Aaron Judge (TheJudge44)—who set a new American League home-run record earlier this year—is TIME’s 2022 Athlete of the Year:
—none was more transcendent than Judge’s. Sports fans hold individual records dear, and no game cherishes its numbers quite like the national pastime. Many fans and pundits even consider Judge the “authentic” single-season home-run champ, given that all the National League players who’ve hit more than Judge—Barry Bonds , Mark McGwire , and Sammy Sosa —did so under a cloud of steroid suspicion.
When Judge was around 10, he asked his parents Wayne and Patty, both schoolteachers, why he and his older brother, who is of Korean descent, didn’t look at all like their parents. They told him the boys were adopted, and offered to provide any information he wanted to know about his biological parents. Judge just asked if he could go back outside and play. “I’ve just never had a need,” says Judge, “because I’ve felt at home.
The adjustment made his at-bats a must-watch. Judge’s highlights generated 84% more engagements than the average post on MLB’s Facebook page. The MLB Network’s telecast of the Sept. 28 Yankee game in Toronto, in which Judge smacked his 61st home run, was the most-watched regular-season game in eight years. At the start of the season, according to MLB data, 21% of fans ranked Shohei Ohtani as “the most exciting player to watch in baseball right now,” while only 4% thought the same of Judge.
As a result, Judge is flush with options. Remaining with the Yankees could allow him to join the pantheon of icons—Jeter, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Mariano Rivera—who wore only pinstripes during Hall of Fame careers. Another franchise, like the well-moneyed Los Angeles Dodgers, could swoop in with an offer that would be hard to refuse. Coming home to the Bay Area to play for his childhood team, the San Francisco Giants, also holds clear appeal.
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