NEW YORK — That’s 50 and 51 for No. 99.
New York Yankees star Aaron Judge crushed his 50th and 51st home runs of the season in Sunday’s game against the Colorado Rockies at Yankee Stadium. It marks the third time Judge has crossed the 50-homer threshold in a single season.
Only four other players have accomplished the feat: Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Alex Rodriguez.
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The six-time All-Star also became the first player to hit 50 homers three times within his first nine MLB seasons. Judge also leads the majors in home runs, with the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani having the second most at 41.
The outfielder entered the day on pace to hit 61 home runs. In 2022, Judge set an American League record when he hit 62, breaking the mark of 61 that fellow Yankees great Roger Maris set in 1961. That season, Judge hit his 50th homer on Aug. 29. This year, he did it on Aug. 25, and New York has 31 games remaining after Sunday.
Judge is vying to become just the third player of all time with multiple 60-homer seasons, joining Sosa and McGwire. Judge would be the only player to do it who hasn’t been tied to performance-enhancing drugs.
Judge’s first blast came off Rockies starting pitcher Austin Gomber. In an 0-2 count, Judge clobbered a 82.5-mph changeup over the wall in left-center field. It traveled 431 feet and zipped out of the ballpark at 106.7 mph. The home run gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead, scoring Gleyber Torres, who had walked.
Make it 5⃣0⃣ for The Judge 🫡#AllRise pic.twitter.com/BG8ThS33fP
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 25, 2024
Judge hit No. 51 in the seventh inning. After the blast, the crowd showered him with chants of “MVP.” He then stepped out of the dugout to tip his batting helmet to the fans with Giancarlo Stanton at the plate.
That home run came immediately after Juan Soto crushed his career-best 37th homer of the season. It was the sixth time Judge and Soto had gone back to back. After Judge’s 50th blast, Stanton homered, giving the Yankees their first back-to-back-to-back home runs since Sept. 17, 2020, versus the Toronto Blue Jays.
Colorado’s Jeff Criswell gave up the three home runs.
Arson at it again. #AllRise 🔥 pic.twitter.com/NYtEf1HXtp
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 25, 2024
Judge has seven home runs in his last six games, nine home runs in his last 10 games and 16 home runs in his last 27 games.
Hall of Famer Derek Jeter — the last official New York captain before Judge took the role in 2023 — gushed over Judge during Old-Timer’s Day on Saturday.
“I personally can’t relate to it. It’s amazing, it seems like he just continues to get better and better,” Jeter said. “He’s fun to watch and he’s carried that legacy and tradition of the Yankee organization and superstar players, and he’s a great representative of this organization.”
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Rodriguez called Judge a “unicorn.”
“I’ve never seen a player quite like him, that looks like an NFL tight end: 6-foot-7, 282 pounds, under 10 percent body fat. The guy is just a specimen,” Rodriguez said. “He makes me look small, he makes all of us look small. But also he has a unique element to him like Derek and (Mariano Rivera) had. No matter how big the stage is, he keeps the main thing the main thing.”
Required reading
- Yankees’ Aaron Judge on pace to hit 62 home runs: ‘You’re witnessing greatness’
- Yankees’ Aaron Judge is on pace for 60 home runs. Here’s what the clubhouse is saying
- Inside Aaron Judge’s swing change that helped propel another monster season
- Yankees’ Aaron Judge is somehow having a better 2024 season than 2022: 4 takeaways
(Photo: Getty Images)
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Brendan Kuty is a Staff Writer for The Athletic covering the New York Yankees and MLB. He has covered the Yankees since 2014, most recently as a beat reporter for NJ Advance Media. Brendan was honored to receive the 2022 New Jersey Sportswriter of the Year award from the National Sports Media Association. He attended William Paterson University and the County College of Morris, and he is from Hopatcong, N.J.
