AL for a while now.

But, still, this bizarre code is just perfectly odd.

You've heard of the MLB father-son duo of Cecil and Prince Fielder. Pop played 13 Big League seasons while Prince played a dozen. Both retired with exactly 319 MLB home runs.

Another popular, and even more well-known father-son combo are the Griffey's - Ken Sr. and Ken Jr.

Did you know Ken Griffey Jr., nicknamed The Kid, was born in Donora, PA, the same town as fellow Baseball Hall of Famer Stan Musial, whose nickname was The Man. Stan and Ken Jr. also share the same birthday, November 21 (but were born 39 years apart).

HOWard does that happen?

Phillies longtime slugger Ryan Howard retired with 382 career home runs. Nearly 50 years prior, another, unrelated Howard was slugging balls out of MLB parks. Frank Howard played until the early 1970's and retired with 382 career home runs.