After a nine-day home run drought, New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge finally hit the 261st of his career to move up another spot on the franchise’s leaderboards.
Aaron Judge tied Derek Jeter for the ninth-most home runs in New York Yankees history back on April 14.
Across the following eight games, however, Judge didn’t hit a single homer. Instead, he hit .129 with just two RBI, one walk and 16 strikeouts.
The superstar outfielder ended that cold streak Wednesday against the Oakland Athletics, cementing his spot in franchise history in the process.
Judge hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning, giving New York a lead it wouldn’t relinquish all night long. It was the 261st bomb of Judge’s career, moving him past Jeter and into sole possession of ninth-place in Yankees history.
Jeter spent his entire 20-year career with the Yankees, winning five World Series titles along the way. The 14-time All-Star racked up 3,465 hits and a 71.3 WAR during his time in the Bronx, batting .310 with an .817 OPS between 1995 and 2014.
Like Jeter before him, Judge is the Yankees’ captain – a position he has held since 2023 and will presumably retain until his contract expires in 2031.
It took Judge Judge 860 games in a Yankees uniform to reach 261 home runs, while Jeter hit 260 across 2,747 appearances. Last season, Judge broke into the top 10 on the Yankees’ all-time home run leaderboards when he passed Graig Nettles’ 250.
Taking into account his average of 41 homers per non-COVID season in his career, Judge could end the year with just shy of 300 bombs. But considering he broke the AL record with 62 home runs in 2022, Judge has the raw power to join that club as soon as this fall.
It certainly doesn’t seem like Judge is on pace for that kind of campaign, however, as he is batting just .191 with a .702 OPS so far in 2024. Judge, who turns 32 on Friday, only has four home runs through 25 games, far below his usual per-game output.
Next up on the list above Judge are catcher Jorge Posada and outfielder Bernie Williams. The former hit 275 home runs in his career, while the latter hit 287, and both were also lifetime Yankees.
Judge should pass both Posada and Williams by the end of 2024, which would put him at No. 7 in Yankees history behind third baseman Alex Rodriguez and his 351 homers. The top five is made up of Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra, all of whom are Hall of Famers.
