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Aaron Judge has tied a big name on the Yankees’ career home run leaderboard. Judge slugged the 358th home run of his career, tying Yogi Berri for the fifth most in franchise history, Sunday afternoon off White Sox starter Martín Pérez at Rate Field (GameTracker). It was Judge’s 43rd home run of this season.
“When you get a chance to tie one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Yankees in homers, it’s pretty special,” Judge told reporters after the game. “The way Yogi played the game, what he meant to the pinstripes, you know how much it meant being a New York Yankee to him. I feel the same way. I’m honored to wear this jersey. It’s pretty cool to be on that list with him.”
Here is Judge’s 358th career homer. It was his third home run in his last five games:
The only Yankees with more home runs than Judge are inner circle Hall of Famers and some of the greatest hitters in the game’s history:
1. Babe Ruth: 659
2. Mickey Mantle: 536
3. Lou Gehrig: 493
4. Joe DiMaggio: 362
t-5. Yogi Berra: 358
t-5. Aaron Judge: 358 and counting
The Yankees have 25 games remaining after Sunday. Judge has a good chance to pass DiMaggio and move into sole possession of fourth place on the team’s home run list before the end of September. He also needs seven more home runs to join Ruth, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa as the only players with four career 50-homer seasons.
“I’ve had a lot of great teammates and I’ve been on some good teams. They put me in the best position to go out there and perform at my best,” Judge told reporters, including MLB.com, earlier this year when he became the fastest player to 350 career homers. “It’s just a shoutout to all the teammates I’ve had over the years.”
Judge, 33, entered Sunday’s game leading baseball in batting average (.321), on-base percentage (.441), slugging percentage (.666), and WAR (7.7) despite a recent slump. He is second in the American League in home run. Cal Raleigh has a catcher-record 50 homers for the Mariners.
