Aaron Judge had gone seven games since his last home run, 34 plate appearances of fans quieting to a hush and snapping photos with every pitch.
Then with the score tied in the seventh inning on Wednesday night in Toronto, he drove a 94.5 mph belt-high sinker to left, a no doubt rocket.
He had tied Roger Maris' American League record of 61 home runs in a season, what many fans consider baseball's "clean" standard for the sport.
Judge's two-run homer lifted the Yankees to an 8-3 victory over the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre and brought relief to the six-foot-seven slugger, who admitted having to try to block out distraction. "Getting a chance to sit at 60 for a while there with the Babe was nice," he said. "But getting a chance to now sit at 61 with another Yankee right fielder that hit 61 home runs and MVPs, world champions, this is pretty cool." WATCH | Judge ties Maris: Judge has seven games to break the record, starting with a series opener against Baltimore at Yankee Stadium on Friday night.