New York Yankees pitcher Aaron Judge has made Major League Baseball history once again.
Before Wednesday’s game against the Chicago White Sox, Judge, who has hit 299 home runs in his career, was on the cusp of the 300-home run club, which has 161 players. Judge became the 162nd player, hitting a three-run home run in the eighth inning of Wednesday’s 10-2 win. He became the fastest player in Major League Baseball history to reach 300 home runs in a career, doing so in just 955 games, surpassing the previous record of 1,087 games set by Ralph Kiner in 1953.
Here Judge stands in history alongside the other fastest players to reach 300 home runs in their career.
|
Player |
games |
|---|---|
|
Aaron Judge |
955 |
|
Ralph Kiner |
1,087 |
|
Ryan Howard |
1,093 |
|
Juan Gonzalez |
1,096 |
|
Alex Rodriguez |
1,117 |
|
Giancarlo Stanton |
1,119 |
Barring injury, or every MLB manager deciding not to play him again this season — which is not unlikely given how good he is (just kidding) — Judge was almost certain to hit his 300th career home run before he reached Kiner’s record of 1,087 career home runs.
Judge reached his 300th career goal in just 955 games, breaking Keener’s record of 1,087 games, becoming the fastest player to reach 300 career goals in the fewest games played.
However, that’s not the only record Judge has achieved as he joins the 300 home run club.
Hall of Famer Babe Ruth needed the fewest hits to hit 300 home runs in his career, hitting just 3,831 before reaching that mark. Judge needed 400 fewer hits than Ruth, hitting his 300th home run in 3,431.
Judge is now officially the fastest player to join the 300 home run club, both in terms of fewest games and runs required.