Problem with Yankees: Mantle will play before Judge.

Aaron Judge is swinging a bat but not in MLB games. He's even jogging in the outfield. Geez, rub his injured toe in the dirt and put him in the damn batter's box!

Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman deserve each other. Two tight assed chickens. I like Aaron Judge but come on. You're supposed to be the captain. Get in there.

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...

No, I don't think players back then were perfect.

I think that Aaron Judge can adapt to his injury and bat until he is healed. It's his back foot. He can pivot on his heal rather than the ball of his foot or on his injured toe. Judge can wear a shoe with steel in the toe like the home plate umpire does. Nobody is expecting Judge to run. Be the DH. Or at least pinch hit. Mantle was a weapon pinch hitting when he first started to play after missing two months in 1963.

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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 injured June 5, PH Aug. 4, 1963.

Started playing CF Sep. 2 (2)...

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...

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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Plate Appearances (PA) through age 30 season: 1. Mel Ott, ... 12. Mickey Mantle, ... 1,167. Aaron Judge. Can Judge bat with his toe injury? Sunday, June 25, 2023

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...

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.

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Yankee owners: A Fish Rots From The Head Down. Steinbrenner Kids must fire GM Brian Cashman or sell to someone who will. Thursday, October 8, 2015

... Micheal Kay interview Cashman on ESPN radio. Yuck. Cashman comes across as a monotone boring twit but the longer you listen the more you understand that Cashman has gotten way too much power and control within the Yankees, largely filling the huge vacuum left by the death of George Steinbrenner, whose four adult children inherited the Yankees and who are all in way over their collective heads.

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