Aaron Judge celebrates after Friday’s win over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Photo by Paul Rutherford/Imagn Images/Reuters Connect
According to CNN
At Fenway Park on a Friday night, Aaron Judge took the field with a clear understanding: just one home run could lift him to fourth place in Yankees history for hits.
He wasted no time: on the second pitch from Lucas Giolito, Judge crushed his 362nd career hit – the ball traveling 468 feet over the Green Monster in a 4-1 win over the Red Sox.
From a historical standpoint, only Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Lou Gehrig have more home runs for the Yankees than Judge.
This is a special moment, but like all those players who have stood ahead of them on these lists, they did not play for records. They played to win. So I’m simply trying to follow in their footsteps. I’m here to win. I strive to help the team be in the best possible position every day.
After this week, Judge also surpassed Yogi Berra for hits in Yankees history, cementing his status as the Yankees’ best hitter since the Ruth, Mantle, and Gehrig era.
His career average sits at .292, but he ranks 25th in Yankees history in that stat; OBP, meanwhile, is fourth in the club, signaling a significant impact at the plate over the decade.
WAR places Judge sixth among Yankees’ position players, trailing Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, DiMaggio, and Jeter.
Of the nine of the top ten WAR leaders in club history, almost all have won at least one World Series title; Yogi Berra has 10. Judge has yet to collect a trophy, but a season could change that.
If the Yankees win the World Series this year, one could speak of Judge as one of the greatest hitters in the club’s history.
I think losing in the World Series will stay with me, probably until I die.
Just like any other loss, these things don’t go away. They leave scars on the road, and I hope that when my career ends, we’ll have many such scars, but I hope there will also be many wins along the way.
In the end, his legacy is already strong, and the Yankees’ World Series victory this year could make him one of the most notable hitters in the club’s history.
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