Aaron Judge hits 50th homer, fourth 50-HR season in MLB history

Aaron Judge hit the 50th home run of the season Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, drilling a three-run shot off Chicago White Sox reliever Jonathan Cannon in the second inning to give the New York Yankees a 3-1 lead and cement a rare place in baseball history. The opposite-field blast was Judge's fourth season with at least 50 homers, making him one of only four players in major league history to reach that mark four times.

The homer, which cleared the right-field bullpen, completed a milestone stretch for Judge, who previously reached the 50-homer plateau in 2017, 2022 and 2024. Only Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa have also produced four 50-homer seasons, and no player has yet recorded five. Judge is now the first Yankees player to have back-to-back 50-homer campaigns since Ruth accomplished the feat a century ago.

Judge’s 50th came after a season in which he missed time with a right flexor strain, an absence of about 10 games, making the achievement notable for its durability as well as its power. Statistically, Judge has put together one of the strongest offensive seasons in baseball; he entered Wednesday hitting roughly .326 with a 1.130 OPS, about 108 runs batted...