Yankees' Aaron Judge Named Topps Baseball Series 1 Cover Athlete
Aaron Judge’s 2025 is coming along nicely.
The New York Yankees superstar was named the 2025 Topps Baseball Series 1 cover athlete, an achievement reserved for the best baseball stars.
Topps made the announcement Monday and also revealed a video in which Judge learned of the honor.
A nice surprise, starting with storytelling in the way only Spike Lee can do it. Ronald Acuna Jr., last year’s Series 1 cover athlete, also congratulated Judge for the honor.
Judge and his wife, Samantha Bracksieck, also recently announced they're expecting their first chlid. Can 2025 be the year Judge gets his first World Series ring?
The theme of the announcement is larger than life.
Of course, it’s not just about his 6-foot-7 frame, but his gargantuan presence on the diamond. Judge broke the rookie record for home runs in 2017 with 52 and then smoked an American-League record 62 home runs in 2022.
He is one of the most feared hitters to come up to the plate.
In 2024, he led the league with 58 home runs and 144 RBIs all the while batting .322 in the regular season. While last season fell short with the Yankees losing in the World Series to the Dodgers, Judge still added his second MVP to his resume.
While Judge has appeared on other Topps covers such as 2023 Topps Series 2 and 2022 Topps Heritage, this is the first time he has graced the cover of Topps Series 1.
The picture shows Judge celebrating after one of his big hits in 2024 while he’s wearing the Statue-of-Liberty green batting gloves.
Series 1 is the most popular release every season, marking the start of the baseball season when it hits shelves in mid-February just as Spring Training kicks off.
This year’s Topps Series 1 release hits stores on February 12.
Susan is an award-winning journalist who spent over a decade working in the sports card industry. You can follow her at twitter.com/yanxchick