All rise, indeed.
New York Yankees star Aaron Judge became the fastest player in the history of Major League Baseball to hit 300 home runs in his career. The slugger had been sitting on 299 home runs since Sunday’s game against the Texas Rangers.
Wednesday, he hit the historic homer in the eighth inning against White Sox pitcher Chad Kuhl, a three-run blast to left field at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago.
Judge has hit 43 home runs this season, which leads Major League Baseball. Only 162 players have hit 300 home runs in their career. Teammate Anthony Rizzo was the most recent to join the 300 club before Judge, having done so on April 28 of this year.
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Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner hit his 300th home run in his 1,087th career game in May 1953. Judge has played just 955 games since his debut in 2016.
Kiner, who retired after the 1955 season, retired with 369 home runs on his career ledger across 10 seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians. He played his final game at age 32.
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Judge is currently 32 years old but he’s under contract to the Yankees until 2031. Health willing, he should be in The Bronx long enough shatter several more home run milestones along the way.
It’s just the latest chapter in a possible Hall of Fame career for the American League MVP frontrunner.
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Judge is a six-time All-Star and well on the way to claiming his second MVP award in three seasons. In addition to his 43 home runs, Judge began the day with a .332 batting average. His .466 on-base percentage and .699 slugging percentage through Tuesday led all of MLB. So did his 221 OPS+ — an indication that his 1.165 OPS is remarkably 121 percent better than the league average.
Judge is already the single-season American League record holder for home runs. His 62 homers in 2022 allowed him to clinch that year’s MVP award; he also led the AL in RBIs (131) and runs (133) that year, both career highs.
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Earlier this year, Judge set the Yankees record for most home runs in a season before July 1. His 31 by that date broke a record previously set by Babe Ruth.
The post New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge Hits Historic 300th Home Run appeared first on Newsweek.
