Aaron Judge
Position: Rightfielder
Bats: Right • Throws: Right
6-7, 282lb (201cm, 127kg)
Team: New York Yankees (majors, 10-day IL)
Aaron Judge turned 31 in April, 2023. baseball-reference.com uses the last day of June as the cutoff. So two players born a month apart in the same year could appear to be a year apart if one was born in June and the other in July.
Mickey Mantle was born in October 1931, six months away from Judge's birth month.
Mantle broke in at age 19. Judge broke in at age 24 and for only 27 games, 95 PA. Mantle's age 24 season was 1956, his sixth when he achieved the triple crown and his first of three MVP awards.
So it's unfair to compare the two through Judge's most recent complete season but let's do it anyway to make a point about playing through and with injuries.
It was recently announced that the injury Judge sustained in his most recent game (June 3, 2023) was a torn ligament in his big toe on his right foot. Judge bats righty, so it's his back foot, away from the pitcher.
During the Yankees June 24, 2023 1-0 win yesterday over Texas, the announcers finally asked what I have been asking for a while: why can't Judge bat: designated hitter (DH) or pinch hit? Mantle pinch hit and with far less conditioning and rehabilitation.
This is not to suggest that Judge is derelict. It's more that the Hal Steinbrenner Yankees are not the Yankees of his late father George much less the Dan Topping/Del Webb Yankees of sixty years ago in 1963.
In Cumulative Seasons, In the Regular Season, from 1901 to 2023, age 30 or younger, For any choice in Season Totals, requiring Plate Appearances >= 3000, sorted by greatest Plate Appearances.
https://stathead.com/tiny/omI8j
You can view the complete list at that link. 1,267 players were found. The last was Rico Brogna (3,000 PA) who finished his career one year later with 3,223 PA.
Hall of Fame player's name are in bold.
Mantle had 132 Stolen Bases (SB). Judge 40. HR: 404 to 220.
Had Mantle not played after 1962, his age 30 season, he would easily have been elected to the Hall of Fame. Judge still has not reached the required ten years.
Mickey Mantle crashed into a fence much worse than Aaron Judge. Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Aaron Judge injured the big toe on his right foot making a catch when he crashed into the right field fence in Dodger Stadium Saturday June 3. Judge finished the game but has not played since.
Mickey Mantle crashed into the center field fence in Baltimore June 5, 1963 and suffered a broken foot and torn ligaments. There was no warning track in center field in Baltimore back then. Mantle was carried off on a stretcher. He missed 62 games.
The old American League introduced the Designated Hitter (DH) rule in 1973. Mickey Mantle's last season was 1968; he was 36.
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60 years before Aaron Judge, Mickey Mantle crashed into a fence. 1963 Yankee monthly splits. Michael Jordan played with broken toe. Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Both Mantle and Judge were AL MVP the year before their injuries. Both had hit at least 50 home runs twice...
... Mantle injury June 5 ...
August 4 to September 1, 1963 Mantle pinch hit nine times (1963 game log): home runs in the first and last in 6 AB; 3 BB.
Can the 2023 Yankees stay competitive until Aaron Judge returns?
Mantle did not get any platelet-rich plasma injections. Judge has.
Jerry Krause revealed that Michael Jordan scored 40 points in nine straight games for the Chicago Bulls while playing on a broken toe Basketball Network - OWEN CRISAFULLI - JUNE 18, 2023
Can Judge bat with his injury? Designated Hitter (DH)? At least pinch hit? Judge is 31 years old and has had the minimal qualifying 502 Plate Appearances only three times.
How about a steel tipped shoe like the plate umpire wears? It's his right or back foot that is injured. Geez, rub it in the dirt.
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