Aaron Judge Becomes Fastest To Reach 300 Home Runs, Passing Babe Ruth & Ralph Kiner

Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees (Image: Getty)

Aaron Judge became the fastest player to reach 300 career home runs Wednesday, hitting a three-run blast off reliever Chad Kuhn in the top of the eighth inning. By achieving the feat in his 955th MLB game, he became the only player to reach the milestone within 1,000 games.

“It’s a great achievement,” Judge said after the game. “Like I said a couple days ago, I was hoping it would come in a win. It came in a big win for us. We were down for a little bit, couldn’t get much going, so I was just excited it was there in a big moment.”

Judge’s 3,431st career at-bat wasn’t necessarily a game-changer, as the Yankees were already in the midst of a massive rally. Down 2-1 going into the seventh inning, New York eventually scored nine unanswered runs against Chicago in two innings and cruised to a 10-2 win.

If anything, the White Sox were asking for it. With a runner on second and one out, Kuhn intentionally walked Juan Soto, who had homered four times in his last six at-bats, in order to pitch to Judge. Despite getting a 3-0 count, Judge admitted after the game that he felt disrespected and swung away to send the inside pitch screaming out of the ballpark.

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“I was mad about the intentional walk. So that kind of fueled it,” Judge told YES Network. “Usually 3-0, I’ll take a pitch, see a pitch, pass it on to the next guy. But in that situation, if they want to pitch to you, you gotta come through.”

As a historical marker, however, the 361-foot shot to left field against the lowly White Sox puts Judge among the greatest hitters in the history of the sport.

In 1953, Ralph Kiner hit his 300th home run in his 1,087th game, making his mark as an all-time great before being forced into an early retirement. Before him, Babe Ruth reached 300 in the fewest at-bats, specifically his 3,831st in 1925. Judge shattered both records Wednesday, putting him on an unprecedented trajectory in his ninth MLB season.

At age 32, Judge is likely going to run out of time before he can challenge the likes of Barry Bonds and Hank Aaron on the all-time home run list. It’s abundantly clear that he’s still in his prime, however, and with his foreseeable future on the Yankees sealed, it’s impossible to know how much damage he will do by the time curtains close.