Could he really do it?
Aaron Judge has a lot of home runs in his future.
The New York Yankees superstar, who is 33 years old, has a contract that runs through his age-39 season. And he doesn't plan to stop there.
The 6-foot-7 slugger told The Athletic's Ian O'Connor that "the plan" is to play into his 40s.
And if Judge has close to a decade left in MLB, it's time to start crunching some numbers.
The Yankees' all-time home run leaderboard (of homers hit specifically with New York) is Babe Ruth at 659, Mickey Mantle at 536 and Lou Gehrig at 493.
Judge exits the All-Star break at 350 homers.
"If Judge finishes with 55 homers this year (he has 35 now) for a career total of 370, he’d need to average 36 homers over eight seasons to reach Ruth," O'Connor writes. "Given Judge’s athleticism, work ethic and availability to become a full-time DH to protect his legs near the end of his career, that math doesn’t seem crazy."
MORE: Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak was almost much longer than 56 games
Judge reached the 350 home runs in 241 fewer games than Ruth.
The main problem for Judge is that, after a lengthy college career at Fresno State, he didn't make his MLB debut until he was 24.
But if he plays into his 40s, that negates some of the disadvantage.
And then, at that point, Judge will make a case as the greatest Yankees player ever.
Who would've ever thought that could be anyone other than the all-timers from the last century?
Judge plans to make a run at it.
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Category: Baseball
