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Welcome to the history books, Aaron Judge.
The New York Yankees slugger hit a solo home run in the eighth inning of Wednesday’s game against the Chicago White Sox, his 43rd of the season and the 300th of his career.
In his 955th career game, he became the fastest player in Major League Baseball to hit 300 home runs.
Bleacher Report @BleacherReport
AARON JUDGE WITH HOMERUN NO. 300 😱👏
He is the player who reached this mark the fastest 🔥
(above @MLB)
pic.twitter.com/tsd9uJalVP
Judge not only set the record, but did so with flying colors.
The previous record holder was Ralph Kiner, who accomplished this feat in 1,087 games. That means Judge needed 132 fewer games to hit 300 home runs, which is almost an entire season.
Setting the record for most home runs in a single season in the American League is one way to quickly shoot up the career leaderboard, and that’s exactly what Judge did in 2022. That season, he won the AL MVP while hitting 62 home runs, breaking Roger Maris’ record of 61 home runs.
Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa each hit more than 62 home runs in a single season during their careers, but they did so in the National League for the San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs, respectively.
Judge led the league in home runs, RBI (107), walks (101), on-base percentage (.466) and slugging percentage (.699) before Wednesday’s game.
He seems to be well on his way to becoming MVP again and now has a certain past under his belt to help him.
The only thing he’s missing right now is a World Series title, but he’ll likely have a chance to change that in October. New York is tied with the Baltimore Orioles atop the American League East and leads the AL wild-card race, making the postseason a possibility for him in the near future.
And if he hits as well as he did in the regular season, he may be on the verge of winning the World Series in the near future.
