Aaron Judge Deserves all the Babe Ruth Comparisons For His Historic Season
By Ben Heisler
Multiple sports have passed up baseball as America's game, but if there's one area where Major League Baseball can still take a victory lap, it's in the nostalgia department.
The greatest players of several generations remain tied into folklore just as much now as ever before; even as more talented athletes take their places.
Babe Ruth in New York still somehow represents all that is "holy" and "sanctimonious" regarding iconic Yankee history, and when anyone ever gets comped to "The Great Bambino," Yankees fans and historians chime in that the claims are erroneous and undeserved.
Meanwhile, Aaron Judge is actually putting up a Ruthian-type season for the Yankees this year. The current AL MVP favorite (+120) at WynnBET Sportsbook is objectively putting up numbers that compare to the Sultan of Swat.
For instance, when Judge went deep a week ago for home run number 22 on the year, ESPN Stats and Info discovered that Judge is just the second Yankee to hit 22-plus home runs in the team's first 53 games.
The only other to record it? The Babe in 1928 and also in 1930.
Aaron Judge 🤝 Babe Ruth pic.twitter.com/Pnvf3dp69T
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) June 8, 2022
Meanwhile, Judge's 24 home runs lead the Majors by a full six over Mets slugger Pete Alonso and Twins outfielder Byron Buxton, but just a few days ago, Judge led the Majors with a seven-HR advantage, becoming the only player in Big League history to have that size of a lead since, you guessed it, Babe friggin Ruth.
Aaron Judge of the @Yankees currently has 7 more home runs than anyone else in MLB.
— Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) June 12, 2022
The last MLB player to have a bigger lead in homers over the rest of the majors through this date (June 11) was Babe Ruth in 1928 (9-homer lead over teammate Lou Gehrig).
Need one more to be convinced? Judge's five games of two or more home runs this season has only been accomplished one other time in Yankees famed history back in 1928, when Ruth also hit five-plus multi-home run games through the first 60 of the season.
Yankees with five multi-HR games within the first 60 games of the season:
— Jim Passon (@PassonJim) June 12, 2022
Babe Ruth (1928)
Aaron Judge (2022)
Nobody is here to say that Judge is the second-coming of "The Babe," since the longevity of his 22-year playing career is essentially non-existent in today's era of baseball.
At the same time, it's also ok to appreciate and marvel at what the 2022 Yankees slugger is accomplishing around 100 or so years later; drawing legitimate comparisons to the most legendary Yankee who ever lived.
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