Aaron Judge: Are The New York Yankees Adapting With The Times?
Jun 4, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (99) takes the field against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Sousa-USA TODAY Sports

The typically buttoned-up New York Yankees are losing the tie, or are they? Could the Yanks actually be entering the 21st century?

Aaron Judge is really good. The New York Yankees dedicated a personalized section of the stadium to him. Is it too much, too soon? This topic has been beaten to death by the media.

The 6-foot-7, 25-year-old phenom has been immaculate during his run with the Yankees this season. It’s a lot of pressure to put on a young player making his way to the bigs.

Although my question is more so on the Yankees side of this debate. Are the clean shaven, nostalgic, traditionalists really adapting with the times?

I broached this subject with SNYTV’s Doug Williams on The Score 1260 on Tuesday morning.

“The Judge’s Chambers.”

While it’s an interesting diatribe. I agree with Doug, Judge is the most marketable superstar in the making they’ve had in a long time. So why not run with it?

Rules were meant to be broken. The Yankees can’t be that curmudgeon on the stoop yelling for these young kids to get off their front stoop. They’ve lived off the majesties of the 19th century and even the more recent past.

It’s a good thing to lean back on, but to adjust to these new times they’ve to adapt.

I’m not saying everyone join the #BeardGang trending group on Twitter but allowing individuality will lead Yanks into this new era of Pinstripe baseball. Speaking of Twitter, social media, in general, all boils down to the wrapping paper. It’s your brand, how do you view yourself, how do you market yourself?

The Yankees are taking advantage of his popularity and having some fun with it, something that baseball fans aren’t accustomed too.

Quote…

“The set-up is hilarious with the wordplays and puns, and the robes, gavels, wigs, signs, all those things,” Joe DiCaprio, who sat in the section with his little league team, told ESNY’s Christian Kouroupakis in a recent piece. “I think it’s a wonderful blend to engage adult and kid fanbases alike. I love the whole concept and think the sky’s the limit with it.”

It’s unusual to see the Yankees having fun with anything like this. It’s refreshing.

While on the other hand, it seems a little early to dedicate something of this magnitude to a player with less than a year of majors experience. Like it can’t be understated this is a built in feature in Yankees Stadium.

We’ve seen cases of players coming up through the ranks and having a lot of hype.

They were cases of lightning in a bottle, solid success early on and then never lived up to the billing.

So far Judge has made Yankees fans say: “Gary Sanchez who?” It’s a good problem to have, the Yanks have some transcending talent that seems to be championship level pieces. The Yankees weren’t supposed to be this good, this fast.



Judge is changing the narrative not only for this season for the Yankees but quite possibly the future of the pinstripes.


People call me Boy Green for my unwavering dedication to all things New York Jets. I work at The Score 1260 in Syracuse and I'm extremely passionate about sports. I aspire to continue my rise through the business and hopefully I'll end up working for the New York Jets in some capacity.