Judge joins Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle with 40th HR — a 477-foot moonshotJudge joins Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle with 40th HR — a 477-foot moonshot

Judge joins Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle with 40th HR — a 477-foot moonshot 1:10 AM UTC Bryan Hoch @BryanHoch Share share-square-493988 NEW YORK — Aaron Judge joined some select company with his Major League-leading 40th home run in his first at-bat on Friday night against the Blue Jays, becoming just the fourth Yankees player to hit
Judge joins Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle with 40th HR — a 477-foot moonshotJudge joins Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle with 40th HR — a 477-foot moonshot

Judge joins Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle with 40th HR — a 477-foot moonshot

1:10 AM UTC

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge joined some select company with his Major League-leading 40th home run in his first at-bat on Friday night against the Blue Jays, becoming just the fourth Yankees player to hit 40 or more home runs in at least three separate seasons.

You are probably familiar with the names on the rest of the list: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Mickey Mantle.

Judge connected in impressive fashion, powering a two-run homer in the first inning off Toronto right-hander Kevin Gausman that landed in the left-field bleachers — a Statcast-projected 477 feet from home plate, the third-longest home run of his career (also 496 feet on Sept. 30, 2017, vs. Toronto, and 495 feet on June 11, 2017, vs. Baltimore).

The drive, which was the Yankees’ longest homer of the year, came off Judge’s bat at 117.5 mph. It is the second-longest homer hit in the Majors this year, behind Jorge Soler’s 478-foot shot on July 21 at Coors Field.

During his 2022 AL MVP campaign, Judge memorably hit 62 home runs, eclipsing Roger Maris’ single-season American League record. He also hit 52 home runs in 2017, when he was the unanimous AL Rookie of the Year and finished second in MVP voting.

Ruth hit 40 or more homers 11 times, while Gehrig did it five times and Mantle did it four.

Friday’s homer was Judge’s sixth career blast off Gausman, his most against any pitcher. It is also the most that Gausman has surrendered to any hitter. Judge entered play on Friday batting .297/.447/.757 (11-for-37) lifetime against Gausman.

Judge’s 37 career home runs against the Blue Jays are also the most by a Yankee in franchise history. It’s Judge’s second-most against an opponent, behind the Orioles (42).

Total
0
Shares
Leave a Reply
Related Posts
Beyoncé’s ‘Freedom’ gets streaming boost following Kamala Harris’ campaign use
Read More

Beyoncé’s ‘Freedom’ gets streaming boost following Kamala Harris’ campaign use

Call it the Kamala Harris effect: Beyoncé is seeing a huge surge in streams for her song “Freedom” after the leading Democratic candidate for the upcoming presidential election walked out to the 2016 song during her first appearances as a candidate this week. According to Luminate, the U.S. on-demand streams for “Freedom” are up over 1,300 percent between Sunday