Aaron Judge’s career accolades speak for themselves, but the cherry on top of any athlete’s career is being able to retire your uniform.
In Judge’s case, his No. 29 will never be worn again at his alma mater, Fresno State.
The 2022 American League MVP and five-time All-Star outfielder, credited a lot of his success across his eight-year MLB career to what he did as a Bulldog.
“In baseball and in life, it’s a team game,” Judge said (h/t Stepheny Price, Fox News). “It’s always a team game. I think just those lessons about how to handle that, really prepared me for once I got to New York, where you’re playing in a game of failure, you’re going to have good days and you’re going to have bad days but if you focus it on the team, how we can improve, just having that reassurance and learning those lessons here just allowed me to take that to New York and with the Yankees, the cultures just align perfectly, what the Yankees are all about, about winning, the team, about tradition that’s everything I learned here at Fresno State.”
In addition to his parents, wife and teammates, Judge said Fresno State was a stepping stone in getting him to where he is today.
In addition to the previously named accolades Judge earned three Silver Slugger Awards, the AL Rookie of the Year Award in 2017 and he broke Roger Maris’ longstanding American League single-season home run record in 2022.
He hit the most home runs in a season of any center fielder in MLB history.
[Fox News]
About Jessica Kleinschmidt
Jess is a baseball fan with Reno, Nev. roots residing in the Bay Area. She is the host of "Short and to the Point" and is also a broadcaster with the Oakland A's Radio Network. She previously worked for MLB.com and NBC Sports Bay Area.