Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees hit his 61st home run of the season Wednesday night to tie the American League record set by Roger Maris in 1961. The former three-sport star at
Linden (Calif.) had been in a tie for second with Babe Ruth before blasting the seventh-inning bomb.
Since making his MLB debut in 2016, the Linden graduate has crushed 219 homers and led the Yankees to multiple playoff appearances.
Home runs are nothing new to Judge, who led Linden to the playoffs with his bat and his arm during his high school career. He also shined on the football field and basketball court before graduating in 2010.
In the fall, he was a gridiron star with offers from UCLA, Notre Dame and Stanford. During his senior year, the 6-foot-7 tight end hauled in 54 passes for 969 yards and 17 touchdowns. His best game that year came against Argonaut with seven receptions for 233 receiving yards and four touchdowns.
Aaron Judge has a light moment with a teammate during his senior season at Linden in 2010.
Photo: Mark Bahrenfuss
As a basketball player, Judge averaged 18.2 points, 12.8 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game during his senior year and the Lions went to the state playoffs.
In one game during that run, Judge scored 23 points, corralled 10 rebounds and blocked a staggering 11 shots for a triple-double.
Judge hit 11 career home runs and pitched gems for Linden. As a senior Judge went 6-0 with a 0.88 earned run average. In the final 38 innings on the mound in his prep career, he allowed two earned runs.
He was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 31st round of the 2010 MLB Draft but decided to go to Fresno State, where he developed into a 2013 first round pick.
Now more than nine years after signing for $1.8 million with the Yankees after the draft, Judge is on the chase for his 62nd home run. The Yankees have seven games left beginning Friday at home against the Baltimore Orioles.
