What happened to Aaron Judge’s 62nd home run ball? He doesn’t want it
By Rylie Smith
Former New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge made history over the regular season, but he’s not interested in buying the ball he did so with.
New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge broke a 61-year-old AL record when he hit his 62nd home run of the 2022 season, one of the most exciting moments of the regular season. Though having possession of the ball that broke that record would be meaningful, Judge isn’t particularly interested in dishing out the money for it.
Aaron Judge doesn’t plan to bid on his 62nd HR ball: “Oh, no. I haven't signed my free agent deal yet, so I think that's a little out of my price range right now.”
— Bryan Hoch ⚾️ (@BryanHoch) November 19, 2022
In all fairness, Judge has several other ways to remember the experience. When the former record of 61 single-season homers was set in 1961 by Roger Maris, technology wasn’t quite as advanced as it is now.
Now, all it takes is for Judge to search his own name on the internet and pull up articles, videos, memes and Tweets among several other pieces of media to relive the moment. He also, of course, wakes up every morning as himself, the guy who hit the home run. No baseball will ever replace that fact.
The ball will be auctioned for a lucky fan to keep.
Yankees: Aaron Judge’s 62nd home run ball will be auctioned
The ball is expected to go for more than $3 million and could potentially become the highest-priced baseball ever sold, according to Ken Goldin, the auctioneer in charge of selling the ball.
Goldin also made predictions of where the ball could end up. He told David Waldstein of the New York Times, “It would not surprise me if the winning bidder either purchased it on behalf of Aaron Judge or possibly donates it to the Hall of Fame. I definitely think it’s one of those items that would garner that type of interest.”
It would certainly be neat for the ball to end up in the Hall of Fame where all fans could enjoy it, or to end up back to Judge since he’s well-deserving of holding onto it. It’s unclear if Judge would accept the ball or not if offered it for free, but he understandably doesn’t want to pay the hefty price for it.
Regardless, someone is bound to and the ball may be around for everyone to enjoy.
Next. Aaron Judge instagram post and reported offer sends Yankees fans into a frenzy. dark