Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge ended Thursday night’s game against the Royals with a walk-off home run. Friday, he went deep again, this time in the bottom of the third inning, to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead.
The lead wouldn’t last long, as the Royals would put up five runs in the fifth.
Let’s zero in on Judge’s personal accolades here, though. This was Judge’s 40th home run of the season and we haven’t yet turned the calendar to August. He’s actually going to have another two games to add to this, but here are the only players in baseball history to get to 40 home runs before August.
- Barry Bonds, 45, 2001
- Mark McGwire, 45, 1998
- Sammy Sosa, 42, 1998
- Luis Gonzalez, 41, 2001
- Ken Griffey Jr., 41, 1998
- Jimmie Foxx, 41, 1932
- Babe Ruth, 41, 1928
- Aaron Judge, 40, 2022
- Sammy Sosa, 40, 1999
- Matt Williams, 40, 1994
- Reggie Jackson, 40, 1969
- Roger Maris, 40, 1961
Though not impossible, it’s pretty unlikely Judge gets to the record, but this is still rarified air. Bonds would end up with 73 homers, McGwire 70. In both Sosa entries on the above list he topped 60 homers, and there is, of course, the Maris 61-homer season on there. This means of the previous 11 times a player reached 40 homers before August, five times the player got to 60 home runs (Babe Ruth’s 60-homer season was 1927). We can throw an asterisk on Williams, too, since the season ended less than two weeks later due to strike — meaning we’re at essentially half the previous entries getting to 60.
We already asked Judge about getting to 60 homers, and while he’d understandably rather not talk about it, he’s maintaining a pace that keeps the discussion relevant.
Judge’s career high in home runs is 52, which he did as a rookie in 2017. He hit 39 last year in 148 games, so he’s already surpassed that mark in 98. He leads the majors in home runs, RBI and runs scored.
