999 for 99: On the eve of his 1,000th career game, Aaron Judge adds to his Yankees legend

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Number 99 has played 999 career games. It’s a milepost for everyone besides Aaron Judge, who would rather not admire his work just yet.

“Nah, we’ve got to keep moving forward,” Judge said on Thursday night, after powering the Yankees to a 9-7 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. “I’ll look at it when I’m an old man coming to Old Timer’s Day. I can look back and we can joke about it and laugh about it. But there’s a lot of work to be done.”

Judge is starting that work a lot quicker than he did last season. Through six games in 2024, he was 3 for 24 (.125) with no homers and one run batted in. Through six games this season, he is 10 for 24 (.417) with five homers and 15 RBI.

“Last year he hit 58 home runs and he had a bad first month,” Jazz Chisholm Jr. said. “Imagine, right now, what he’s about to do.”

There’s no telling how the next 156 games will play out, of course. But it’s basically impossible to start better than this, unless you’re Babe Ruth.

It’s true. Before Judge, the last player in MLB history with at least five home runs and 15 runs batted in the first six games he played in a season was Ruth in 1932. That was the year of the “Called Shot” home run in the World Series.

Juan Soto isn’t here anymore to play Lou Gehrig to Judge’s Ruth. But the rest of the Yankees, collectively, are filling the part. Until now, no team had ever hit more than 17 home runs through the first six games of a season. The Yankees – darlings of torpedo-bat makers everywhere – have walloped 22.

Chisholm – who swings like a blend of Barry Bonds, Will Clark and Jim Edmonds, with a Ken Griffey Jr. finish – smoked his fourth on Thursday. To hear Chisholm tell it, the Yankees just want to be like their captain.

“Every time I see him, I think he’s on another planet,” Chisholm said, before calling Judge one of the best to ever play. “We all say: ‘We want to be you every day.’ It’s like we’re playing a team game, but with a big brother leading us.’”

It’s gotten to the point where manager Aaron Boone teases Judge if he doesn’t hit a home run. Boone said Judge was “still getting there,” but it was hard for him to keep a straight face while saying it.

“It’s that part of me that takes him for granted a little bit,” Boone said. “I just feel like he should get an extra-base hit every time. I kind of say it out loud to remind myself of what we’re watching every day.”

In 999 games, we’ve seen 501 extra-base hits from Judge. The home run was the 500th, followed by a double in the sixth. The only players in franchise history who reached 500 extra-base hits quicker were Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio.

Judge has 320 career home runs, the most in MLB history through 999 games. Second on the list is Ryan Howard, the longtime Philadelphia first baseman, with 279. That’s a 41-homer difference – a full season of elite slugging ahead of any other home run hitter.

Here’s another telling comparison. Through Mickey Mantle’s first 999 games – midway through the 1958 season – he had 441 extra-base hits and 218 home runs. Judge, again, has 501 and 320.

Like most comparisons, it’s imperfect. Mantle started his major-league career at 19 years old; Judge was a Fresno State freshman at that age. Mantle was nearly 33 – almost precisely Judge’s age now – when he played in his 12th and final World Series in 1964. He got old quickly, never again hitting 25 homers in a season.

Judge has shown no signs of slowing. He moved from center field to right this season, easing some of the physical demands on his body. Thursday was his first start at designated hitter, and as soon as he got to first base – at least when he wasn’t trotting – he snagged his first stolen base since the World Series.

“He’s starting to steal bags now,” Chisholm said. “It’s just getting ridiculous. What can you do with a guy that’s doing it like that?”

It’s not as if Judge can summon these stretches whenever he wants. His postseasons have been underwhelming (.205/.318/.450), and last year was his first World Series. But he did have a plan to start faster this season, and it’s clearly working.

“Spring training last year, I think I played in the first game and it was kind of play a day, off a day, play a day, off a day,” Judge said. “I kind of wanted to ramp up. So I was playing basically almost every day going into this season so I’d be ready to go. Just little changes like that, nothing crazy.”

Judge said that Giancarlo Stanton, the injured slugger, had told the team before the game to defend its home turf after losing twice to start this series. It’s early for statement games, to be sure, but everybody likes a victory before a flight, and the Yankees headed to Pittsburgh with more than just homers to carry them.

They got 5 1/3 credible innings from Carlos Carrasco, who won his first start as a Yankee. It was the 278th start of Carrasco’s career and the first for his catcher, J.C. Escarra, the former independent leaguer, substitute teacher and Uber driver who finally earned his spot in the majors this spring.

Escarra went hitless in his debut on Saturday and started Thursday 0 for 3. As he came to bat in the seventh inning, he told himself to stop pressing, stop trying too hard for his first hit. Then he lashed a double into the corner and smiled broadly at second base.

“It’s funny how baseball works,” Escarra said. “When you don’t try to do too much, that’s when things come.”

Judge has 500 more extra-base hits than Escarra, but sounded even more thrilled for his rookie teammate’s first.

“We’re all excited, we’re all pulling for that guy, we all know his story,” Judge said. “But besides that, just the type of person he is, to battle through that type of adversity. He’s come in here every single day with a smile on his face trying to make guys better, trying to push guys. It’s been fun to watch and fun to be around. He just brings a different energy into his clubhouse and it’s contagious.”

(Photo: New York Yankees / Getty Images)

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