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Yankees superstar Aaron Judge appeared in his 1,000th big-league game on Friday, a 9-4 New York victory that spoiled the Pittsburgh Pirates' home opener (box score). Judge went 1 for 5 with a walk on the afternoon. His hit, a seventh-inning home run that extended New York's lead to 9-1, carried a great deal more significance than its relative unimportance to the game's result indicated.
Even by Aaron Judge's standards, this is getting ridiculous 🤯 pic.twitter.com/0BRBnobyxz
— MLB (@MLB) April 4, 2025
Foremost, it represented Judge's sixth of the season, putting him back atop Major League Baseball's leaderboard. (He had previously been tied with Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suárez.) Additionally, Judge's home run was the 321st of his career. Why is that notable? Because the combination of statistics Judge achieved on Friday -- 321 home runs in 1,000 games -- just so happens to match how Babe Ruth performed to begin his own Yankees career. (Ruth, of course, was originally a member of the Boston Red Sox, meaning these weren't his first 1,000 games overall.)
Fun stat, right? Below, we here at CBS Sports have gathered three other notable Judge stats to celebrate the moment.
1. Most home runs through 1k games in MLB history
Anytime a player's home-run-hitting prowess is invoking comparisons to Babe Ruth, you know they're doing something right. As it turns out, Judge is doing something right at a frequency that is unmatched in MLB history.
Indeed, no player has ever homered more times than Judge has through their first 1,000 games -- and it's not particularly close. Take a look at the top five:
- Aaron Judge, 321 home runs
- Ryan Howard, 279
- Ralph Kiner, 277
- Harmon Killebrew, 272
- Giancarlo Stanton, 270
If Judge had simply become the sixth player with more than 270 home runs by this point in his career, that would've been awfully impressive in its own right. That he's atop this leaderboard, and more than 40 beyond anyone else, is hard to fathom.
2. Ahead of own historic home-run pace
It's early, arguably too early, to think about such things. But, hey, what's a little overzealous observation among friends? To wit: did you know that Judge is well ahead of the pace he established in 2022, when he homered 62 times to establish new American League and Yankees single-season records?
In fact, Judge is well ahead of his pace in every big home-run season he's enjoyed. Observe:
| Season | Sixth HR came in Game No. | Finished with HRs |
|---|---|---|
2025 | 7 | ? |
2022 | 20 | 62 |
2024 | 29 | 58 |
2017 | 17 | 52 |
There's no sense in getting too far out in front here. Just for fun, though, consider this. If Judge ends up playing in 143 more games this year, giving him 150 appearances for the year … and if he averages his present career homer-per-game rate in those contests … he'd finish with around 52 home runs.
That may not sound too impressive given that Judge has been there and done that. Yet another 50-homer season would represent the fourth of Judge's career, thereby tying him for the most ever with Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and that Ruth fellow.
3. Continues to climb Yankees leaderboards
Predictably, Judge is starting to make headway in the Yankees franchise record books. He's now 10th in career Wins Above Replacement among position players, with a real opportunity to move into sixth or seventh by season's end -- a leap that would entail passing Alex Rodriguez, Willie Randolph, Bill Dickey, and Yogi Berra. If Judge pulls that off, he'll be behind only Derek Jeter, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, and Ruth. That's outstanding company to keep.
Elsewhere, Judge ranks seventh in franchise history in home runs (he's 30 away from tying Rodriguez and 40 away from tying DiMaggio); third in adjusted OPS+ (behind Ruth and Gehrig); second in at-bats per home run (almost tied with Ruth); ninth in Win Probability Added; and so on. You get the point: Judge has been incredibly productive thus far in his MLB career -- and there are no signs of him letting up anytime soon despite his encroaching 33rd birthday.
As a reminder: Judge is under contract through the 2031 season. He has plenty of time, then, to continue cementing himself as one of the greatest Yankees of all time.
