Judge Ties Record with 50 HR and Connects 51: Yankees on Top and MVP in Play

Aaron Judge Begins to Write His Name in Baseball History

Aaron Judge continues to solidify his place among baseball’s greats. On Wednesday, the player tied a historic record by reaching 50 home runs in a season for the fourth time in the New York Yankees’ 8-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Judge hit his 50th home run with a three-run shot to right-center field, driven by pitcher Jonathan Cannon, putting the Yankees ahead 3-1 in the second inning. The star hitter added his 51st home run with a solo shot against pitcher Cam Booser in the eighth inning, sealing the victory. It seems Judge is matching or surpassing the legends every week. Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa are the only other players in Major League history to have recorded four seasons with at least 50 home runs. With his two home runs, Judge also tied Mickey Mantle for second place on the Yankees’ all-time list with his 46th game with multiple home runs. Only Ruth (68) has achieved more multiple home run games as a Yankee. Earlier this month, Judge surpassed Yogi Berra and Joe DiMaggio for fourth place on the Yankees’ all-time home run list. On Tuesday, he tied Ted Williams for the most intentional walks in a season for an American League player with 34.

If you sit and admire it, you’re going to stop your momentum. That would stop the momentum. There’s a lot of work to be done. Hopefully, I’ll have a long career here and we’ll do special things and we can talk about it at the end.

Aaron Judge

The victory, along with Toronto’s loss to the Boston Red Sox, put New York in a tie at the top of the American League standings with the Blue Jays, with four games remaining. However, the Yankees would have to finish with a better record than the Blue Jays to win the division title, as Toronto has the head-to-head tiebreaker.

If we just take care of what we do, we’ll be where we want to be. Our goal at the beginning of the season is to go out and win a World Series, get back there, but it starts by winning your division. That’s our goal. We just have to keep going.

Aaron Judge

The Yankees’ victory in their first World Series since 2009 would almost certainly require Judge, in top form, to patrol right field with enough arm strength to avoid being a liability. They received a positive indicator on Wednesday when Judge threw a 85.8 mph throw from right field to second base on Colson Montgomery’s double to the wall in the second inning. The launch was Judge’s strongest since he suffered a right flexor strain in late July, an injury that forced him onto the injured list and limited him to designated hitter for a month after his return.

That was by far the one he threw the most

Aaron Boone, Yankees Manager

On the plate, Judge is finishing the regular season by punishing pitchers. Since September 11, he’s batting .439 with seven home runs and an OPS of 1.572 in 13 games. The Yankees are 10-3 and have erased the Blue Jays’ three-game lead in the division during that period.

I feel like in the last few weeks he’s really started to hit the ball very well again, and have very good at-bats, night after night, at-bat after at-bat.

Aaron Boone, Yankees Manager

The historic production generated a familiar sound on Wednesday. The first “M-V-P” chants arose in the second inning when Judge ran the bases for the first time. They continued sporadically throughout the night until a final explosion erupted over Judge in the ninth inning, minutes after connecting for number 51. With four games remaining in the regular season, the race for the American League Most Valuable Player award between Judge and Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh has generated intense debate, but there is no discussion about the Yankees captain’s place among the all-time greats.

He is highly revered and leads a really strong culture there. Those guys are united because it starts with him, and he makes sure everyone is heard, seen… part of it.

Aaron Boone, Yankees Manager