New York Yankees rookie Aaron Judge has had a historic first full season in Major League baseball and on Monday afternoon, he etched his name in the record books.
Judge launched a pair of home runs in the Yankees’ 11-3 win over the Kansas City Royals, upping his season total to 50 and breaking Major League Baseball’s record for most round-trippers recorded by a rookie ever.
The single-season mark was previously held by Mark McGwire, who hit 49 in 1987 with the Oakland Athletics.
Judge got his day going in the third inning when he took a full-count offering from Kansas City Royals pitcher Jakob Junis the other way to right-center to tie the record.
It was his first round-tripper this year off a Royals pitcher, making it the 17th-different team he homered off of in 2017.
He picked up No. 50 in the seventh inning when he took reliever Trevor Cahill out to left field. You can check both home runs out here:
McGwire was just 23 years old, two years younger than Judge when he set the rookie record 30 years ago.
Frank Robinson of the Cincinnati Reds and Wally Berger of the then-Boston Braves had previously held the record as each hit 38 in 1956 and 1930 respectively.
It’s mixed company for Judge to be in. Robinson went on to hit 586 home runs on his way to a Hall of Fame induction in 1982.
McGwire has the numbers to be a Hall of Famer with 583 home runs of his own, including a then-league record 70 in 1998, but his links to steroids have kept him out of Cooperstown.
Regardless, it’s been a remarkable campaign for Judge which has been streaky at times. But there is no denying that he is one of the premier power hitters in baseball that will wreak havoc on pitching for years to come.
