Jeff PassanESPN Shut up ESPN MLB insider Author of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports”

NEW YORK — In the midst of hitting the most remarkable and historic home run in more than a decade that elevated Aaron Judge to a level that gave baseball royalty, the Yankees slugger chose not to gloat or gloat or to luxuriate in the moment. And about an hour later, the Yankees slugger celebrated hitting the 60th home run of his remarkable 2022 season Tuesday night, lamenting the fact that he hadn’t hit it earlier in the game when the bases were loaded, as opposed to when he did, in the bottom of the ninth inning with the scoreless and New York trailing the Pittsburgh Pirates. Shut up

ESPN MLB insider Author of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports”

“I was looking at myself while I was running around the bases,” Judge said. “Well man, you idiot, you should have done it a little earlier.” 2 Related Eventually, spurred on by his teammates and manager, Judge offered those who stuck around Yankee Stadium and were treated to more than his half-hearted magic. It was more out of duty than desire. All season long, as he chased ghosts and the numbers they’re attached to, the kinds of things that matter a lot in the world of baseball but very little in Judge’s world, he’s been incredibly steadfast in his insistence that the team replace the individual. To him, it all seemed strange, disappointing, wrong — another round number arrived, but with his team still down by three runs and just three outs away from another loss, like when he hit 50. Only something happened. Anthony Rizzo got on base, and then Gleyber Torres, and then Josh Donaldson, and Giancarlo Stanton came up, and Wil Crowe dropped a change up too high and Stanton sent it over the left-field wall on a line drive. This time, Judge seemed to be the first out of the dugout, there to greet his teammates at home, to celebrate an improbable 9-8 victory that took a night that mattered to the rest of the world and traded it for consequences for him. , very. Move over, Ruth and Maris? Aaron Judge is closing in on home run history. Watch the Yankees in action on ESPN. Sun. Sept. 25 vs. Red Sox on ESPNFri. Sept. 30 vs. Orioles on ESPN+Sun. Oct. 2 vs. Orioles on ESPN+Wed. Oct. 5 at Rangers on ESPN+ As wild as it is to think that Judge thinks that way — that he’s so focused on the team, so focused on the tunnel, that he doesn’t allow himself the grace to enjoy the moment unless his teammates have something to celebrate also — everyone around him swears it’s true. That he is truly machine-like in his conviction, the opposite personality to the man whose record he once tied on Tuesday. When Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run to break his own mark in 1927, he said after the game, “Sixty! Count ’em, 60! Let’s see some other son of a b—- match that! ” He was pure Babe: a little cocky and a lot bombastic, grateful even in the moment of his place in history, perhaps because he was so used to writing it. Baseball’s early record books featured Ruth’s name so much that they felt biographical. It was the game in the 1920s and that it continues to play such a prominent role a century later shows that for all the pomp, it understood the enormity of the shadow it cast. Check out all the latest coverage and our favorite stories from the slugger’s historic season. Free agency: $300 million? » | 7 places it could land » Where this season ranks all-time » 5 steps to achieve 60 hours » | Judge vs. Ohtani » Others eventually made it past 60 — first Roger Maris in 1961, then Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds, though the latter three were aided by performance-enhancing drugs, which doesn’t negate their achievements so much as offer important context through which to view them. Ruth’s record preceded incorporation. Maris’ preceded the internationalization of the game. Each brand carries its own baggage. That’s part of the reason the judge is excused from talking about the numbers. He said “60” just once in a postgame press conference. He said “team” at least 10 times. He could be involved in a debate about the actual or legal record. He prefers an almost anthemic dedication to the party line he lives by. “To have the opportunity to play baseball in Yankee Stadium, full house, first-place team, that’s what you dream about,” Judge said. “I’m loving every second. Even when we were down, you don’t like to lose, but I knew the top of the lineup was going up, we had a chance to come back here and do something special. I’m trying to enjoy it all, soak it all in, but I know that I still have a job to do out on the field every day.” Judge was low-key in celebrating his 60th home run — but he wasted no time congratulating his teammates after Giancarlo Stanton’s grand slam. Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports He seems to mean it: somehow this life, this reality, doesn’t bother the Judge. As much as Ruth enjoyed it, Maris hated it. As he and teammate Mickey Mandle chased Ruth in 1961, Maris would make coffee and tear cigarettes and watch his hair fall out in a mass. And as much as he wanted to play, Maris viewed his legacy as a burden, saying, “It would have been a lot more fun if I had never hit those 61 home runs. All it gave me was headaches.” The judge’s head is firm, clear, unshakable. Which is fortunate, because as much as he’d love to put the numbers away — hitting 61 to tie Maris for the AL record and 62 to break it — he’s almost inadvertently ensured there won’t be a clean sheet. rung. In addition to holding the uncontested lead in home runs and runs batted in, Judge’s blast in the ninth pushed his average to an AL-best .316. Which means that as the Yankees enter the final 15 games of their season and look to clinch an AL East title in a division they now lead by 5½ games over Toronto, they will do so with Judge chasing not only Ruth and Maris. but the second Triple Crown in the last half century. Seven teams that could challenge the Yankees for the biggest potential MLB free agent. Buster Olney This is a man who has played his entire career in the Bronx. A man who turned down a seven-year contract extension on Opening Day. Aaron Judge knows the pressure of the numbers, the accolades, the team’s performance, the impending free agency that comes with a completely different number number this winter. On Tuesday, he allowed himself to check the names of his ancestors — “You’re talking about Ruth and Maris and Muddle and all those Yankee greats…” Judge said — but he didn’t delve too deeply into that. line of thought. The past is about the ego. This is about the team. And the New York Yankees, arguably Aaron Judge’s team, picked up perhaps their best win of the season on Tuesday. As Stanton cruised to the Grand Slam that was, Judge could clear his mind of what could have been, unencumbered. The night she turned 60 — yes, Babe, count 60 — she gloated, gloated and luxuriated in a different house, struck by a different man of enormous stature. People can have the remarkable and historic solo shot. Aaron Judge will hit the grand slam that won the Yankees one more baseball game.