Survey Finds Americans’ Opinions on Home Run Record Vary
56 percent of fans say Aaron Judge is the ‘rightful’ record holder, not Barry Bonds;
Fans approve of expanded wildcard format
Aaron Judge’s pursuit of Roger Maris’ American League record of 61 home runs in a single season was well supported by sports fans, according to a Seton Hall Sports Poll conducted this this week among 1,579 adults across the country. The poll, which also measured approval of baseball’s new playoff format, featured a national representative sample weighted on U.S. Census Bureau figures for gender, age, ethnicity, education, income and geography and has a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percent.
Asked if they were rooting for Judge to break the record, 61 percent of avid fans, 49 percent of sports fans, and 35 percent of the general U.S. population said that they were.
| N=1,579
|
General
Population |
Sports
Fan* |
Non Fan | Avid
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
| Yes | 35% | 49% | 15% | 61% | 45% |
| No | 28% | 24% | 32% | 22% | 25% |
| Don’t know/No opinion | 37% | 27% | 53% | 17% | 30% |
*Sports fans = Avid + Casual fans
Judge vs. Bonds
Weighed against Barry Bonds’ major league record of 73 home runs in a single season during baseball’s so-called “steroid era,” 49 percent of U.S. adults said they recognized Judge as the “rightful” record holder, not Bonds (just 17 percent said Judge was not the legitimate record holder). In addition, 56 percent of sports fans and 58 percent of avid fans said they considered Aaron Judge the rightful single season record holder.
| N=1,579
|
General
Population |
Sports
Fan* |
Non Fan | Avid
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
| Yes | 49% | 56% | 41% | 58% | 55% |
| No | 17% | 21% | 12% | 25% | 19% |
| Don’t know/No opinion | 34% | 23% | 47% | 17% | 26% |
*Sports fans = Avid + Casual fans
“It would appear that in the court of public opinion Aaron Judge is the single season home run record holder,” said Daniel Ladik, Methodologist for the Poll. “It would also appear that in the minds of the public, and sports fans in particular, there is a mental asterisk next to the name of Barry Bonds.”
Are More Wild Card Baseball Teams and Games Good?
This Major League Baseball [MLB] playoff season features additional teams and games. Asked if they approved of the new three-teams from each league wild card format, 49 percent said they did, with 14 percent opposed. Sports fans (62%) and avid fans (70%) were more enthusiastic about the extended team playoff format.
| N=1,579
|
General
Population |
Sports
Fan* |
Non Fan | Avid
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
| Yes | 49% | 62% | 33% | 70% | 58% |
| No | 14% | 16% | 10% | 18% | 16% |
| Don’t know/No opinion | 37% | 22% | 57% | 12% | 26% |
*Sports fans = Avid + Casual fans
In addition to more teams, the MLB playoffs also feature more games with a best-of-three series instead of the single game elimination. Asked how they felt about the expanded wild card round, 73 percent of avid fans, 63 percent of sports fans and 51 percent of the U.S. population approved.
| N=1,579
|
General
Population |
Sports
Fan* |
Non Fan | Avid
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
| Yes | 51% | 63% | 35% | 73% | 58% |
| No | 13% | 16% | 10% | 15% | 16% |
| Don’t know/No opinion | 36% | 21% | 55% | 12% | 26% |
*Sports fans = Avid + Casual fans
“Playoff baseball is the most exciting part of the season,” said Professor Charles Grantham, Director of the Center for Sport Management within Seton Hall’s Stillman School of Business, which sponsors the Poll. “This is a win for everyone starting with the fans, but also the players, the teams, the owners and the League itself.”