Born in Sacramento, Aaron Judge may be the face of the New York Yankees today, but back in the day, the story was a little different. Sacramento was only 80 miles away from Oracle Park, the home of young Aaron’s favorite team. Naturally, young Aaron, who grew up in Linden, California, was a massive San Francisco Giants fan, even though just 100 miles away was the grand Oakland Coliseum, to which he never really paid any attention, and the 2010 draft was evidence to that.
While 2003 was the beginning of heartbreak for Yankees fans, Judge’s heartbreak came a year earlier, in 2002, when his favorite team failed to bring home the World Series title. For the first time ever, the San Francisco Giants had a real shot at winning the ring. But that wasn’t all. It was also the first and potentially only shot that Barry Bonds ended up having to secure the championship. But Judge’s support for the Giants wasn’t driven by the stars of Barry Bonds or Jeff Kent. Instead, his favorite player on the team was shortstop Rich Aurilia
Long before becoming No. 99, Judge was No. 35 – his father’s favorite number, and the number behind shortstop Rich Aurilia. But the Giants No.35, along with the star power in Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent failed to secure the World Series, after bottling a comfortable enough 3-2 lead against the Anaheim Angels.
3-2 up in a California derby, the Giants conceded game 6 despite having a 5-0 lead, shortly after skipper Dusty Bake became a part of a moment that would become infamous. In a rather overconfident show, Dusty Baker handed the game ball to starting pitcher Russ Ortiz as a premature keepsake. An unhappy and angry LA Angels dugout saw this exchange and were far from pleased. Fired up by what they saw, the Angels rallied, scoring three runs each in the seventh and eighth innings to snatch a 6-5 victory.
The Giants were never able to recover from that loss, and ultimately conceded Game 7 and lost the World Series in the final round.
Among the many heartbroken fans was now Yankees captain Aaron Judge, who was “devastated by the heartbreaking loss suffered by his favorite team” as documented by author David Fischer in ‘Aaron Judge: The Incredible Story of the New York Yankees Home Run-Hitting Phenom.’
Did the SF Giants have any chance to get Aaron Judge in free agency?
If 2024 was about Shohei Ohtani, 2023 was about Aaron Judge. After failed extension negotiations with the Yankees, Judge entered his walk-year, blasted 62 home runs, broke Roger Maris’ record, and naturally managed to up that $230 million, 8-year contract initially offered to him.
The bidding war for Arson (Aaron*) Judge came down to just two teams: the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees. New York Yankees had the advantage of already having Judge around for so long, and his growing bond with the city and their storied history. The Giants, on the other hand, well, good weather and Judge’s nostalgia.
Negotiations started, and the forgone writing on the wall was that Aaron Judge will head back to New York. Except when MLB Insider Jon Heyman allowed San Francisco to hope for a brief two minutes with his hilariously infamous tweet in which he misspelled Judge’s name as ‘Arson Judge’, and suggested that he may be inclining toward San Francisco.
Jon Soto appears headed to Yankees
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) December 7, 2023
In a hilarious remake of Heyman’s absurd tweet, the Yankees’ social media team seized the opportunity perfectly when the blockbuster Juan Soto trade went through. They cheekily tweeted, “Jon Soto appears headed to Yankees,” mimicking Heyman’s blunder from 2023.
What happened next is history, as Judge decided to stay with the Yankees, signed a $360 million contract, and was named captain ahead of the 2023 season.
