On Friday night, Aaron Judge hit his 362nd career HR at Fenway Park in a 4-1 over the Boston Red Sox. With that HR, Judge passes Joe DiMaggio for fourth place on the New York Yankees all-time HR list.
This achievement came only 72 hours after Judge surpassed Yogi Berra on the Yankees all-time HR when he slugged his 359th career HR in a 12-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers.
What is impressive about Judge surpassing both DiMaggio and Berra he did so in just over 600 fewer games (606 games) than Joltin' Joe and nearly 1000 fewer games than Yogi (989 games). Translated into at bats, Judge needed nearly 2800 fewer at bats to surpass DiMaggio and nearly 3500 fewer at bats than Berra.
But there is a flip side. Now Judge has also surpassed both DiMaggio and Berra in walks. Judge needs one walk to reach 800 for his career while Joe D. posted 790 walks while Berra drew 704. However, Judge has struck out 1,359 times in his career nearly 1,000 more career strikeouts than DiMaggio (369) and nearly 950 more career strikeouts than Berra (411). Indeed, Judge has more career strikeouts than DiMaggio and Berra combined with more with nearly 600 strikeouts to spare and counting.
To put this into perspective, DiMaggio's highest single season strikeout total was 39 during his rookie season in 1936. Berra's highwater mark in strikeouts in a single season was 38 in 1959. By contrast, Judge posted 42 strikeouts this past June. It's a different game.
This doesn't take anything away from Judge who is on his way to a Hall of Fame career. Judge is a greater power hitter than both DiMaggio and Berra. But Berra and DiMaggio seldom wasted an out and knew how to put the ball in play.
Still, Aaron Judge is an exciting player who is going to continue to hit home runs. Although it will be awhile before he reaches third place on the Yankees all-time HR list. That spot belongs to Lou Gehrig who has 493 career HR. If Judge stays healthy and there is no work stoppage in 2027, Judge could surpass the Iron Horse sometime in 2028.
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