Inside The Pinstripes

New York Yankees Slugger Joins Elite Company With Milestone Homer

Aaron Judge's 40th home run put him in rarefied air with other New York Yankees legends.

Tyler Maher

Aug 2, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge hits a home run.
Aug 2, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge hits a home run. / Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
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Aaron Judge just can't stop hitting homers.

The giant New York Yankees slugger cracked another one on Friday against the Toronto Blue Jays -- his 40th of the season. Judge went yard in the bottom of the first, taking Kevin Gausman yard for a 477-foot two-run shot deep into the left-field bleachers at Yankee Stadium.

The dinger put the Yankees on the board and trimmed the Blue Jays' lead to one, but Toronto ultimately prevailed 8-5 in the series opener.

That makes 40 homers and 101 RBIs (both lead MLB) in 109 games for Judge, who's batting .318/.449/.695 and is well on his way to winning his second AL MVP award in three seasons. If the 32-year-old masher keeps it up, he still has an outside chance of breaking his AL record of 62 long balls in a single season from 2022.

Along with his AL rookie-record 52 homers in 2017, Judge has now reached 40 dingers in three seasons, becoming only the fourth player in franchise history to do so. The other three are all New York legends: Babe Ruth (an MLB-record 11 40-homer seasons), Lou Gehrig (five) and Mickey Mantle (four).

Judge would likely have a few more 40-homer campaigns on his resume were it not for injuries. He launched 39 bombs in 148 games in 2021 and 37 round-trippers in just 106 game last year. Over his career, he's averaging an incredible 51 homers per 162 games, including 60 per 162 games over the last three seasons.

If the six-time All-Star stays healthy and keeps getting pitches to hit, he should have no trouble at least getting to 50 homers this year. If he does, he'll join Ruth as the only Yankees with three 50-homer seasons. Judge is also only three blasts away from reaching 300 for his career.

When are pitchers going to learn that giving Judge a pitch in the strike zone maybe isn't such a great idea?

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Tyler Maher
TYLER MAHER

Tyler grew up in Massachusetts and is a huge Boston sports fan, especially the Red Sox. He went to Tufts University and played club baseball for the Jumbos. Since graduating, he has worked for MLB.com, The Game Day, FanDuel and Forbes. When he's not writing about baseball, he enjoys running, traveling, and playing fetch with his golden retriever.

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