BCB After Dark: Here comes the Judge

Welcome back to BCB After Dark: the happening hangout for night owls, early-risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. We’re glad you could join us on this sweltering evening. Don’t worry, the music inside is cool. There are still a few good tables available. Come sit down and relax. Have a beverage—that you brought yourself.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

The Cubs lost to the Nationals tonight. 6-5. It was one of those games where you feel like the Cubs should have won, but didn’t, mostly thanks to Keibert Ruiz.

Last time I asked you if Nelson Velázquez would be a part of the next contending Cubs team. I gave you a “weasel” choice of “Eh, maybe” and 49 percent of you went for that one. That indicates to me that you like what you see out of Velázquez, but you are not quite sold yet. But another 41 percent of you said “Yes,” he will be on the roster of the next great Cubs team. Only nine percent of you said “No.”

On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I don’t do a movie essay. And I’m sorry again I didn’t do one last night, but things were pretty wild. But I always have time for jazz so if you want to skip that, now’s the time to jump. You won’t hurt my feelings.

I realized I haven’t played any Coltrane lately, so here is a colorized performance of the John Coltrane Quartet in Dusseldorf, Germany in 1960. As the notes to the YouTube video note, this group is the Miles Davis Quintet, but Miles couldn’t play that day and so Coltrane took over leadership of the group for the show. Later in the performance, Stan Getz and Oscar Peterson join the group. It’s the only known recording of Getz and Coltrane, the two great saxophonists, playing together.

So that’s Wynton Kelly on piano (before Peterson steps in), Paul Chambers on bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums.

Welcome back to all of those who skip the jazz.

If you want to know how much baseball has changed over the past 25 years, Aaron Judge is chasing Roger Maris and 61 home runs this season and not many people are even paying attention. Now yes, Maris’ record has been surpassed several times by Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds, but all three of those players were in the National League. So Maris’ 61 home runs still stands as the American League record.

It seems amazing to those of us who lived through 1998 to 2001, but no one has hit 60 home runs in a season since Bonds hit 73 and Sosa hit 64 in 2001. Giancarlo Stanton came the closest with 59 in 2017. But that was when Stanton was still with the Marlins and in the National League.

The Yankees have played 110 games and Judge has 44 home runs. The Yankees are still playing in Seattle as I write this, but Judge has not homered in that game. Yet.

This puts Judge on pace for 65 home runs this year. It seems he’s in good shape to become the new AL single-season home run champ. But we all know that “pace” doesn’t last in baseball, or Tuffy Rhodes would have hit 486 home runs in 1994. He’d have smashed Maris’ record long before the season shut down for the strike that year.

So tell us, is Judge going to get to Maris’ American League home run record? Do you think he can put on a finishing kick and catch Bonds?

Thank you so very much for stopping by. We hope we’ve helped you end your evening the right way. Tip your waitstaff. If you need us to call you a ride home, let us know. Please use the recycle bin for any bottles or cans. Please tell your friends about us and bring them along next time tomorrow night for another edition of BCB After Dark.