Aaron Judge broke Roger Maris’ American League record with his 62nd home run of the year on Tuesday, creating what some baseball fans refer to as the “clean” standard.

Also read: New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge almost makes history versus Boston Red Sox

In the opening at-bat of the second game of New York’s day-night doubleheader, the 30-year-old Yankees slugger smashed a 1-1 slider from Texas right-hander Jess Tinoco into the first few rows of seats in left centre.

Six times before, Maris’ 61 for the Yankees in 1961 had been surpassed, but each time it was at the expense of steroid use. For the St. Louis Cardinals, Mark McGwire hit 70 home runs in 1998 and 65 the next year. Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs had 66, 65, and 63 hits over a four-season span beginning in 1998, while Barry Bonds hit an MLB-record 73 home runs for the San Francisco Giants in 2001.

Bonds and Sosa denied taking performance-enhancing drugs with knowledge, but McGwire acknowledged using illegal steroids. Since Major League Baseball began testing players for PED use in 2004, some fans—possibly many—have believed Maris to be the current legitimate record holder.

A Ruthian figure with a smile as outsized as his body, the 6-foot-7 Judge has rocked the major leagues with a series of deep drives that hearken to the sepia tone movie reels of his legendary pinstriped predecessors.

Also read: Maury Wills, Los Angeles Dodgers legend, dies aged 89

“He should be revered for being the actual single-season home run champ,” Roger Maris Jr. said Wednesday night after his father’s mark was matched by Judge. “I think baseball needs to look at the records and I think baseball should do something.”

Judge had homered only once in the past 13 games, and that was when he hit No. 61 last Wednesday in Toronto. The doubleheader nightcap in Texas was his 55th game in a row played since Aug. 5.

After getting beyond the 60 home runs Babe Ruth hit in 1927, which had been the big league record for 34 years, Judge was 3 for 17 with five walks and a hit by pitch after a single in five at-bats in the first game on Tuesday. On October 1, 1961, at the old Yankee Stadium, Maris hit his 61st home run off Boston’s Tracy Stallard.

Also read: Watch: Harper gets a standing ovation at Citizen Park, makes Phillies return

Judge has an opportunity to win the AL Triple Crown for the first time since 2012’s Miguel Cabrera of Detroit. He started the day behind Minnesota’s Luis Arraez, who was hitting .315, and now leads the AL with 131 RBIs.

The home run in his first at-bat put him back to .311, where he had started the day before dropping a point in the opener.

Judge’s accomplishment will cause endless debate.

Also read: Who was Maury Wills?

“To me, the holder of the record for home runs in a season is Roger Maris,” author George Will said earlier this month. “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.”