Watch: Aaron Judge Hits 50th HR To Break Single-Season Rookie Record

Aaron Judge recorded his 50th home run of the season in the New York Yankees‘ 11-3 home victory over the Kansas City Royals on Monday to surpass Mark McGwire’s 1987 rookie record.

Aaron Judge Home Run Record News

Judge — the reigning Home Run Derby champion — hit two homers in the game. The 25-year-old outfielder set the record with a solo shot in the seventh inning off Trevor Cahill. 

Judge is clearly a humble player: his teammates had to convince him to walk up the dugout steps to wave to the fans cheering him on at Yankee Stadium.

“They kind of told me: ‘You got to go out there. You got to go out there,'” he later said. “First curtain call. I hope it was a good one.”

McGwire hit 49 homers his rookie season with the Oakland Athletics in 1987, breaking the previous mark of 38 set by the Boston Braves’ Wally Berger in 1930 and matched by Cincinnati’s Frank Robinson in 1956.

Judge — a 6-foot-7, 282-pound slugger — made his MLB debut in 2016 and hit a home run in his first plate appearance. However, he also struck out in 42 of his 84 at-bats, hitting .179. Monday marked his second consecutive two-homer game.

With this accomplishment, Judge could be a contender for the American League MVP award, and could also be named AL Rookie of the Year.

The Yankees (87-66) clinched an AL playoff birth on Saturday with a 5-1 victory over the Blue Jays in Toronto. The Bombers — who remain four games behind the division-leading Boston Red Sox — next begin a three-game home series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday at 7:05 pm EST.

BOSTON, MA – JULY 16: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees begins to the round the bases before he is robbed of a home run by Jackie Bradley Jr. #19 of the Boston Red Sox in the eighth inning of game two of a doubleheader against the New York Yankees at Fenway Park on July (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)