The New York Yankees and 2022 AL MVP Aaron Judge are reportedly in agreement on a new nine-year contract worth $360 million.
If Judge were to stay in the Bronx for the entirety of his new deal, that would take him through his age 39 season — typically around (or past) the point where many MLB players retire. The massive extension gives the 30-year-old a good chance to join fellow Yankees legends Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter as players to spend their entire careers in New York.
Each of the aforementioned five players are in the Baseball Hall of Fame. DiMaggio and Mantle both won three AL MVPs, Gehrig won two and Jeter and Rivera didn’t earn the hardware but had plenty of other accolades to make up for it.
Judge just won his first AL MVP in his sixth full season, but is also a four-time All-Star, three-time Silver Slugger award winner and was the 2017 AL Rookie of the Year. One thing that the California native hasn’t done yet that each member of the iconic quintet did multiple times during their playing days is win a World Series title.
“Joltin’ Joe” won nine championships, Gehrig and Mantle both took home seven crowns and Jeter and Rivera won five titles together. The latter pair won the Fall Classic in 1996 and then three in a row from 1998 through 2000, with one final title in 2009.
Since Judge debuted in 2016, the Yankees have only made it as far as the ALCS, losing to the Houston Astros in seven games in 2017, six games in 2019 and then in a four-game sweep this fall. With the significantly expanding number of Yankees uniforms being retired and plaques popping up in Monument Park, it seems that Judge has a good shot of having both honors bestowed upon him eventually. To be considered among the all-time Yankees though, winning a World Series ring will have to come next.
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