Aaron Judge Hits 50th Home Run, Most by Rookie Ever

Hey, there's a lot of terrible shit going on in the world, so it would be nice if a giant youth designed to obliterate baseballs and delight crowds could go ahead mash a couple taters or two. Thankfully, we have Aaron Judge, who has recovered from a post-All-Star Game slump to declare, "I am become death, destroyer of [baseballs]" once more.

Here's Judgey's first home run on the day, in the third inning against Kansas City, which tied Mark McGwire's 1987 rookie record of 49 home runs:

You want to say that maybe that was a Yankee Stadium home run? That's perfectly within your rights as a citizen and terrible baseball fan. And it's perfectly within my rights to call you a joyless bum. And to tell you to get a life. And to say, watch this one, then:

Judge, who also mashed two taters against the Blue Jays yesterday, became just the fifth Yankee of all time to hit 50 home runs. The four others? Babe Ruth, Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, and Alex Rodriguez. Pret-ty good company.

Judge had an unfathomably good start of the year, and is somehow a week away from having an even better finish:

Judge hit ten home runs and OPSed better than 1.160 in April and June. In between he went for 7 and 1.084. He is unquestionably the American League Rookie of the Year and has built a very strong case for league MVP as well, with Jose Altuve providing his closest competition. It will be an interesting (read: annoying) debate. On the one side, you have a slick fielding shortstop who hits for average and has some pop himself, and basically The Terminator in a baseball uniform (who's no slouch in the field, either.)

Honestly, just give it to the both of them. It would be worth it for the pictures alone.